Hello friends!

The women of C+L love soft scarves, crunchy leaves, and pumpkin spice lattes (#basicbitch alert). Fall has a special place in our hearts. We embrace the crisp cold air that October + November bring, and we are delighted to break out our leggings and baggy sweaters. We have been dreaming up ideas for our fall shoot since the start of the year. We wanted romantic. We wanted non-traditional. We wanted moody & bold.

Our dear photographer friend, Tiffany Williams, sent us an exciting email a few months ago sharing a new wedding venue in Stevensville, Montana. We got a sneak peak of the breathtaking Moonshadow Estates and immediately fell head over heals in love. We knew this would be the location for our shoot. The never ending views, the blown out rock walls, and the industrial barn door got our creative wheels spinning. We are honored to be able to be the first to coordinate a styled shoot at Moonshadow Estates and we are excited to work with the owner, Tim, more in the future.

Moonshadow Estates reminded Alicia of the champagne caves in France. After realizing this, the shoot had to have wine crates, bottles, and cheese! We also wanted to showcase some new items we have added to our collection - a beautiful arch and wooden sweetheart table. We warmed up the space with lots of rugs and handmade macrame.

We are so thankful each of our amazing vendors for making this happen. Stay tuned for Arrowroot Production's video! 

Design & Coordinating: Champagne + Linen
Photographer: Tiffany Photography
Videographer: Arrowroot Productions
Flowers: Mighty Fine Farm
Cake: Cakes in the Zoo ⠀
Rentals: Vintage 44 Rentals
Venue: Moonshadow Estates⠀
Dress: Velvet Bride ⠀
Groom's attire: Betty's Divine ⠀
Hair & Makeup: Meraki Rose ⠀
Rugs: Sway & Co.
Wine Crates: Missoula Wine Merchants
Wine bottles: The Stone of Accord
Rings: Studio Pandora
Paper goods: ​Champagne + Linen

If you're looking for our big announcement...keep scrolling friend. 

Okay now I guess we can tell you....

This shoot is going to be in Montana Bride Magazine's 2018 issue. That's right folks, it's going to be in PRINT! 

It all started with an insta story.

Champagne + Linen has been following (more like #girlcrushing) Samantha McFarlen on social media for a while now. One day, she posted on her insta story that she was looking for some vendors to collaborate on a Halloween inspired styled shoot. We DM-ed her almost instantly and scheduled a phone call. Sam is based in the Seattle, which is where Alicia grew up and really uses any excuse to visit. That night it was decided, the C+L girls were going to Seattle for a Halloween inspired styled shoot.

We all love Halloween - the colors, the crisp air, the pumpkins, the apple cider, dressing up, the creepiness. Really, everything. For styled shoots, we usually end up renting a bunch of decor items. We still did that, but luckily Mariah has a lot of chic, creepy house decor.

We had about a month to coordinate this shoot. It was challenging, but everything was finalized. The week of the shoot we decided it was cursed, which is so fitting since it was Halloween.

Monday
Problem: We found out that a few of the rentals we wanted were not available.
Solution: Alicia made a table top and bought pillows (Bless Target!).

Tuesday
Problem: Our models had a family emergency and were no longer available. We should add that we total understand all family emergencies. Life happens. We totally understand. Your well being and family is the most important thing!
Solution: Our amazing 2018 clients were available.

Wednesday
Problem: Our hair+makeup artist had a family emergency.
​Solution: A new one was found!

Thursday
Problem: We no longer had our model’s leather jacket and menswear and frantically had to find it.
Solution: A Missoula boutique let us pick out pieces the night before we left for Seattle!

We already knew that there are just some things that are out of your control. You just have to roll with the punches and figure out a solution. This shoot pushed us to be even better at solving those issues on the fly and from eight hours away.

After that, the curse was lifted. All the vendors we worked with are incredibly talented and gracious. They definitely over delivered and we are over the moon on how this shoot turned out. PNW, you set the bar high.

Happy Halloween!

Design + Coordination || Champagne + Linen
Photographer || Samantha McFarlen
Florist || Florals by Keira Grech
Tabletop Rentals || Balancing Balloon
Cake Table || Oh So Chic 
Calligrapher || August + Stone
Cake || Sweet Geeky Cakes 
HMU || Magdalena Ayon Makeup Artist
Gown || Calla Bridal
​White Leather Jacket + Leather Shoes || Olive + Iron
Ring || Point No Point Studio
Models || Melanie Lienhard + Blake Gallagher 

 The women of  Champagne + Linen are so excited and proud  to share with you our Snow White inspired styled shoot.  We wanted to have a styled shoot that told a classic love story and something that was a little more dark and off beat. We became interested in the current fairy tale trend and decided to retell the classic story of Snow White. C+L knew that the design and styling possibilities with Snow White would be endless and could not wait to put our twist on the timeless tale. We wanted to emphasize light and dark. The pureness of Snow, and the wickedness of the Evil Queen.

This shoot gave us the opportunity to work with old friends and new friends. During our planning we met the wonderful Don & Julia Photography out of Spokane, WA who agreed to photograph our shoot. We cannot find words to express how thrilled we are with Don & Julia’s work, and cannot wait to collaborate with them again in the future.

C+L wanted to demonstrate the possibilities of having a more nontraditional wedding. There are so many imaginative brides out there who are marching to a different beat -- which we think is fantastic. We had so much fun planning and styling this shoot. We hope you love and enjoy the photos as much as we do. As always, a huge thank you to everyone who made this shoot possible including: all the amazing vendors listed below, friends, and family. Cheers to all the creative and lovely people who inspire and motivate us to do better.

And they lived happily ever after,
Alicia, Ariel & Mariah

Coordination + Styling || Champagne + Linen
Venue || Stone Tower Estates
Photographer || Don + Julia Photography
Bridal Skirts || Welcome to Royalty 
Suite || Men's Warehouse
Sword || Zombie Tools
Rentals || Vintage 44 
Rentals || Oh So Chic
Sweet Treats || Poppy
Calligraphy || Zoë Phelan
Florist || Flower Bed 
Hair + Makeup || Montana Wedding Hair with Shear Art Salon
Drinks || The Montana Distillery
Rings || Young in the Mountains
Shoes || Bean An Ti
​Styling cloth + ribbon || A Ribbon's Nest
Evil Queen Model || Megan Robson
Snow White Model || Alicia Houghtaling
Prince Charming Model || Kyle Houghtaling

​|| Fairest of them all ||

Where are our DIY couples at?! You don't want to miss this shoot.

During our first shoot we wanted to collaborate with as many amazing vendors as possible. It totally paid off, we threw ourselves into styling and coordinating. We learned so much and wouldn't change a thing.

This time we wanted to do something different. We decided to really showcase what we can do. We might be new - but we bring a lot to the table.

Including two sweetheart tables.

Mariah and Alicia each put together a sweetheart table. All these items were purchased at thrift stores or were things we already had. When planning your own wedding, go shopping in your own house! You'll be surprised what you can incorporate into your special day. 

Next, was the florals. We sourced local, organic flowers - which was surprisingly easy for April in Montana. We got beautiful ranunculus and eucalyptus and went to work. 

See that dreamy smokey eye and elegant hair? That was all Ariel. 

Recognize this couch? Mariah talked about it in her Thrift Store Hits blog post. Next week we're going to dive into the inspiration for the shoot. Stay tuned!

Photography // Marissa Irene Photography
Bridal Gown // Lorelei by Leanne Marshall from Velvet Bride
Ribbon // A Ribbon's Nest
Wooden Farm Table // Oh So Chic
Cupcakes // Black Cat Bake Shop
Styling, coordination, hair, makeup + floral // Champagne + Linen