Organising a styled shoot for the bride

Client’s request

A bride from abroad is planning a wedding at Chateau Artwine’s vineyard in August 2027. However, she cannot travel to Georgia in advance to see the venue in person, and choosing a wedding location based on online photos alone can be risky. Photos don’t show how the ceremony arch will look at full scale, whether there will be enough space for all the guests, or how the wedding dress will look against the mountain backdrop.

That’s why the bride asked us to arrange a styled shoot so she could get a realistic preview of her wedding at the venue before the big day. She wanted to see three things in particular:

• How the wedding arch she had chosen would look at the venue.
• How to arrange the ceremony chairs to accommodate her number of guests.
• How her chosen wedding dress would look among the vineyards.

Wedding day details

The styled shoot took place in August at Chateau Artwine, a winery hotel in the village of Artana, in Kakheti, Georgia’s main wine-producing region. The venue has been operating since 2021 and is surrounded by vineyards, with the Greater Caucasus Mountains providing a stunning backdrop on one side.

The property features a restaurant with an outdoor terrace, a bar and lounge, a swimming pool, and a garden, making it an ideal setting for the ceremony, reception dinner, and wedding photoshoot all in one location.

What we recreated during the shoot

• A wedding arch in the style chosen by the bride.
• A ceremony seating arrangement tailored to her guest count.
• A wedding dress selected to suit the bride’s figure.
• A model whose measurements closely matched the bride’s.
• A sweet gift from Wedding Planner Elina: custom logo cookies.

The shoot brought together a photographer, a model, a wedding decorator, a florist, and a makeup artist.

Chateau Artwine is located in the village of Artana, near Telavi, approximately a two-hour drive from Tbilisi. For a wedding with guests flying into Georgia, it’s a convenient distance, allowing them to combine the celebration with a trip through the country’s wine region. However, because of the distance and the fact that the bride couldn’t visit in advance, it was important to me to show her the venue before the wedding, not after.

The main goal of the styled shoot was to turn an idea into a visual reality. The bride had chosen her wedding arch and dress, but she hadn’t seen how they would look at this particular venue. We set up the arch at the spot where she plans to hold the ceremony and showed how it looked against the backdrop of the vineyards and mountains. This allowed her to assess the scale, colours, and overall style and make any necessary changes well in advance, rather than just a month before the wedding.

The second priority was the seating arrangement. We arranged the chairs to accommodate the bride’s guest count so she could see how the space in front of the arch would look when filled, where the aisle would run, and whether there would be enough room for everyone. For me as the wedding planner, this also served as a practical layout plan: on the wedding day, we’ll be working from an arrangement that has already been tested, rather than relying on calculations on paper.

The dress and overall look. We selected a wedding dress and a model whose measurements closely matched the bride’s, allowing her to picture herself at the venue on her wedding day. The photos were more than just decorative images; they provided practical insight into how the fabric and silhouette worked against the greenery and mountain backdrop.

The cookies featuring my logo were a small gift I prepare for each of my brides. Similar sweet treats can also be created for wedding guests, for example, with the couple’s names. Wedding favours are especially popular these days: they’re a small but thoughtful gesture and a lovely keepsake from the celebration. At a winery venue, these gifts can also follow a wine-inspired theme, such as miniature wine bottles or wine-themed packaging and décor.

The result: the bride was able to make informed decisions about the arch, seating arrangement, and wedding look after seeing how everything worked at the actual venue. With her August 2027 wedding now in the planning stages, there’s far less uncertainty: she knows what the setting for her big “I do” will look like.