The Ring Blog: Behind the scenes of a fashion shoot

Photography by Renaissance Studios Photography (www.renaissancestudios.ca)
Story by Carla @ The Ring

By now, you've probably seen the fashion spread that The Ring did for the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of The Wedding Ring Magazine (and if you haven't, you should get on that: click here). You saw the final, polished product - five beautiful brides with flawless hair and make-up, gorgeous gowns, sexy shoes and accessories to accent it all. With the fabulous, Romanesque backdrop, the team at Renaissance Studios Photography captured it all and the team at The Ring put it all together. Hmm... when you condense it down into two sentences like that and a six page spread, it sounds like a piece of wedding cake; but, have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of a photo shoot? From the pre-shoot preparations to the day-of and post production, this shoot entailed 12 gowns, 15 pairs of shoes, a team of 20+ people, hundreds of photos, and 8 hours at one amazing venue. We're not about to give away all of our secrets, but here's a sneak peek...

PHOTOGRAPHY: Renaissance Studios Photography | BRIDES: Trina Byrne, Jamie Contarini, Melissa Judson, Alex Pokras and Dana Zegers | GOWNS: Couture Threads Bridal & Event Dressing (www.couture-threads.com) and Elegant Affair Bridals (www.elegantaffairbridals.com) | ACCESSORIES & SHOES: La Crème (www.lacremedecor.com) | MAKE-UP: Synergy Esthetics (www.synergyesthetics.com) and Erika Snyder, Makeup Artist | ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) | HAIR STYLING: Evolution Concepts in Hair & Spa (www.evolutionhairspa.com) | LOCATION & CATERING: NithRidge Estate Weddings & Events (www.nithridge.com) and Gourmet Affair Catering (www.gourmetaffair.ca) | FLOWERS: The Creative Bride (www.thecreativebride.ca), the flower box (www.theflowerboxca.com) and Village Vines (www.villagevinesflorists.com)

First came the idea in one of The Ring's brain storming meetings (with a little help from the guys at Renaissance) - bridal looks inspired by the seasons. Then, the venue was booked and the wedding experts and models were secured. From each bride we gathered together all of the info we could about them in order to pick out the best dresses for each girl.

We took day trips out to Couture Threads in Stratford and Elegant Affair Bridals in Fergus and picked out our favourite dresses from each shop - about 12 in total (even though we could only use 5, sigh). We had lots of fun trying to pick styles that would not only look great on our models, but matched the seasonal styles we were going for.

Rose from Couture Threads preps the dress (left) | The grounds at NithRidge Estate (right)

The shoot day in mid-June arrived with a downpour of rain and sticky, humid air. Staff at The Ring (while biting our nails) came up with some back-up plans in case the rain didn't let up. Luckily, when we arrived at NithRidge Estate in Ayr to start putting it all together, the sky cleared.

The humidity is another story and made for a bit of tough hair-dos; but, the team at Evolution Concepts in Hair & Spa knew how to handle it. Vince was always armed with his bottle of hairspray and a seriously focused face.

 Vince from Evolution ready for frizz with his bottle of hairsray

Clint Russel and Shawn Van Daele from Renaissance Studios arrived shortly after we did - but they weren't alone. They brought an entire photography brigade along with them. Literally. They all scoped out the estate for the perfect photo locations while the team at The Ring paired dresses, shoes and accessories to our awaiting models. Brittany from La Crème even made the trek out to Ayr to bring us the shoes and accessories even though her own wedding was four days later!

Everyone on their way to photograph Fall (left) | The Renaissance entourage gearing up for the Spring-inspired shoot (right)

While Renaissance scoped the scene, the brides who volunteered to let us dress them up for the day - Trina Byrne, Jamie Contarini, Melissa Judson, Alex Pokras and Dana Zegers - were busy getting their hair done by Evolution and their make-up done by Cindy Fraser from Synergy Esthetics and Erika Snyder, an Elmira area make-up artist.

 The Evolution team busy beautifying our models' hair (left) | Jamie gets her make-up done by Erika (right)

 Sabrina from Evolution concentrates hard on Melissa's hair (left) | Dana goes curly thanks to Jen from Evolution (right)

We also made sure that the gorgeous bouquets made by The Creative Bride, Village Vines and the flower box were healthily watered so as not to get droopy before their big debuts.

 Alex carries her layered from Couture Threads dress while Kim from The Creative Bride lugs her 12 pound bouquet for the Winter shoot

Terry and Marlene Schmidt, the Owners (and residents) of NithRidge made sure everyone was taken care of and even ordered us food and drinks from Gourmet Affair Catering. We observed it all, gave our creative input when needed, recorded all of the details for the mag write-up, and of course, enjoyed hanging out with some of our favourite clients all day (literally... we were there from 2 pm till 9 pm).

Terry & Marlene observe all the action (left) | Terry preps the horses - McAllister [MAC] and Torino [RINO] (right)

The Renaissance entourage had our model brides trudge through fields, lean against barns, lie down on cement columns, and sit beside fountains - and they never once complained. The rain stayed away and the light lasted until our last bride had been photographed. And even after such a long day, everyone was having so much fun that they actually stayed after the shoot just to hang out.

Jamie survived getting hooved by a horse all in the name of a fashion shoot (left) | Dana poses against the barn boards for the Renaissance team (right)

Thanks to this amazing group of people, we not only got a cover photo and a six page spread for the magazine, but an extended gallery and an experience to share that we hope you loved hearing about as much as we loved doing it.