Nothing Says Classy Like The Great Gatsby
By Kalli Jo Smith
In honor of the year 2020 being right around the corner, Ashley Ice, creator of Ashley Ice Photography, willed to design a wedding photoshoot that wreaked of the 1920s era that is elegance and charm.
It’s been two years since this clever idea popped into her head, but being able to hold back her creativity no longer, Ashley assembled a gorgeous Great Gatsby themed wedding photoshoot last month.
With her idea in mind, she began to put it in motion by calling local Kansas City vendors, many she has worked with before, to complete the look. After sit down meetings, follow up phone calls, and much consideration, she brought the entire photoshoot together in just one day.
As chaos came lurking at her door with cold weather beginning to set in, Ashley remained calm and focused during the shoot. With her camera in hand and her assistant Amber Macken at her side, she proved to be unstoppable as she directed the multiple vendors and models around her with pure ease.
The Kansas City Club, the venue Ashley chose for the styled shoot, worked perfectly for the photo shoot with its newly remodeled dark-wooden floors, large windows, and beautifully installed chandeliers that graced the ceiling; she had no problem turning her photoshoot into the 1920s theme she’s been dreaming about creating.
In order to inspire brides in the Kansas City area, her main working location, although she does shoot nationwide, Ashley chose vendors in the Kansas City area to allow brides the ability to find ideas and vendors that were easily accessible to them.
Curious about the look? Keep reading to find out how Ashley pulled her entire wedding photoshoot together using all local Kansas City vendors to inspire brides everywhere. With Ashley’s great eye for design and fantastic camera skills, you won’t be disappointed.
The Venue
Built in 1923, the Kansas City Club, located in downtown Kansas City near the Library Historic District, was recently restored to achieve a more up-to-date but classic look. Perfect for Ashley’s subtle modern twist she wanted mixed within her 1920s styled photoshoot.
With its Italian marble floors, a grand staircase when you walk in, floor-to-ceiling windows, gorgeous chandeliers, and dark-wooden paneling throughout the entire venue, the KC Club was an easy check off on her list of vendors.
“This place really pulls in that Gatsby feel,” she says while nodding to the marble floors and tall windows that overlook downtown Kansas City. “This entire shoot was like planning a full wedding. And for a wedding you need a really good venue, and this place was it.”
The Kansas City Club venue also includes a notable bar area attached to one of the room’s that can be used for more intimate weddings. Its spacious room has recently seen restoration to its dark wooden paneling as well, which allows brides the ability to achieve their 1920s inspired wedding.
The Wardrobe
The dress. Picking out the dress was the key to bringing the entire Gatsby themed photoshoot together. It needed to be elegant and classic, but again, with a modern twist. Ashley brought Sarah Bronson onto the scene, owner of All My Hart Bridal, a plus-size wedding dress shop, to complete the look.
“I think Ashley chose my shop so she could get a different perspective with different body types. We consistently see small models, and this really broadens your audience. It shows women of all body types can feel good and look good too,” Sarah explained to me.
After getting an idea of what Ashley wanted, Sarah and Ashley held a meeting at All My Hart Bridal where Ashley’s model for the wedding shoot tried on dresses of all sorts. The two decided on an elegant, white, satin dress.
The dress was tasteful but still managed to highlight all of the models features, like her hips, by remaining tight from the thighs up but then fanning out at the bottom to create a gorgeous train many brides yearn for.
In order to add to the Great Gatsby look Ashley wanted to achieve, Sarah added a skinny jeweled belt to the model’s wedding dress and a fur wrap to enhance the 1920s look.
It was elegant and feminine in all the right ways, and it was exactly what Ashley wanted.
The tux came from Tip Top Tux and incorporated the colors black and white gracefully. The male model wore black pants with a white dress shirt with black buttons, a black vest and bow tie, and a classy white jacket to achieve the 1920s desired look.
“I wanted the mixture of black and white, even though I decided to run with white mainly for this shoot, black is a pretty heavy color during the Gatsby era and that’s mainly shown through the guy’s outfit,” Ashley explained while shooting pictures of engagement rings in velvet boxes while she waited for her models to finish getting ready.
Hair and Makeup
Shani Overfelt, a makeup artist in the Kansas City area, was in charge of makeup and hair for the wedding photoshoot. In order to create the model’s 1920s look, Shani had to consider the fact that at this time make up was just becoming more acceptable for women to wear.
With this in mind, Shani created a bold eye look for the model with long eyelash extensions. However, Shani noted that during this time winged eyeliner wasn’t being done yet, instead she decided to create a smudged eyeshadow look.
The model’s foundation remained simple, however, the lips proved to be an important element to the look because of the model’s porcelain skin tone. Shani recommended a dark-colored lip for brides wanting to recreate this look.
“Also it’s important for brides who go for the dark lip that they keep something to touch up with because it’s a long day,” Shani suggested during the photoshoot.”
The transition from long hair to short hair in the 1920s was a noticeable one. With the model’s shorter locks, Shani was able to successfully achieve the Gatsby look with light finger-waved curls that hugged the model’s face.
However, brides with longer hair should be discouraged by this because long hair is still very much still in fashion today. Longer-haired brides can achieve this look by creating finger-waved curls as well.
Whether your hair is short or long, both looks are attainable. Shani suggested brides add jeweled clips, headbands, or hair comb accessories to enhance the vintage feel. For this photoshoot specifically, Shani used a gorgeous jeweled hair comb accessory to pull back the left side of the model’s short, dark hair.
The Flowers
As a certified floral designer for over 25 years and owner of Botanical Floral Designs in Kansas City, Ashley knew Matt Hutchinson was the man for the job because of his experience and love for floral designs.
Growing up Matt would sneak into his neighbor’s yard and steal her flowers to create May Day baskets for the entire neighborhood. Although he was eventually caught and then indebted to his neighbor for the next two years as her personal lawn mower, Matt knew at that point he was destined to become a florist.
“I think at that point it was pretty obvious what I liked to do,” Matt says with a laugh.
With his experience and passion at the ready, Matt was able to assist Ashley the entire day to make sure every flower, stem, and vase was positioned to her liking.
Matt chose white garden roses, tulips, and orchids to add an elegant feel to Ashley’s shoot, but then added in a mix of greenery and also spray painted certain stems a golden color to compliment the white and gold color scheme Ashley had chosen. He also added feathers into certain vases to reciprocate a 1920s vibe.
“A lot of doing this kind of stuff comes from active listening,” Matt explains. “We had a sit down meeting, a couple of inspiration pictures, and then I was off.”
Ashley used clear test tube vases with golden brims for certain garden roses to add a more personal and intricate design to the photoshoot.
The Decor
As far as dinnerware goes, Ashley chose gold-wired placemats to accent the white plates, and clear elegant glasses with golden trim on top. Ashley also used gold colored silverware, which worked as a good accent against the white table covers.
As she strategically placed each placemat and plate accordingly, Ashley noted the gold color to resemble something of an Aztec gold; “shiny” and “full of life.” Ashley rented the table settings from Ultrapom in Kansas City.
“These items were chosen for their modern look and something that hasn’t been used before,” Ashley says.
The Cake
The most obvious item that radiated a Gatsby vibe during Ashley’s shoot was the cake, which was created by classically trained Pastry Chef Chrystal Traner, owner of Petals and Pastries in Kansas City.
Chrystal said the cake was inspired by The Great Gatsby art deco, which is highlighted by the gold artsy lines that take up about half of the cake.
Chrystal also added fringe to the bottom of the cake to mimic the 1920s vintage-style fringe flapper dresses.
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Photo courtesy Ashley Ice Photos
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“When I googled inspiration for the cake I saw a lot of black, but I decided to go with all white to adhere to the white and gold theme Ashley was wanting for the shoot,” Chrystal explained to me while pinning white roses to the top of the cake.
To add to the gold and white themed colors of the shoot, Chrystal also made use of an old cake tray that she couldn’t seem to pin down where she purchased it.
“I normally look at places like Marshalls or anywhere really that sells these things,” Chrystal said with a laugh. “I try to make use of whatever I’ve got, but also make sure it fits the theme. This just kind of worked out.”
Vendors
Photographer
ASHLEY ICE PHOTOGRAPHY | IG: @ashleyicephotos
Planning
ELEVEN EVENTS AND PLANNING HANNAH RENOLLET | IG: @11eventsandplanning
Blog
KANSAS WEDDING MAGAZINE | IG: @kansasweddings
Vehicle
Florals
BOTANICAL FLORAL MATT HUTCHISON DESIGNS | IG: @botanicalfloraldesigns
Hair and Makeup
SHANELISE MUA SHANI ANDERSON OVERFELT | IG: @shanelisemua
Dress
ALL MY HART BRIDAL SARAH BRONSON | IG: @allmyheartbridal
Menswear
TIP TOP TUX, MANAGER CARL | IG: @tiptoptux
Venue
THE KANSAS CITY CLUB, MANAGER RENEE | IG: @thekansascityclub
Desserts
PETALS & PASTRIES, CHRYSTAL TRANER | IG: @petalsandpastries
Stationery
YELLOW BRICK GRAPHICS, MICKENZIE BUSH | IG: @yellowbrickgraphics
Table Settings
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