need ideas for a jilted bride's shower photos

VayCayMom

I shot a bridal/wedding shower last Oct, and the poor gal was dumped 2 weeks later. We agreed I would still edit the photos but now in a different manner. I have some ideas but I would love to hear suggestions!!

The event took place in a wonderful million $$ home. The theme was High Tea, only 12 guests. Lot's of indoor late afternoon golden light, warm toned walls & decor, candles and pale pink accents. Some vintage china etc.

The obvious is to not show gifts, mother in law to be etc. I am thinking it could look like a girl's pampered afternoon. Maybe more artsy PP than we originally agreed on. The gal is very pretty, very chic and a bit frilly, the atmosphere was very feminine.
Any ideas here??

A lot of the photos were about presentation, I don't plan to throw them all out, because I know she will LOVE them, but this will give you an idea about the MOOD and the surroundings.

ALL are SOOC..

bride to be...










this was the kitchen/breakfast room.... just BEAUTIFUL home!!!

Derweissehai

VayCayMom wrote:

I shot a bridal/wedding shower last Oct, and the poor gal was dumped 2 weeks later. We agreed I would still edit the photos but now in a different manner. I have some ideas but I would love to hear suggestions!!

The event took place in a wonderful million $$ home. The theme was High Tea, only 12 guests. Lot's of indoor late afternoon golden light, warm toned walls & decor, candles and pale pink accents. Some vintage china etc.

The obvious is to not show gifts, mother in law to be etc. I am thinking it could look like a girl's pampered afternoon. Maybe more artsy PP than we originally agreed on. The gal is very pretty, very chic and a bit frilly, the atmosphere was very feminine.
Any ideas here??

Now that just out right sucks! I hate to here that. Well for the editing I would go for a more glowy look for the young lady as to make it feel like a day at the spa and being pampered. Another angle that could be done would be to make the afternoon light work with the shadows and darken in and make it more sensual for the girl to make her feel really good and then if the ex-groom see's them he will feel like a heel about what he lost.

Just my take on it.

VayCayMom

Derweissehai wrote:

Now that just out right sucks! I hate to here that. Well for the editing I would go for a more glowy look for the young lady as to make it feel like a day at the spa and being pampered. Another angle that could be done would be to make the afternoon light work with the shadows and darken in and make it more sensual for the girl to make her feel really good and then if the ex-groom see's them he will feel like a heel about what he lost.

Just my take on it.

Ohhhh I like the idea of darkening and shadowing, a bit more mystical and more like evening, and of course then less detail of what we don't want. Great. The glow thing was already a done deal with the ambiance, but this is one step further. Thanks.

marikris

Trudy, what an interesting conundrum! Do you think you can show a pic or two as an example pre super-edit? I have ideas but I don't know if they'll work with what you have. I mean, you can definitely go completely grunge/surreal and cut/paste cartoon heads on the guests at the tea table so she's all Alice in Wonderland lol with lots of textures, very artsy. I dunno, maybe that's too out there. My ideas usually are.

kidzmom

Eeek. Poor girl. I'd love to see some of the shots to know what you have to work with. I'm very sure you can turn it into a happy memory for her instead of what she was planning on it being. I'd focus a lot on her relationships to those long time friendships that she has that have stood the test of time.

kidzmom

WOW and double WOW...what a mansion! These shots are very elegant and rich in beauty. Wonderful too for SOOC. What was your lighting setup if I might ask? Really awesome. Gosh.. as far as editing goes...I guess I have no idea how you can downplay it not being a shower. Seems so evident, you know? I'm really sorry for her. That must be so tough. Perhaps going b/w on some might take out the impact of the pink bridal touches? Highlighting her other friends and the idea of the tea party..I'm sure just seeing all of her friends in this series will take the sting away from the event. Maybe even going back and getting some shots of the outside of the house to perhaps make it more about the location than the intended reason for the party? Looks like it might not be too hard to make this about her friends, a tea party and the mansion!!

anonymouscuban

That guy deserves a punch in the face. I'd be glad to do the honors.

marikris

Yeah, throw out my initial idea lol - I see that this has a lot of potential for just being a narrative about her and her friends. I'm not feeling the vignette though because it makes the atmosphere very dark. Bright and happy is the way to go, so it can somehow "replace" the sad emotions associated to it.

sweet caroline

Lovely photos, but I agree that the vignette is too dark. She'll want these to remember what fun she had with her friends, and to remind her that she doesn't need him.

Caroline

VayCayMom

marikris wrote:

Yeah, throw out my initial idea lol - I see that this has a lot of potential for just being a narrative about her and her friends. I'm not feeling the vignette though because it makes the atmosphere very dark. Bright and happy is the way to go, so it can somehow "replace" the sad emotions associated to it.

These are SOOC, the "vignette" look was from my Sigma wideangle. Yeah it does look awful but i didn't intend to keep the photo that way.Thanks for your input, yes, happy, pampered, fun is the way to go, and I guess I will try to tone down the pink items or turn some to B & W.
I did originally take photos starting from the iron gate at the driveway, so I'll have some of the house without PINK !

VayCayMom

sweet caroline wrote:

Lovely photos, but I agree that the vignette is too dark. She'll want these to remember what fun she had with her friends, and to remind her that she doesn't need him.

Caroline

I agree. I told her she was just lovely that day no matter what and we needed to capture that!

anwmn1

What a crappy situation. I agree with annoynmouscuban about the punch.

Beautiful girl, I am in Phoenix AZ area, feel free to give her my information.

From these shots you shared I think you have some great potential. The deep of field is great so you can lighten the immediate subject and blur or vingette the background to really isolate the people. Just sway it to a tea party with her friends.

Please share your results.