Weddingbee Blog

It’s time for another behind the scenes glimpse into the wedding magazine world!  Today’s guest post is by Bridal Guide Magazine Associate Fashion & Beauty Editor, Alison Rowe.

Can you believe it’s 90-degrees out and we are about to start working on the January/February ’09 issue—which, by the way, is going to be especially beautiful, as we are shooting the entire fashion well (that chunk of the mag that is full of fabulous fashion and beauty, aka, ad-free zone) in St. John in the USVI.

In addition to writing my pages (beauty file, style file and cover style), part of my job is booking all the models, so right now I am busy trying to find the next gorgeous girl to be on our new cover. I have a board where I pin cards of all my favorite models, new ones I want to keep an eye on, and ones that I want to keep in mind for future stories. I actually just gave it a thorough spring-cleaning about a week ago, so it’s less cluttered than usual.

 
Having all these perfect specimens staring at me makes me feel very guilty when I sneak chocolate or candy!

The first shoot of every issue is the cover, and choosing the girls for that is a pretty tough selection process. To start with, I contact all the agencies to see who is in town and available for the day of the shoot, then put a ‘hold’ on the girls I think would be appropriate. Next I show their books to the powers that be, and they select their top 5 or 6 girls to come in and meet with us before the final choice is made. We generally end up picking a couple of girls to try, and shoot them all on the same day. The one whose photos look best ends up being on the cover. (Kind of like America’s Next Top Model, but without Tyra!) The bar is set pretty high: She has to have great skin, great hair, a great smile and of course, that certain ‘something’!

 
A stack of model’s portfolios (or books) by my desk—will any of these girls make the cover?!

We always shoot the cover at a studio here in NYC, and we have a great team that we like to work with. Mary, our makeup artist, has been on Make Me A Supermodel on Bravo, and has been written up by pretty much every respectable beauty mag—yes, we wrote about her, too! Jeanie, our hair stylist, is currently taping Project Runway, so we get to hear lots of fun stories about the show!

Jeanie starts the transformation…

And then Mary finishes it.

We call in multiple gowns for cover, and always have the model try on a few to see which one looks best—here’s a condensed selection. (It’s like celebs picking their gowns for the Oscars!)

Our super stylist, Drew, steams the gowns to make sure they look perfect.

Once the girl is dressed we get to accessorize. Another part of my job is calling in (“pulling”) all the jewelry, headpieces and shoes for the photo shoots, so while the model is getting her hair and makeup done, I am unpacking (and packing at the end of the day). It’s a lot of stuff to keep track of!

The photographer, Kip, waiting to shoot.

After cover comes everything else for the fashion well, and the 1st thing is more models!

Generally we’ll have a casting before each shoot cycle, and I will schedule a bunch more models that we didn’t see for cover to come up to the office at a certain time. I’ll let the bookers know what we are working on and they will send up a number of girls or guys that they think might work. Dana (our fashion and beauty editor) and Mary Cate (art director) will sit in, too, and we’ll meet the models and take their Polaroids. (It’s very helpful to have a record of what they look like without hair and makeup!) When the casting is done, we’ll discuss whom we like, and what stories we would like to try them for, then I’ll then call the bookers and put them on “option”.

The issue we just finished shooting, November/December ’08, has a really beautiful fashion section. We went on location to Old Westbury Gardens, in Long Island, NY to shoot a gorgeous floral gown story. It’s a really amazing spot, check it out here. FYI: They do ceremonies on-site…I’m just saying! Location shoots are always my favorite ones, but they’re long days: We get to the office at 7:00am to pack everything into a location van, and by the time we get back and unload at the end, of the day it’s often 7:30pm—or later. Phew!

Here are some snaps of our day at the gardens:

Yep, she’s sitting on a wall in a ball gown!

Driving from the location van to the set.
 

One of the photographer’s battery packs—I second the sentiment, but I need a good dose of caffeine, too!

The digital technician processing images as they come in from the camera.

Me trying to sort out a model crisis in the location van—the girl we wanted to use for the next shoot fell ill, so she wasn’t available after all. Nothing like a last minute panic to keep you on your toes!

Last shot of the day at Old Westbury Gardens.

We also shot a fantastic story that was all about gowns with Fortuny pleating (aka, knife pleating). We saw a lot of it at the most recent bridal market—Dana was telling you all about that in her blog—and we think it’s going to be a huge trend.

Last minute hair touch ups before we start shooting.

Our stylist, Sharon, fixing a seam that had come undone. (Me in the background sorting out another model crisis—this shoot cycle seemed totally jinxed!)

And last, but not least, we shot a wonderfully romantic story in New York’s Central Park that was inspired by the movie The Princess Bride. Sigh…

A few minor adjustments to the gown…

Running from the—imaginary—Prince Humperdinck.

Our models were troopers: it was pretty hot that day, and he was in a full tux, and she did an awful lot of running in high heels!

See how glamorous photo shoots are? This is our model getting changed in the middle of the park! (She’s surrounded by a posse of sheet holders for privacy!)

You’re not going to want to miss the beauty story this issue, either. It’s all about how to look amazing in your pictures—who doesn’t want that?! We had celebrity photographer Davis Factor (of Max Factor fame) shoot it, and the super-lovely Lori Taylor, lead artist for Smashbox for LA Fashion Week do the makeup.

Lori touching up the lipstick.

That’s about it for this issue… Be sure to keep an eye out for it on newsstands come September!