The featured image on this post is a behind the scenes, iPhone photo from a fun styling project we did at the Hotel Colonnade this weekend in Coral Gables! Adding that feminine touch to the Bridal Salon for their photoshoot where all of the spaces available for wedding clients will be showcased on The Knot’s website.

…So excuse me while I ramble and spill the proverbial tea to continue our chat via my Carbs & Carats’ IG:

…As I was getting the hell out of that situation, I couldn’t begin to think about what was next. I just wanted away from the whole thing and many of the people who I felt were untrustworthy or I wasn’t sure about their intentions. It was so stressful and unnerving to navigate through and out of that situation, that I became somewhat of a recluse and was ultra wary of anyone who’s demeanor resembled those individuals.

During that time I started focusing more on weddings and trilled that it’s an industry lightyears away from the sexy instagram model photoshoots and free collabs with zero return on investment that were all the rage at the studio and perhaps still are in Miami. Long story short, Instagram fame was not my goal, intention or priority. And being around couch surfers that continually insisted that I ‘wasn’t creative and I should just stick to the numbers’ got old REAL QUICK, especially when their brand of creativity hardly gave me any numbers to crunch ?

Once I closed the ‘Wynwood money pit for homeless creatives’ (I’m laughing but that’s totally what it was) and took a break from that whole scene I was able to focus a little more on wedding business. (Side Note: shoutout to the dynamic duo that is Amanda and Carolina for helping me pack the truck and move out #neverforget) Exactly 2 months to the day after hauling ass out of the loft, I was in Paris with my, now, husband being proposed to at the top of the basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre. It was the perfect way to end a chaotic, draining and depressing year but I still had a lot to figure out.

At the time I was partnered with my friend as a wedding planning team and it didn’t take long for her to realize that Weddings weren’t her passion. So I carried on alone, but with lots of help and encouragement from friends like, Lourdes who would help me network in Coral Gables and brought me to the bridal show that changed my life and introduced me to my creative life partner, Maria Alejandra of Flower Fanatic! During this time, we were both navigating the wedding world and figuring out where we fit. Little did we know it wouldn’t be about fitting in, but more about standing out and creating our own path. (Maria Alejandra probably knew that already, just to be fair lol)

One day a photographer I met while providing hair & makeup for one of my best friend’s Maternity photoshoots reluctantly reached out to ask me if I would help her do a styled wedding photoshoot. Her name is Bess Perry Garcia of Aurora Photography. She needed my help to create some content as she added weddings to her services. The only thing was that I wasn’t so familiar with anyone in the business. I hadn’t really connected with any of the vendors from the weddings I assisted with throughout the years and most of them took place in Palm Beach with very few vendors. But I just met this awesome floral designer, maybe she would want to participate, and I asked my friends, Lana and Ale to be models. The dress shops, furniture rental companies that we reached out to weren’t interested or would say they were and then stop responding. The boutique where I purchased my wedding dress said “Yes!” (Shout out to Chic Parisien in Coral Gables!!) and a local cake designer (D Baker) brought us a cake and desserts to use for our photoshoot that took place in Pinecrest Gardens.

We used Bess’s dining table, my mom’s antique imperial blue China and Maria Alejandra’s antique chest and tea set to make it happen! I look back and it’s crazy lol please keep in mind that I’m leaving out a significant portion of crazy details, but that’s “kitchen table talk” ?

To our surprise, the shoot was overwhelmingly successful and well received. That’s when I realized what I really wanted to do for couples. I wanted to translate their love story into the style of their wedding. Doing Month-of Coordination was not going to be my bread and butter, especially when most people make a mess of their wedding plans and then the coordinator must spend way too much energy cleaning it all up. It’s like having a kid that’s excited to be independent in the kitchen and they make a complete disaster, then you have to come in and clean up triple what you would have if you were involved in the planning and preparing process. If I continued to do coordination, I would never have the opportunity to grow. People weren’t going to ask me for things they haven’t seen me do.

So that’s where Bess and Gloria (Gloria Francis Photography – Miami / San Francisco) forcibly encouraged me to host styled wedding photoshoots that were open to more photographers. I say “forcibly” because the idea of opening up to so many people all at once was beyond scary and the moment I said “ok” Gloria got the ball steam rolling! Needless to say, I got over my fear REAL QUICK ? My first one was on January 30th at the Redland Koi Gardens and the rest is available for your enjoyment throughout this blog.

I’ve been dying to get a lot of that off my chest and really move on to a place where I could be more open with all of you that have been following my journey. #WasabiWednesdays, my little ladies night idea that I cooked up in my hotel room in San Francisco, Thanksgiving of 2014 or my career as a wedding planner and stylist wouldn’t be a thing without all of those experiences.  I honestly couldn’t be more grateful for all of it because it brought me here today, open and ready to share, connect and learn more.

I’ll continue to use my business Instagram (@pink__wasabi) to share my work, like an informal digital gallery. @carbs_n_carats was my original business account that stopped using when I decided to focus on weddings. I just swapped the names and archived the posts!

I’ll start using @carbs_n_carats to share more about the process behind the scenes rather than the finished product. Carbs & Carats will be more personal, what inspires me and the people I’m on this journey with. Some of the iPhone pics that never make it past my cloud will have a home there / here. There’s SO MUCH that goes into all of this and it doesn’t feel appropriate to start keeping it THAT real on my Pink Wasabi account where I would like the focus to remain on representing the talent and hard work of so many amazing vendors to the world!

So yes, please follow @pink__wasabi, @carbs_n_carats and my personal IG @sharicakes only if you want to follow my travels and love for my husband, puppies, family and friends ♥️