A VIBEY OLD FLORIDA WEDDING

Apr 4

DETAILS
When — April 2023
Where — Kissimmee, FL - US 192
Type — Elopement Styled Shoot

VENDORS
Concept + Photographer — Chupich Photography
Florist — Revel

Florida Project, but make it wedding –

Published in Rock n’ Roll Bride. Read their article here.

Inspired by my daily commute – a road that I’ve been immersed by my whole life – U.S. Highway 192 is what I call home. From the late infamous Magic Castle to the exotic architectural tourist traps that floods visitors from across the globe, U.S. 192 holds so much nostalgia for me that no other area can replace. It’s this nostalgia that moves and inspires me.

When I first approached this project, I knew I wanted to focus on the wonders of ‘Old Florida’ since its nostalgia is inspiration to me. There’s only a handful of locations I could choose from that was local. Most of the buildings are either refreshed with a modern appeal or completely bulldozed down to an empty lot. The infamous purple Magic Castle from the movie ‘The Florida Project’ has been painted over and is under new management. Since hearing the change, I feared that these landmarks across U.S. 192 would change its appearance or merely just stay as memory. With the constant change throughout the city I’ve grown in, I knew I needed to document this shared nostalgia before we may never be able to witness them again.

The architecture choices of some these long-standing landmarks continues to bring so much joy to my eyes. Now that I have a young son, it never fails him to go out of his way to yell the exotic sights he witnesses on our commute down U.S. 192. “IT’S WIZARD” he yells, “LOOK THE ORANGE! THE ORANGE!” Even a drive without my son, these extraordinary buildings along with his enthusiasm is embedded in my mind and I knew that the damn Wizard and the huge orange dome would be my muse.

I knew going into this project I wanted bridal, but not the luxury and picture-perfect aspect of bridal. I wanted funk and a unique approach to it. I began creating a mood board to showcase the funk and its nontraditional approach to bridal. The colors I chose were based off each building between the purple and teal of the Wizard and of course orange of the Orange. I went to an amazing local florist, Revel, with my ideas and emphasized the funk and inorganic style to the wedding bouquet I could only dream of, and they certainly knocked it out of the park with their take on what I had given them.

Still staying within theming of bridal, I chose to go with a white dress, but the groom’s suit I wanted to coordinate with the color palette I created and ended up opting in for a subtle mint color. Needing to add color to the brides look, I chose to go with pops of hot pink. I originally decided on hot pink tulle for the veil and wanted to incorporate that in her shoes as well. While I found heels that fit that image, I went to a local fabric store to buy tulle to make the veil, but ended up falling in love with this periwinkle celestial fabric that I just knew had to be the veil in this shoot instead of the hot pink that was originally planned.

Between my original ideas and the final product, this wedding styled shoot was knocked out of the park and exceeded all my expectations. It was grunge and unconventional bridal. Certainly was very funky and extraordinary just as the locations that merely inspired me.

What ‘Old Florida’ landmark will inspire me next for another unique wedding setting?

Interested on viewing the full gallery to this styled wedding? View it here