Country Bumpkin style, Westchester, NY wedding styled shoot

Styled shoots are super fun and exciting. Sometimes we make them large and over the top, sometimes smaller just to get an idea that has been itching at us out of our system.  Our last rock n roll shoot was on the smaller scale; hip and fun, with small design elements I can see being incorporated into many other different designs.

As anyone, I do have my three or four favorite styles. Generally speaking, I prefer a simple modern look that is very soft while bordering on stark. Also, I like this look to be clean and on the less girly side. With these ideas in mind, the personal touches you add emotionally resonate. Perhaps it is a message on the front side of a menu card. Perhaps it is an individualized gift or the name you give to the table number. The opportunities to design with this general idea in mind don’t come around all that often, because so many venues would feel either empty or not match this aesthetic.

I am equal parts New Yorker and New Englander. I love my black leather, oversized handbags, hot cocoa and reading by the fire. I may dress in charcoal grey almost every day, but in my design head I still love scavenging thrift shops, tag sales and dusty tchotchke stores just as I did when I was a hippie-grungy-eclectic lower east side ballerina trying to look edgy despite the bun on top of my head.

Another one of my general go-to looks is simple, country inspired and comfortable. Obviously many venues speak to this general idea.  We all get event design ideas while walking through museums, stores, looking through magazines, etc. While creating a styled shoot this time around, I wanted to build upon my somewhat secret dream of packing it all up and moving to Vermont or someplace Country Bumpkin like. Friends are laughing because I am ALWAYS cold, but nonetheless the dream of having a book club, bookstore, general store, large fireplace, too many cats and dogs in a log cabin persists.

To further validate my dreams of being a Country Bumpkin, I have indeed turned into someone who likes to deck out her everything in holiday cheer! I can spend entire days perusing stores all over Manhattan and the burbs, while not buying anything. You may receive a gift with wrapping that far exceeds whatever awaits you inside! I am not shopping – I am taking in all of the holiday décor, day dreaming, copying it, improving upon it and dreaming of moving to Vermont or Maine.

The initial inspiration for this next photo shoot has been hot cocoa, cozy plaid blankets and reading by the fire. There will be little to no flowers, different paper elements will be incorporated, perhaps a bit more construction than is usual and of course, a whole lot of whipped cream and warmth. Definitely winter like and for sure “Country Bumpkin”.

The Country Bumpkin shoot will take place in upper Westchester in January 2014! More styled shoots on the calendar for 2014 already! One more in Connecticut, another in Hudson Valley and one in the North Shore of Long Island.

Please excuse this blog post. Photos had to be removed for legal purposes.

Ashley Douglass Events is a boutique events company, planning weddings, mitzvahs, social and corporate events throughout Connecticut, New York and beyond. Years of experience in both design & coordination, ADE is the right event planner / wedding planner for detailed oriented couples. We are your project managers with a heaping dose of creativity thrown in the mix. We plan social gatherings, corporate events and weddings all over. We have offices in both Greenwich, CT and Huntington, NY. Learn more by contacting us today at 917.748.6281 or click here for our short form. Call us today to book your HOLIDAY EVENT, small or large, social or corporate, in your private home or at a fabulous venue!