Brunch, YUM!
On Sunday morning, Michael and I invited all of our Stormy Brides and Grooms to his parents’ home over for our first “Stormy Brides Brunch.” If you don’t already know, Michael and I are cliche millennials who LOVE brunch food and coffee, of course. Heck, we even had a brunch WEDDING!
We’ve been talking for a few months about the idea of bringing all of our brides and grooms together and spoiling them with an experience outside of their photography experience with us. When we say we feel like friends with our couples, it’s not just words. We truly care about all of our Stormy Brides and Grooms and I’m so blessed to have built such sweet friendships with all of them! I’d go even farther to say that some of my Stormy Brides feel like long lost sisters to me. Living in Washington with no family besides Michael’s can be extremely lonely and I treasure all of these special guys and gals in my life <3
So, why hold a brunch and invite all of these couples who don’t know each other beyond having me as a connection point? To answer that, I’d have to back up and briefly break down what it means to be a “Stormy Bride.” A Stormy Bride isn’t just some weirdo name that I gave my brides to try to be cool or hip. My kind of bride wants joyful and genuine photos of herself and her groom in a timeless style.
Beyond just photography preferences, my Stormy Brides all have a special “quirk” to them that stands out to me. It’s hard to describe in so few words, but I suppose you could imagine a combination of a hilarious person and an old soul, for many of my brides (myself included).
Because I get to know my couples so well, I already knew that our little community of brides would get along really well in-person, not just in our private Facebook group and through our #stormybride and #stormybrides hashtags on Instagram. A part of me also just really wanted to hang out with all of my couples in one room!
Stormy Brides Brunch
A lot of thought and preparation went into putting this brunch together. Michael’s parents were kind enough to let us use their home for this event. Can you imagine 20 people in our 700 square foot apartment with three cats running around?!?! Being coffee lovers, Michael and I brought our espresso machine to make handcrafted lattes for everyone who didn’t drink black coffee. I thought it would be cute to bring part of my expansive mug collection for our coffee bar, too.
In addition to coffee, I opted for a mimosa bar because brunch drinks are the best kinds of drinks, in my professional opinion. Wanting to do something extra special for everyone who could attend, we ordered personalized champagne glasses from Tara at Everything Done to a T and they were a huge hit! I thought they were super cute!
It’s no surprise that Michael did all of the cooking for the brunch. He decided on making two different french toast casseroles and three different frittatas. Micheal also cut up and made two impressive fruit platters, while I contributed by putting out a bowl of powdered donuts, haha. To be fair, I did decorate the table!
Once people started to arrive and everyone got their mimosa and/or coffee, the schmoozing really took off. By the time we all sat down to eat, the vibe in the room felt so warm and joyful and it was an amazing thing to experience. We finished off the brunch by doing a big group photo (prom pose style per my request, haha) because you can bet I want to print that and put it on my work desk! Then we did a few photos of each our of sweet couples as they all said their goodbyes. Overall, our Stormy Brides Brunch was a blast! I’m still smiling because I got to spend time with all of my brides and grooms who could make it. I am SO BLESSED to do what I do with such amazing people. I’m already excited to plan 2021’s event!
BIG THANK YOUs:
A HUGE thank you to my mother and father-in law for helping before and on the day of the brunch and our amazing friend, Brandon, for being such a huge help, too!
Interested in being a Stormy Bride? Inquire here 🙂
[…] we got to see so many of our couples in one place. If you haven’t seen that blog post, it is HERE. Anyways, since Kayla + Scott got to meet us at our brunch, they had no trouble feeling comfortable […]
[…] My brides and grooms hold a special place in my heart and that’s why I like to take it one step further with my annual Stormy Brides Brunches! Let me spoil you and introduce you to all of my other awesome #stormybrides in person. Check out how much fun we had at our 2020 brunch! […]