It goes without saying, but this is my favorite team in the industry!
Many of you likely know the origin of Cloud Nine, but for those who don't I'm going to start at the beginning.
Late in 2018, Lakeshore in Love announced to its members that they would be hosting the first ever showcase of styled shoots. This event was structured as both a competition and a networking event for brides and grooms to meet with Chicago vendors.
Here's how it went. Teams were formed amongst friends and they had to conceptualize a concept for a shoot that could exist within the theme of the event: Love is in the Air. Immediately when the event was announced, my head started spinning with ideas. I am an idea person. I love conceptualizing, dreaming and visualizing what could be. With my background in Advertising, I always love to play on words and get as creative as I can. I started dreaming up this cloud concept which played into the "air" side of the theme. I knew from my past experiences that I wanted Amy, of Rustique Swan, on my team because much like me, she is a visual person. She can see ideas like I can. Amy and I had done a shoot prior with Nancy of Fearless and Bella. The three of us are all members of Lakeshore in Love, so it was perfection to join forces. From there, we hand picked the rest of our team based on vendors we wanted to work with or had done prior work with. Aysel, our florist, was a close connection to Amy and I had the chance to work with her once before. I brought Spencer, our cake designer, into the mix as I had done a shoot with him the previous summer. As with Spencer, I had worked with Jacqlyn, of The Bubbly truck, just before the event, so it was a no brainer to add her to our power team! Then there is Ashley. We got so lucky with Ashley! I've always wanted to work with her and had met her via the internet, but we never had the chance to join forces. When she swooped in on the opportunity, I was so happy!
I'm going to skip ahead through all of the planning and just let you know that we WON the first ever styled shoot competition in Chicago! Our concept came to life and I think we all impressed ourselves! It was so much fun and such a success, that we wanted more.
We decided to reunite in the summer, as our first shoot was in the winter, and do something outdoors and with color. Out of this, Yellow was born. This shoot oozed summer and we got so lucky to have The Montebello Estate host this one!
Fast forward to now. We all are kind of on this itch to do a shoot for each season. So as fall rolled in, so did our ideas. Enchanted was born through Nancy and grew into a gorgeous work of art through everyone's personal touches. It is so different from our original Cloud Nine shoot, all white and monochromatic, but oh is it beautiful!
So why this recap you ask? This team is so freaking talented and overflowing with ideas, that we wanted to make sure you knew how we were born, because baby, we're about to grow.
Cloud Nine has developed into more than just a team who does pretty things each season. Yea. We're moving on up. There is a rather large announcement coming your way before October is over and if you are any of the following people, you might want to pay attention:
-Photographer who wants in the industry, but doesn't know where to start
-Photographer who has made it in, but now doesn't know how to keep it afloat
-Photographer who is doing good, but wants to move up in clientele
-Photographer who has dreams of making it, but needs the right guidance
-Photographer who has all the right things, but needs help putting it all together
-Photographer who wants more portfolio pieces that speak to the luxury client
-Photographer who is yearning for more education
-Photographer who wants to try their hand at weddings, but can't seem to book a bride
-Photographer who can second shoot, but needs the confidence to lead
Are any of those photographers you? I promise you, something great is coming your way.
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