{Behind-the-Scenes} Nautical Inspiration Photo Shoot at AVIA Hotel, Long Beach

I often ask my brides and couples to bring inspiration photos, colors, fabric, paper swatches and any other inspirational items with them to our initial design meetings to come up with design elements that will reflect them as a couple.  

We sit over a cup of coffee or glass of champagne and yummy desserts and look over all of these pretty pictures to come up with ideas that they may want to recreate or incorporate into their wedding day in their own unique way.   

And while this is everything that I strive for in real-life weddings and events, what my couples may not realize that there is an entire army of people working behind-the-scenes to make sure every single detail is perfectly executed.

I am a big believer in teamwork.  Teams are everything.  Today, I am formally introducing you to the amazing team that pulled an all-nighter to be on-site with me to style this Nautical Bridal Shower inspiration photo shoot featured on Best Wedding Sites. 

We are taking you to the AVIA Hotel in Long Beach, California and giving you a peek of what really happened on the set.

That's Robert (we call him Rob). He's Jessica's husband.  Husband and wife team at Jessica Elizabeth Photography.  They are so unbelievably cute together.  She dragged him out of bed at 4am to do this. 

And this.  See what I mean?

Here are the lovely ladies looking all pretty and sassy, not sleep deprived at all, right?  You can't really tell because of the marine layer, but it was supposed to be a sunrise shoot.  We were all on-site by 6am, but we didn't get any sunshine until about 11am.  We had to be long gone by that time so that the guests of the hotel could use the pool.  From Left to Right - Mandy of the AVIA, yours truly, Samantha of Papermints, Cristina of Unforgettable Events and Jessica of Jessica Elizabeth Photography.

That's Cristina putting the finishing touches on those lemony floral masterpieces.

Here I am, hard at work.  And in case you are wondering, yes, I did purposely color coordinate my nautical wardrobe :)

Here are some fun group shots of us hanging out and having a celebratory toast at our nautical tablescape. It was just too pretty not to enjoy it and the desserts, so we did.  And there you have it, teamwork.