Hi, friends! As some of you know, I recently spent a weekend in New York City working on a big project for the blog that I’ve been hinting at for awhile, and while we’re waiting on the selection process, I thought I’d go ahead and share some behind the scenes moments, and explain how this even came about!
My husband. He is the most thoughtful gift giver I have ever met in my entire life. He has been my biggest supporter since starting this blog last summer, and he is always encouraging me to think outside the box and bring something to my readers that they will be inspired by and excited to read about. Since this is something I would be way too intimidated to plan myself, for Christmas/my birthday he connected me with Joseph Chen, a fashion photographer in NYC who has shot the cover of Elle Magazine and photographed a handful of models and celebrities. (Cue the pee your pants moment!) I spent nearly two and a half months thinking about what to wear, how many looks I would need, styling outfits, and what exactly I wanted to get out of this whole experience.
Joseph and I initially spoke on the phone and bounced ideas off of each other, and began what I feel will be a lifelong friendship/working relationship. He was able to take inspiration from our conversation and create a story we would tell through this photo shoot, which in turn inspired me, and that’s when things became real and really came alive! From the beginning, it was the plan that my mom would join me, and we would have some Mother/Daughter shots together. After speaking with Joseph, we decided to incorporate Ella into this experience so we could tell the story of three generations of women!
I made a trip into the city the week before our shoot so that we could meet in person, walk around the city to scout some areas to shoot, and visit The Plaza (where we were staying) to see what all we would be working with. I left that meeting so excited and made sure I spent some time to take it all in. I walked down 5th Avenue by myself, stared at all the buildings because that’s just what I do when I go to a big city, and really just appreciated that moment and what all I was about to get to do. It was a special moment, and one I’ll never forget. I capped the day off with a trip to a hot dog stand, hopped in my car, and headed home with an excited and grateful heart.
When the big weekend finally arrived, I was a ball of nerves, but I was excited to get it started. It was pretty comical as we showed up to The Plaza because the number of garment bags I brought was quite obnoxious so everyone was curious as to what we were up to. We stayed in the Penthouse (eeek), and it was just breathtaking. The decor was stunning, it had two floors, and an outside terrace to die for! I wish I would have gotten more pictures of it, but there was just no time. We hit the ground running the second we got to the room. You can see some pictures of the room here. I hired an assistant stylist, Talisa Bauer, to help with tweaking my outfits and to make sure everything looked completely put together the day of the shoot. She was phenomenal, and the day would not have been the success that it was without her help.
The day of the shoot, all my nervous energy turned into excitement and the second I took that first picture, I was ready for more! It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I can’t wait to take you on this fun journey!
There are so many more details to this weekend, but I’ll save those for the outfit posts so that you can experience it the way that it happened. Stay tuned!!
But first, here’s a sneak peak at what’s to come…….
