When Yellowstone Under Canvas asked Stella Kelsie and I to put together a styled wedding shoot, we knew we had to come up with something a little different that we wanted to stand out. After tossing around a few ideas with the PR coordinator for the resort, we both decided that a romanticized safari was the way to go.
If you think about a trip to Montana and the adventure that it involves, the concept of a safari wedding theme really isn’t too far off! Plus, those of you that know me know I am obsessed with any Safari adventure! My husband and I spent our honeymoon in South Africa on a safari. BEST TRIP EVER.
I am always looking for some modern and contemporary inspiration, so I immediately envisioned aztec prints and a neutral color scheme. Sue with Wild Blume was on board with the idea in an instant and blew my ideas out of the water with her mustard yellow blooms and funky feather touches. I was equally in love with the styling done by Collette at Bontemps Calligraphy. Those menus with the little animals?! AND the wild signage.. man I was ready to get married all over again.
Oh So Chic was kind enough to let me borrow a farm table to take all the way to West Yellowstone, and I picked up the table place settings from Montana Party Rentals. Stella and I knew that Bash would have the perfect boho dress to go with the laid back vibes of a Montana wedding-Safari style. We landed on an incredible choice by Kite and Butterfly and Beauty and the Belief put a bow on top with her messy braided bridal styling and the perfect make up application!
Nooooow for the fun part. The elements came together. They were perfect and Stella and I were on cloud 9 with how this shoot had come together. The weather, however, decided not to join the party that day. Or maybe it did… in a round about way.
To put it shortly, the rain storm that we encountered that day.. the 8 HOUR RAINSTORM.. put little “damper” on our shoot concepts.Yes- totally meant to throw that pun in there. We froze our little buns off running from tent to tent and getting the best shots we possibly could considering the circumstances we were given. Luckily, the rain cleared for a solid 15 minutes so Stella could take our models into the meadow for a few shots that weren’t covered.
The rain drops from the day made the photos turn out more incredible than we could have envisioned! Thankfully we already had a moody and dark color scheme going so the rain was a simple accent that added to the vibes of the day. We could not help but laugh at the irony of us thinking a Montana Wedding adventure theme such as a Safari wouldn’t have a few bumps in the road along the way.. That’s like saying you want to do a Jumanji theme and then being surprised when you end up in the middle of a jungle somewhere with a rhino charging you from behind. Okay, I might be being a little dramatic.. but seriously I will never be doing a Jumanji themed shoot. 😉
It was super fun seeing this shoot be picked up by Rocky Mountain Bride this spring! I also had to laugh when I realized that it was ALSO pouring rain all day on the day the shoot was published. Life can be funny that way sometimes.
All in all, one of my favorite Montana wedding concepts to date. You can’t go wrong with a black and neutral color scheme.
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