Created by Sweet Surrender of Louisville

Since they first started, we've had a very close relationship with Jacki Allen's Kentucky Bride magazine. We've had a number of weddings featured in there, and also done a bridal fashion shoot for them at the Castle Post in Versailles, as well as a floral shoot with E. Stephen Hein, Florist at his store.  It shouldn't be a surprise, I suppose, Jacki was literally the first person I met in the wedding industry here!

Created by Artisan Kitchen of Paducah

For the Winter issue of the magazine this year, Jacki, Julie and Jaimeson, the creative team at the magazine, brought me in to shoot a series of cakes from some of Kentucky's best designers, plus a couple of cool accessories.  If you've ever been to the Kentucky Bride offices, well, they're in one of the usual office parks that are great for getting work done, but they're definitely not a commercial photography studio.

What to do?  We set up our own studio, right in the foyer of the building.  (There may or may not have been fire codes broken.)  I set up backgrounds, flew studio lights sitting out in the parking lot through windows to simulate window light, and we had a lot of fun.

more images after the jump...

Designed by Martine's Pastries of Lexington. The trick to this one was to light it gently while still making the bling shine.

We had four cakes from all over the state-- one from Mert's Cakes of Louisville, one from Martine's Pastries here in Lexington, one from Sweet Surrender in Louisville, and one all the way from Paducah, courtesy of Artisan Kitchen.  Cake stands came from WeddingCakePedestals.com, RaiseTheCake.com and one that jacki & jamieson, wedding and event planners had in their stock.

By Mert's Cakes of Louisville. All that chocolate smelled even better than it looked.

I'll let you in on a little secret-- while you, as a bride, get to taste their best work, I don't get that opportunity. Most bridal show pieces as well as the ones for photo shoots are foam inserts that are decorated appropriately-- otherwise, they're a little too heavy to move around the way I need to on a shoot.  That's also a lot of cake that would go to waste after the 30 minutes in front of the lens.

By Sweet Surrender of Louisville.

The cake spreads can be found on pages 29-32 of the Winter issue of Kentucky Bride, on sale now.

By Artisan Kitchen of Paducah

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Miniature phalaenopsis orchid (left) and calla lilly (right)

As long as they had me, they also figured, "Why not get some additional photos done?"  You'll see four boutonnieres from The Best of Flowers in Lexington on pages 19 & 20.

Green hydrangea, poppy pods and curly willow (right) and white rose.

I also shot some additional accessories for pages 13-15...

Custom wedding charms from The Copper Poppy

Invites by Checkerboard Invitations

Headband by Bethany Lorelle, Blue Lagoon Ring by Christine Darnell

Fabric Flower Shoe Clips by No. 144

Ringbearer Pillow by Maihar Design

Rhinestone Shoe Applique by Mindy Weiss

Linkage:
The Copper Poppy
Bethany Lorelle
Christine Darnell
Checkerboard Invitations
No. 144
Maihar Design
Mindy Weiss - Unveiled Bridal (Cake stand by Raise The Cake)

I was on one of my new favorite wedding blogs, Emmaline Bride, which specializes in equipping the bride who loves unique and elegant handmade items, and they profiled this great Etsy shop, Dawn Correspondence.  You've gotta see their stylish, modern take on invitations-- so much more interesting than the everyday stuff you see from all the usual suspects.

Take a look at some of these refreshing invitations:

They also do custom orders, so you can inject some of your personal interests like the bicycle one above...

They're based in Richmond, Virginia, but they work with clients worldwide.  Go give them a look for yourself!

I've discovered over time that a lot of my brides own multiple dogs. Some of them even want a favorite pooch to be part of the wedding. This morning, I saw on a dog owner newsletter the perfect item for those of you who fall into this category...

I give you the Pet Petal Pushcart. It hooks up to your favorite canine and it's like a little wagon, which you fill with flower petals. As your flower pooch walks down the aisle, (or for those of you with Jack Russells like me, gallops down the aisle), the cart dispenses the petals.

They have a video, but embedding was disabled, so here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzQIkQBy44k

I can't wait to see how long I go before I see one of these through my viewfinder!