I’m a winner!!!
Anyone else feel like they never win ANYTHING? Like they always apply for the sweepstakes and are present for the announcement ceremony, but NEVER win… Well for once I WON SOMETHING! In an Instagram sweepstakes I won admission to the Bloom Bash Austin Workshop hosted by Michaela Noelle & Ashley Slater photography.
It was such a pleasure to be able to attend and in case you happen to be a female creative (any industry!) and are interested in going, I thought I’d share with you my five favorite things from the workshop! I’ll do another post with all of the lovely images from the shoots with Sami Kathryn Photography, probably in the spring!

Things I loved about the Bloom Workshop (with photos by Shalyn Nelson): 1. Cute coffee man… Ha ha, just kidding! But really… It was so fun to walk in on the first day and have a lovely British man serving me a great cup of fancy pour over coffee. In general all of the goodies (food, gifts, setups) were impressive and the environment (Mercury Hall) made lovely by Bee Lavish was a really inspiring space. This totally matters. I can’t be inspired in an underwhelming environment. They did great at ALL THE PRETTY THINGS.2. Confidence in handling flowers. Initially I wasn’t that excited about the floral arranging class, but I feel like getting my hands a little dirty and practicing myself, I was able to get a more intimate relationship and appreciation for the floral designers I work with. An added bonus was that I learned some great tips for making my personal arrangements look more intentional! Thanks to The Heirloom Table for patiently teaching us some skills!  3. Practice with flat lay styling. This was a big one for me! ALL THE PRETTY THINGS! Its so rare that I have several ring boxes, several back grounds, multiple sets of invitations, stamps, ribbon etc. in a range of colors and styles to play with. It was nice to have some guidance and all of the supplies handy to just play! On a wedding day, I sometimes have a hard time switching from my left brained duties (details and logistics) to right brained creative tasks. Flat lay styling is one of those things I’m learning to 1) do the night before the wedding 2) understand that practice makes it come more naturally. Simply Jessica Marie brought these stunning paper pieces!4. Challenge to Set Goals. I’m a person who really likes to keep my promises. Like really. I have a hard time setting goals because I fear if I don’t execute it perfectly, I’ll let someone, or myself down. Being in a space with other girls, who aren’t perfect (like it looks on Instagram) but just trying their best, helped me get a more realistic picture of how I can set goals without the burden of not meeting expectations. Michaela actually said that her most read blog posts are consistently her goal posts. After reading a couple, I really appreciated that she shared honestly, how sometimes she didn’t meet them! And that’s ok! Here’s the thing, if I never set goals, I’ll never have the satisfaction of achieving them!5. Relationships with other REAL entrepreneurial girls who are struggling and succeeding, just like me. Anyone ever feel like they are always losing in the competition of Instagram perfection? My sweet friend calls this comparing my insides to other’s outsides. It’s unfair, unrealistic and will always leave me feeling not good enough. If I would have looked up any of these gals (teachers and students) on instagram, I would have sized them up, and sized up myself against them. But meeting them in person FIRST and just seeing that they were REAL people made me INSTAntly feel (see what I did there) safer. I wanted to get to know them, to get know about their business and gleam inspiration from them. The struggle of working with ME, MYSELF, and I ALL DAY is REAL. I have to try to build a network, it’s not just there for me when I show up to work every day. It’s so empowering to be with other women learning together, instead of in competition with them. I also really liked that it was not just my narrow subset of vendors (planners), it was nice to gleam ideas off of photographers, calligraphers, florists, bloggers, cake ladies, etc. I suppose a lot of workshops might give you this, but I really feel Michaela and the other teachers were really great about never putting themselves above us, just sharing with us their successful experience and suggestions in lots of things.

The topical things of the workshop were great too (Social Media, Client expectations, calligraphy, etc.). These were just my major takeaways. I would highly encourage you to sign up for one if you are looking for a workshop next year! They will only be hosting one, in November, but I’m sure it will be awesome!

Florals: The Heirloom Table | @theheirloomtable
Invitation Suite: Simply Jessica Marie | @simplyjessicamarie
Rentals: Bee Lavish | @beelavishvintage
Cakes: Feathers & Frosting | @feathersandfrostingatx
Hair & Makeup: Erica Gray Beauty | @ericagraybeauty
Ribbon: Adorn Company | @adorncompany
Wedding Dress: BHLDN | @bhldn
Rings: PVJ | @providencevintagejewelry
Ring Boxes: VoeuDuCoeur | @voeu_du_coeur
Suit: The Black Tux | @theblacktux
Event Concept + Design: Michaela Noelle Designs & Ashley Slater Photography