CORNEALIUS INN FRENCH MARKET STYLED Shoot REHEARSAL ON THE PATIO
I had the vision to design an upscale rehearsal dinner solely outside on the patio at the Cornealius Inn. Utilizing our black and white dance floor under the blacking and white draped fabric and string lights, with a huge and dramatic floral chandelier oozing with as many local flowers from the farm in the distance as possible! I envision many more events like this taking place here. Renting the Inn and choosing to do a rehearsal dinner under the patio is like having a built-in rain plan, when renting the Inn banquet room, the patio is included in the rental! The Banquet Hall is also beautiful and has HVAC.
The Inn construction was complete in November 2024 and I was pretty pregnant! Finally, with a few month old baby, I got the team together and on board to do a Thursday night styled shoot when we could squeeze it in our calendar. Of course, I had Kristin and Val come for professional content!
I had been wanting to bring this vision to life for a few months, but canceled our originally planned styled shoot due to being about eight months pregnant and just not feeling up for making the floral chandelier previously… It was worth the wait! The shoot worked out perfect on our rescheduled date, one of our very best “styled shoots”! Ironically, Elizabeth and Jasper had plans to have a “secret wedding” the day after the styled shoot I was planning and just so happened to ask them to be the models for. Elizabeth was so sweet to put up with me wanting to find a vintage dress to alter and “chop” since it is such a current trend for brides to alter their mothers dress and wear it at their rehearsal. I’ve been seeing 2024 and 2025 brides redoing their mother’s dresses and I’ve been LOVING it. (However, I’m not so sure I’d let my girls cut my dress!) Elizabeth absolutely rocked a chopped vintage dress from an old local dress shop “Sally’s” (my late grandmother was a friend and fan and my aunts had many dresses from there). It was very cool to go there by private appointment and explore the “stuck in time” dress shop (that is closed) and find a dress that worked for the occasion. My mom was a home economics and interior design major in undergrad at ECU and she was able to help me alter the dress at her house the evening before! It literally could not have turned out more perfect. The dress was MADE FOR Elizabeth.
The vintage (but totally back in style) flowing off the shoulder ruffles were so flattering and gave a romantic and carefree feel hanging on Elizabeth’s shoulders! The night felt so FUN!
It seems like all the stars just happened to align!
I hope the magical memories made between her and Jasper that night at their “fake” rehearsal dinner are some they will cherish forever. It was truly a “God thing” that I happened to ask them to model on such a special day of their lives. Thank you both for modeling for us and becoming a part of The Cornealius “Family” forever!
What a wonderful memory for ME! Thank you so much to my amazing husband for taking care of my children for hours on end this day. To my team members, I could not have not this alone, this was a huge group effort! To my mom and dad who showed up for the shoot to get BTS and see the magic (and notice things I was too tired to see: “turn the string lights on”), thank y’all for showing up for me, always, and cheering me on. It wouldn’t mean anything without y’all.
Written by Brooke Neal Freeman
