I know…I know…it’s all about velvet and two-piece dresses this year but pretty please hear me out.
Tea dresses.
They’re so darling with their flattering necklines, high waistlines, and (my favorite detail) bell-shape skirts.
I recently added a few more to my collection and decided it’d be fun to ask someone to model them so I could photograph all the lovely details I love about tea dresses.
So this is my attempt to try to convince more people to wear them. Fingers crossed that it works because nothing would delight me more than seeing more ladies walking around this holiday season in one of these dresses.
Emily is the beauty who graciously agreed to take on the challenge of letting me, a total amateur, photograph her in 50 degree weather for 3 hours. She was so so awesome during the entire shoot.
But you see, this unexpected thing happened…
When I rushed home to edit the photos, I realized how in the heck could I talk about the dresses when it’s obvious that she is the star in pretty much all of the photos?!
Sorry not sorry.
I completely lost focus on the dresses and it quickly turned into a portrait session. Scroll down and you’ll see what I mean.
We had some last minute changes and ended up taking photos at Frenchtown Conservation Area in Central, LA. It completely worked in our favor because not only was it a beautiful natural area, we also got a nice hike out of it.
Adding my red scarf instantly gave that holiday cheer.
See the “bell” I was talking about? Le sigh.
I don’t know too much about photographing, but I know the sun is my friend so we followed it the entire time.
And we need to talk about Emily’s gorgeous sapphire engagement ring.
Jesse, her fiance, did good. So good.
I agree this photo is dark, but I’m loving her power stance so I just had to include it.
I need to mention that Emily is an exceptional teacher with Teach for America here in Baton Rouge. She also somehow finds time to give ballroom dance lessons to her students and takes weight-lifting classses at her gym.
[Insert “You can do it!” poster]
Tip-toeing was Emily’s idea and it’s probably my favorite photo of this dress.
Oh, and there goes that lovely “bell” again.
Tea dresses also bring elegance and classiness. Totally feeling that “Grace Kelly” vibe.
Yasss it has pockets! Sold yet?
Emily asked me beforehand if there were certain accessories I wanted to use and I mentioned wanting a nice brooch. She told me about this vintage brooch that belonged to her great-great-grandmother. Um yeah. I triple-checked to make sure we didn’t forget to bring it. It ties everything in so well.
Emily suddenly squealed with delight while we were walking closer to the sun because she thought there was a bridge. This is her on the run and gosh I’m so happy I took a moment to capture it.
See what I mean? Like what is this post suppose to be about again? Dresses?
Absolutely beautiful.
So I might have miserably failed trying to convince you to wear more tea length dresses, but man did I have so much fun photographing Emily. I giggled constantly between capturing shots of her because I was so excited at what I saw on the camera screen.
I hope y’all enjoyed the photos.
For me, I shot with a DSLR camera for the first time and found a new hiking trail near Baton Rouge…so that’s success in my book. Yay for new experiences 🙂
Special thanks to Emily for being just ahhhmazing and game for everything. Your confidence shined everywhere and helped my confidence with the camera. I hope you’re able to look back at these photos and remember this very special and fun time in your life. Enjoy the blissfulness of being engaged to your soon-to-be-husband. I’m so excited to see y’all get married.
And shout-out to my brother-in-law Nam for letting me experiment with your camera.
Thanks for reading and following along,
with me
Jules.