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I'm Alicia, your effervescent Peter Pan, helping you add a sense of color to your home or shop.
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Last year, I became aware of this movement called Tuesday’s Together, in which creatives in big cities meet up on the second Tuesday of the month to discuss various business topics, from marketing to contracts to client expectations and more. Very quickly, the movement spread to smaller and smaller cities and areas around the country until we had our own chapter right here in Loudoun County, led by the very lovely and bubbly miss Bethanne Arthur.
Tuesday’s Together is the brainchild of The Rising Tide Society, which was created as a way for all of us work-at-home-alone creatives to have the ability to connect with others, putting aside the notion and fear of competition in order to ask questions, help others, and work together – in fact, the official hashtag is #communityovercompetition. Of course, I still think competition is healthy and necessary, but I enjoy the opportunity to connect with other photographers (as well as creatives from all fields) on a more personal level. So maybe I actually believe in #communityandcompetition? Regardless, the RTS has been a great resource for me, and I’ve connected with some folks who I’d never have met otherwise.
April’s Tuesday’s Together ‘theme’ is collaboration, and the Leesburg/Ashburn TT chapter took that to the next level. Instead of our usual meeting at Panera, this month we went all in and had a styled dinner at a new venue in Leesburg, 48 Fields. Y’all know I am a big fan of the quirky, the unique, and the colorful. But every once and awhile I do need my fill of perfection porn. You know the stuff: beautiful calligraphy, light and airy colors, lots and lots of details. It’s pretty for the sake of pretty, and it’s the stuff many photographer’s dreams are made of. (I actually appreciate perfection porn more at styled events than I do at actual weddings, where I think personality should prevail.)
A few members of the chapter became the official planning team and worked for months to put together this spring dinner for the rest of the group to attend. Let me just tell you how amazing it felt to attend a wedding-like event as a guest and not as an official photographer. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten myself dolled up to attend a dinner that I didn’t have to shoot! That said, I couldn’t resist pulling out the camera: the dinner was styled specifically for the guests, most of whom were indeed photographers. And once golden hour approached, you could tell exactly who the photographers were as a mass exodus to the fields occurred between dinner and dessert. Basically, a lot of Facebook profile picture updates have been happening since Sunday evening, my own included. 😉
I could gush on and on about the food (it was incredible, and Hidden Julles did a top-notch job making sure my dishes were Whole30 compliant!), the decor (the vendors outdid themselves, naturally!), and the venue (designed by a photographer, the light-colored barn was a dream to shoot in), but I’m going to let the photos do the talking. Vendor list will be at the bottom, so please scroll down and visit each of their sites. Enjoy!
A HUGE thank you to the vendors involved in putting this dinner on:
Planning and design: Rachel Rice – The One Moment Events // Photography and design: Bethanne Arthur Photography // Venue: 48 Fields // Florals: La Fleur du Jour; Beaumont House Design; Lark Floral // Catering: Chef Aaron Lynch with Hidden Julles // Rentals: Jefferson Rentals; Grand Rental Station; Faccia Fresca Vintage // Cake: Sweets By E // Cookie Favors: Noshy // Signage: Shrimp Salad Circus // Paper Goods: Caitlin Creative Works // Wine: Zephaniah Farm Vineyard // (And Beryl Young for the photos of me!)
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I make whimsical art for color-lovers and California dreamers. I'm based in Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. where there are most decidedly no palm trees in sight.