B & O Station and Banquet Hall Styled Whimsy Glam Wedding

The world surrounding fairy tales has always been engaging to me. Growing up, I always dreamed about an amazing, funny, handsome (of course) man running to me and sweeping me off of my feet - charming me with his sense of humor, gorgeous eyes and beautifully thick, dark hair. Yeah, I'm sure so many girls thought about this - and that idea stuck in my head for so many years. But when I met my husband, it was't about ball gowns and carriage rides, though he is handsome, funny and has gorgeous eyes ;] It was real and whimsical and just EVERYTHING.

All of these thoughts came to my head when planning this shoot. Admittedly, after planning every single thing for my wedding, from the fonts on the invitations to the necklace details for my bridesmaids jewelry, I went through wedding planning withdrawal. I didn't even know what to do with myself afterwards. Fortunately, I work in the industry and get to plan shoots whenever I want! So when I decided to plan my first styled wedding shoot, I took what inspired me and ran like the wind! The whimsical nature of meeting the love of my life mixed with modern day ideas were the backbone structure of this shoot. Pops of sparkle, gold, geometric shapes and beautiful greenery lead the way as I planned every inch of this session.

I'm very much a DIY girl, so I enlisted the help of my mother, Marikay Bellino, to throw together a gorgeous floral arrangement centered around succulent filled gold terrariums. We wanted the greenery to stand out and incorporated soft golds and pinks and whites to balance the look. The unstructured bridal bouquet was hand-crafted with eucalyptus, succulents, peonies, roses and other smaller flowers to give subtle pops of color.

With these modern day elements, I knew the historic B & O Station would be the perfect venue to incorporate the vintage, whimsy style into the shoot. I've worked with Amy Komara, the event coordinator for the B & O, several times and was dying to work with her again! Seriously guys, she is amazing and so easy to work with! We spent one afternoon tossing around ideas, vendors and typical wedding talk that really brought the styled shoot to life.

The venue was built in 1905 and was the train station for the B & O Railroad. You may recognize the name, as it's one of the railroads in the game Monopoly. The exterior is solid brick with wrought iron surrounding the terra cotta above the main entrance. We knew the Youngstown Room inside the B & O was the perfect location for the shoot with the warm colored walls and tons of natural light that balanced beautifully with the sparkle of the linens by Candy Crush Shop, warm make up shades and the hand-painted wedding invitations by the lovely Kristin Thomas of Addressed in White. Not to mention the soft and flowy and oh so perfect gown by Bekah of Adorn Bridal. And that cake (insert heart eyes emoji to infinity)! E. E. Cummings has written some of my most favorite poems, with the one featured being my favorite. Honestly, why WOULDN'T it be on a cake?! Jasmine from Jazzy Cake Creations totally nailed it, like always ;]