Y’all, I was floored by the details from this red wedding styled shoot at The Olana. This wedding venue is about 10 minutes away from my home, but it was the first time I had the opportunity to explore it! The Olana is a luxury wedding and event venue that was originally built as a 50,000 French chateau-style mansion for Shirley and Alan Goldfield, the CEO of CellStar Corp, which was one of the largest cell phone distributers in the United States. The mansion has every room you could think of and more - a fitness facility, indoor pool, a bowling alley, movie theater, tea room and (my favorite) a two-story Chanel-inspired closet! Now, with all that being said, I really attended this styled shoot because of the amazing lecture line up!

I attended the Styled Shoots Across America Conference at The Olana to learn from a few of the top wedding educators in the industry, including Julie Paisley, Natalie Franke, and Sarah Campbell! There were so many amazing lectures… and if you know me, you know I was nerding out! One of my favorite lectures was by Janelle Henningson called, “Define, Execute, Delegate: How to Define your Unique Editing Style, Consistently Execute it, and Set Your Business up for Success.” I mean WOW. She just dove in to the nitty gritty parts of business and really shared tips on how to be more consistent in editing and how to know when you need to delegate certain tasks in your business.

This particular shoot was styled in the indoor pool room, powder room and in the red dining hall. When photographers attend styled shoots like these, often the decor is already set up and invitation suites are pre-styled. The photographers can position the bride and groom wherever they would like, similar to a real wedding situation. I loved having the two in the pool room - I mean, it’s not every day I get to shoot next to a floral installation like this!

This whole experience has been incredibly eye opening. Even after the conference was over, I felt so motivated to learn how I can make my business more efficient. I’ve even been binging all of my favorite business podcasts! I listen at least 45 minutes a day during my commutes. It’s been so fun learning something new daily too!