This morning I woke up with no voice, sore feet, a tired body and a full heart. Yesterday, I hosted my first ever Senior Photography Workshop and I am so excited to finally share it all with you! We have put so much preparation, planning + hard work into this workshop to make it the absolute BEST it could be, and it was a DREAM! Attendees traveled from all over the US to spend the weekend learning all things senior photography, build community, inspire one another and grow their businesses. With a pre-workshop “meet & sweets”, 8-hour workshop day + a yummy Q+A dinner…I think I can officially say that I have 11 new best friends! These girls were some of the sweetest, most genuine and amazing people I have ever met…and I am beyond thankful for each and every one of them.

All of the wonderful workshop festivities took place at my studio in adorable downtown Fredericksburg, VA! We kicked off the workshop with a delicious meet & greet that included a full spread of delicious desserts + jamming to Taylor Swift while sharing our dreams + quickly becoming friends. The meet & greet was scheduled to end at 9pm…but 11pm we found ourselves still laughing until our stomachs hurt! Once everyone headed back to their hotels, we began rearranging the entire studio for workshop day! We set up two beautiful tables styled by the wonderful Ally Allison Events, including some stunning florals, custom-made notebooks by Decal Darling, swag boxes by Twila & Co. , hot pink folders full of information, adorable candy-filled centerpieces + confetti-filled balloons! The attendees arrived at 10am greeted by a fully styled table of Paul’s Bakery doughnuts + breakfast goodies, and we dove right into teaching! We covered the importance of senior photography, the shoot & share business model, serving your clients, social media, business, marketing, client experience, styling, branding and more before diving into a fully styled + catered lunch by Mary Washington! We then headed outside for head shots (it was almost 50 degrees…say WHAT!?) and then the attendees got to watch me style all of the models on the spot using items from local boutiques like Monkee’s of Fredericksburg + Devin Ashton Designs. 

After a full morning of fun, we headed off to the Mary Washington Jepson Alumni Center for the styled shoot! The entire Kate Spade “Eat Cake for Breakfast” shoot was done by Dear Sweetheart Events + I could not be more thankful for all of the work she put into this shoot! Every last detail was thought-out and every idea was executed perfectly. The attendees were blown away by the entire shoot, and we covered lighting, posing (both senior + couple), client interaction + detail styling while having the best time EVER! Then, we finished up back at the studio with a full workflow walkthrough + adorable swag bags. Some of the attendees had to head home, but a few of us headed to my favorite nearby Italian restaurant for a Q+A dinner + just a little more fun!

Once everyone walked out of the studio…I headed home with a full heart and actually cried as I was getting into my car. This workshop is something that is SO near + dear to my heart, and I could not be more thankful to all of the attendees, sponsors and contributors that helped make this dream of mine come true! Make sure to check out all of the amazing vendors who contributed!

Styling: Dear Sweetheart Events + Ally Allison Events

Swag Bag Gifts:

Custom Notebooks: Decal Darling

All She Wrote Notes

A Little Bit of Me

Nothin’ but Nola

Styled Shoot Contributors:

Cake: Sorby Sweet

Invitation Suite + Paper Goods: Twila & Co.

Furniture Rentals: Paisley & Jade

Clothing + Jewelry: Monkee’s of Fredericksburg

Hair + Makeup: Hello Darling Beauty

Giveaway Sponsors:

FotoStrap

Showit

Dakota Kuca

JoTotes

Here are a few sneak peeks from the Kate Spade styled shoot!! I can’t WAIT to share more with you all in a few weeks!!