Golden Hour Glow: A Michigan Style Shoot Inspired by a 10 Year Wedding Anniversary

This style shoot was the wedding experience Sara and Justin McCoy never had. The couple is celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary this year, but never had an actual wedding. Justin was serving in the military when they got married, and they never got to have a wedding. This was Sara’s chance for the full-on, white dress, bridal experience. She was able to relish the unique opportunity and chose the gown from Infinity Bridal, which has an amazing open back that was made for summer. She completed the look with a loose up-do by Jessica Franz and soft, natural makeup by Kaitlyn MacGregor of Kaitlyn the Traveling Artist.

Sam, from Sweet Beets Floral, says part of her desire in planning this shoot was to, “bring together local vendor friends and serve a real life couple! In my heart, I knew I wanted a real couple with a beautiful love story!” Brian and Stacey Wedding Photo & Cinema beautifully captured the couple’s first look (how sweet is Justin’s reaction!). Their chemistry is organic and effortless.

We love that the team fully embraced the natural beauty of Michigan for this shoot. When asked about the inspiration, Sam said, “Gosh, I imagined the fields and grassy meadows for this shoot. I really wanted the golden hour glow, and the vision came together perfectly with the floral I designed.” When the original venue backed out, the photographers volunteered their property in Saginaw, which ended up being perfect. The rustic barn and open fields made a great backdrop to capture the warmth of golden hour.

Sam’s vision for this shoot was clearly to make an unforgettable day for Sara and Justin, but as a florist her vision had no shortage of floral-fun. The floral design highlighted unique textures and warm colors using lotus pods, wheat and bronze snapdragons. “I wanted the floral to be unlike anything we’ve seen in the Great Lakes Bay Region here in Michigan. I wanted it to feel like a late summer sunset and looked to amber crystal goblets and the farm fields for inspiration!” described Sam. Spicing up your wedding bouquet with texture is definitely in, and we are loving it.

Every element of this shoot was natural, whimsical and dreamy. The stationery was no exception, with hand-torn, deckled edges and gorgeous script. The invitation suite is also a celebration of the couple’s anniversary, rather than a typical wedding invitation. The naked cake from Patisserie was adorned with richly colored florals and buttercream icing. “It was perfect, simple and beautiful and Justin and Sara were able to cut and share it together!!” Sam explained.

This amazing vendor team gave Sara and Justin a sweet ten-year anniversary photo shoot, with a taste of the wedding they never got to have! We love this gorgeous golden hour shoot, but more importantly we love that this shoot celebrated real-life love.

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