Easy Floral Crown Tutorial for DIY Brides

Floral crowns were a big wedding trend for last year's brides and are still pretty popular this year, especially for spring and summer ceremonies. You can buy a lovely handmade crown on Etsy, but they are pretty easy to make on your own, too.

To do this quick and easy DIY project, you will need:
- Several bunches of artificial flowers (I got mine from the dollar store - enough to make 3 crowns for $7.)
- Heavy florist's wire
- Hot glue
- Florist's tape

Simply bend some heavy florist's wire into a circle that is big enough to fit nicely on your head. Then, pull the flowers off of the artificial stems they are attached to. If any of the flowers seem like them will fall apart now that they are off the stem, secure them with hot glue. Arrange the flowers in a pleasing design. I went with a half circle of flowers for the first crown and a 3/4 circle for the second. The third has a few flowers spaced evenly around the crown.

Once you are happy with your design, glue the flower that will be on the center front of the crown into place on your wire circle. Glue a flower to each side. Continue until all the flowers are attached to the circle.

Step back and take a good look at your crown. If it looks great, you are ready to wrap the exposed wire portion of the crown with florist's tape to make it look finished. If not, add more flowers between the ones already glued into place.

How easy was that? And it only cost a few dollars!

Maryland Creative Beauty Portrait Session - Stream in the Woods

This is part three of a styled beauty shoot in Harford County, Maryland. When you pair a talented dancer with graceful hands and a gorgeous location, you get magic. I'm usually all about props and accessories to help enhance the story of a creative session, but they weren't needed here. I loved the serene awesomeness of this session.

Creative Musical Cecil County Maryland Senior Portrait Session

I love working with creative juniors and seniors to create amazing senior portrait sessions that highlight who they are. Fashionista? Musician? Star lacrosse player? Together, we can create a senior portrait session that is nothing like the cookie cutter school portraits being offered. First, I'll ask some questions to help you decide what you want your session to be about. Then, I'll help you choose a wardrobe and the right accessories. To pull everything together, I will create an inspiration board that reflects your interests and helps me plan your shoot.

I offer on location senior portraits in Cecil and Harford County, Maryland, Delaware and the Oxford, Pennsylvania area. Not sure whether you have an amazing location like this near you? I'll let you in on a little secret. It is just a bend in a little trail in a tiny hiking area up the street from my studio and looks completely underwhelming at first glance. I can find something pretty about almost any location!

 

What to Wear for Spring Portrait Sessions - Wardrobe Ideas for Family Portraits

Part of every successful portrait session is wardrobe styling. It can be really overwhelming to put together outfits for an entire family, so I like to provide some tips when you book your session. My biggest tip? You don't have to be matchy matchy any more. Pick a shirt, dress or skirt with a pattern or design you love and build the rest of the outfits around this piece. (Or if you want to hang portraits in a specific room, use that room's inspiration piece as your color wheel!)

Still not sure where to start? I've discovered some awesome guides on what to wear that have some great wardrobe options for families. Here's a perfect option for spring clothing for a family portrait. Pink, Kelly green and a great navy blue. The polka dot pattern of the little girl's skirt carries through to the older girl's belt and the inside of her sweater. (The skirt is the foundation piece for the entire wardrobe. Note how all the other garments match the colors in this cute little number!)

If you literally want this selection, you can shop Gap, Old Navy and Piperlime for the different pieces. However, I'd encourage you to make the look your own so you feel your best. So, if mom loves dresses, a pretty pink or green number would be amazing. If dad is positive he won't feel right in pink, he can choose to add a touch of green to his outfit instead.

Need more help with your family's wardrobe? Just ask. I am more than happy to help with wardrobe selection!

Fun Portrait Session in Harford County Maryland - Red Parasol in the Woods

I adore the simple beauty of a single prop, an elegant dress and a lovely woman in a natural setting. When I saw this parasol, I knew immediately that it was a perfect addition to my prop closet. I was right. It really helped create the perfect images for this fun portrait session in Harford County, Maryland.

Props like this parasol give people something to do with their hands and enhance the overall feel of a photo.

Another lovely, simple portrait with the parasol.

I like to be sure to capture some images without props in each location, too. It adds variety to the image gallery.

Of course, your surroundings are pretty much one giant prop bin. This tree got a lot of use and was the basis for a lot of gorgeous images. This is one of my favorite from this part of the session.

Want to see more of Aura in this Harford County area creative shoot? I blogged the red balloon portion of this session the other day.

Balloons and Beauty - Creative Portrait Session in Harford County Maryland

Beautiful portraits can be created anywhere, but it sure is fun to head to a gorgeous location with a few simple props to make some lovely portraits. I have been wanting to use red balloons and this amazing vintage red and black parasol, so I was really excited to finally be able to put together a creative beauty portrait session styled around them.

I style a session with a lot of options, but I don't usually use all of them. I like to have extra props and posing ideas in case I want to change things up when we start shooting. In this case, my green suitcase never ended up making it into the shoot. I am pulling it into a styled beauty session I have scheduled in a few weeks instead.

The balloons, on the other hand, made the cut. 

I love it when a location, props, makeup and wardrobe all come together to help me create the images I'm looking for. Of course, without an amazing woman to hold the balloons and wear the makeup and wardrobe, the images wouldn't happen!

This is pretty close to what I wanted to end up with when I started the session. I love working with textures to enhance a photo and help me get a gorgeous painterly look. This particular texture is from the folks over at Distressed Textures. I adore their overlays.

We actually did three mini shoots in different locations for this session. I don't want to make the post crazy long, so I'm going to stop here for now. I'll blog the parasol in the woods and the stream soon. In the meantime, if you want to build a fun and creative portrait session around a special prop or two, feel free to email me, give me a call at 410-378-4521, or message me on facebook about booking your beauty shoot!

Styling: Katelyn Thomas
Makeup: Aura
Model: Aura
Photographer: Katelyn Thomas

Meadow Post Wedding Photography in Harford County, Maryland - Glam the Dress Session

While your photographer can usually get some absolutely amazing photos of you in your gorgeous wedding dress, sometimes you're faced with problems that leave you without those wow images you were hoping for. Whether it is the weather, the venue, or some other wedding day problem, sometimes it can be hard to get those amazing portraits you were hoping to hang on your wall. So, does that mean you are out of luck? Not at all.

 

A fun new trend for couples is a day after session, which is held either the day after the ceremony or shortly after you return from your honeymoon. It is a great way to get the wedding couple formals done in a relaxed and fun way a day or two after your wedding. It also is a chance to really take advantage of a gorgeous location, such as a nearby beach or meadow, that you were hoping to use for photos. Plus, getting all dressed up again to spend time together taking romantic photos without the stress of making sure your wedding day goes well? What could be better?

For brides who simply want to have some creative bridal portraits, there is another option - the trash the dress session, which can be scheduled any time after the wedding, usually before you send your dress to be dry cleaned and carefully preserved. I prefer to call it a styled wedding portrait session or a glam the dress session, since few brides actually want to ruin their beautiful gowns.

It is a great idea to have your hair and makeup professionally done for any of these sessions. You may want to use the same makeup artist you used for the wedding day or you may want to experiment with fantasy makeup for a completely different creative look.

To schedule a day after session or styled wedding portrait session, please call 410-378-4521, email me, or message me on facebook. You can also visit the website for more on portrait sessions or for information on booking Katelyn Thomas Photography for your wedding.

Credits:
Make Up - Brooke Long
Bride - Brooke Long
Styling - Katelyn Thomas
Photography - Katelyn Thomas