Helloo friends! I hope you are having the best of weeks and that Monday did not kick your butt (like it did mine yesterday).  but Tuesday's are more forgiving and I am here sipping on my favourite latte and SO excited to share photo's of my first ever real gig.

So.. I have been decorating our home for two-ish years and on the side I have been doing some event planning and event decor (Check out My Portfolio and Services Offered) - but this has all been for friends and for fun! Recently, I decided, sure I could offer this as a service.. because lets be real - planning an event is like my crack, if you know what I mean, and it is rewarding in a whole different way. Every time I have planned an event with friends for close loved ones, it has been such an incredible experience to see their reactions and make them feel loved. Plus, it lets the creativity flow in a different way than home decor, but also lets me incorporate some of my home decorating skills!

So when Qurrat at Qurrat A'yun Studios approached me about a potential collaboration, I was all in! She is a professional wedding photographer, and sometimes I wish I could re-do our wedding to get her to take our photos. She is THAT good! You have to check her out on her website HERE. She also does fall mini sessions, where you can book a 20 minute slot for a fraction of the price that you would pay for a portrait session and in the past these have been at beautiful locations in the fall. So this year, she wanted them to be different in some way so that they would stand out to her clients. So we decided to collaborate and she left the creative reigns completely up to me. She scoped out a beautiful location and sent me photos the week before and I went to work.

I recreated an outdoor living scene, inspired by my sweet friend Jessica at I Dream Of Home Making - I means she truly is the queen of decorating outdoor (and indoor) living space filled with character and glam. And recently, I have had the privilege of connecting more with her, and let me just tell you - she is even kinder than she seems! She is an incredible mom, decorator, creator of beauty and over all I love her so much!

My outdoor set up was inspired also by taking the indoors outdoors so families and couples coming for their shoots, felt comfortable and "at home". I added elements like throws and pillows and even a Rae Dunn mug.. because who are we kidding, this girl loves her Rae!

I also added vintage rusty chippy goodness in the form of these vintage sap buckets I got at a local antique shop for a steal! I filled them with silver birch logs, which I conveniently snagged from a friend who had a pile in her backyard! I mean, you guys know I am all about being thrifty and staying in a budget, and nothing says budget like FREE! The little "Family" sign is from the talented Bexley Boys and the pumpkins and gourds were all from a local farm.

I also wanted to say a little thank you to all the folks who had booked their photo shoots with us on that day! And thanks to some insipiaration by a sweet friend, Sundus, I made these cute little Apple Cider Cinammon Spice Mix (Check out the tutorial HERE) for the families as a sweet thank you 🙂 Also, before I even gave them out, my whole family tried it.. and man oh man, was it YUM! You definitely need to make some and it literally took FIVE minutes!

So there you have it! My first every collaboration featuring a styled shoot for families and couples with a talented photographer! We also had our very own family photo's taken and I can't wait to share those once we get them - but it was a little bit of a disaster as you can never predict when baby girl wants to pose or not 😉 If you are interested in having your family or even solo photo's taken, I will be doing another styled shoot on November 4th in the Greater Toronto Area. Check out the schedule HERE to book a slot**! There are only TWO slots left for a styled shoot! Hope to see you there sweet friend!

Hugs,

Areeba

** note that the styled set up will be different but similarly fall themed with lots of yumminess!

SOURCES

**affiliate links are used in this post - If you decide to purchase something via the link, I get an itty bitty commision - but you don't pay anything extra!**