deconstructed- our french inspired shoot

After honeymooning in France and eating countless baguettes and macarons, I knew Steve would have no problem nailing a French flea market themed photo shoot. It was guaranteed to be très belle!

I only caught a few glimpses of him working on it, though. He’d be up late in our dining room playing with our silverware, eyeing how all the pieces would look on top of my mom’s white china versus next to it. He had the idea to use mini baguettes to double as guest place cards. This was such a great idea (in theory), until we visited what felt like every bakery and grocery store in the Seattle area. We could not find baguettes that were quite right. They were either too long, too fat, or too dark in color.

We tried every place we could possibly think of, buying a lot of not-quite-right breads along the way. I think we ended up with a backseat filled with some pretzel bread, a few different types of rolls, and maybe a few croissants until we found the ones that were just right in size and in color. Magnifique! Steve always says that blue is a tricky color to work with, especially when used in shades other than classic navy. He  found some antique blue and white toile patterned wallpaper that Judy of Tallant House used  to create an edible image for the beautiful toile cakes. She also made the gorgeous macarons that Steve piled high, and surely had to also ‘taste test.’ To round out the tablescape with a real vintage look, Jeni of Found Vintage Rentals was so kind to send up some of her antique calligraphy writings. The faded edges, scripted handwriting and aged staining on the pages gave the shoot just what it needed.

Add in the gorgeous stamped wood menus created by Sally of La Happy and her hand lettered place cards (tied to the perfect baguettes) and there you have it! Fantastique, just like I knew it would be. photo credit: Matthew Land Studios