RUE DE SEINE DRESS INSPIRATION WITH BRIANNA MADIA IN THE SAND DUNES | | Part 2

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Written By Abbi Hearne

Secret Dune Location | Utah Desert

the hearnes » adventure wedding photographers

RUE DE SEINE ELOPEMENT INSPIRATION :: DURABLE, BEAUTIFUL, DESERT-READY DRESSES

Ever since I photographed my first Rue de Seine elopement gown, I’ve felt that they have all the makings of a perfect adventure wedding dress! The way these dresses flow in the desert wind, pick up just the right amount of orange #HearnesOmbre on their trains, the way they flatter so many different body types…I just absolutely love these dresses. I started messaging with Rue de Seine on Instagram years ago, and when my friend Brianna and I had an idea for an elopement-style shoot in the desert, I knew we had to work with Rue de Seine! I was really excited to work with a close friend, and someone I knew could embrace the elements no matter what the weather threw our way, and Brianna was so psyched to run around the desert sand in these stunning bohemian dream dresses!

We chose a few different locations and activities because we really wanted to showcase what is possible when you elope out here in the Utah desert. All of the locations are within a day trip from Moab, which is super fun for us now that we live here full time and most of our wedding bookings are for the Moab area! My hope is that these photos would inspire couples to plan an elopement day that feels like a real adventure together, and that seeing how well these dresses handled everything we threw at them would motivate brides to consider a Rue de Seine dress for their wedding :)

After braving the sandy stormy weather our near some hidden desert towers (lets be honest though, we had no idea what we were in for thinking that first spot was sandy 😅), Brianna told me we were headed to some secret dunes and I couldn’t have been more stoked! We drove a long ways, turned down a few more dirt roads and bumped along for what felt like forever, but I didn’t mind because time driving through the desert with Brianna and Bertha (the big orange van!) is always time well spent in my book. We chatted about all kind of things, and as always, both felt wildly refreshed to be talking to someone who understands our own struggles and agrees with things that it seems like the world is against. I don’t even know if that sentence made sense, and if Brianna wrote it it’d be phrased much better, but hopefully you get my point 😉 As we bumped along, the storm that seemed so threatening back at the towers just passed on by, never even showing us a drop of rain. We pulled up to the sand dunes and had the entire place to ourselves. Coming from Moab, which tends to be a little crowded these days, I started to really understand why Brianna finds so much peace out here away from it all. Our campsite had no cell service and the sand felt hot on our feet…I’d give it 5 stars if it had a rating system.

We sat around the little table in our camper for what felt like hours (I truly don’t know, the desert seems to warp time) and somehow got the silly idea that I should throw on one of the beautiful Rue De Seine dresses! Callen went out to fly the drone or something, and I dug out the Nahla Gown from the back of the van. I slipped it on with my toes in the sand and immediately felt like a desert princess! One thing led to another, Brianna offered to take a few photos of Callen and I in the dunes, grabbed one of my cameras and we ran out into the sand having the time of our lives! I’ll share those photos in their own post, but I have to mention it because that part of the story was SO fun and made us feel SO special! It also gave us a taste of our own medicine as we were the ones in front of the camera (and side note, Brianna might put me out of a job because the photos turned out AMAZING 😜).

Once that settled down (ha), I jumped back into comfy clothes and handed the traveling wedding dress over to Brianna (quite the sisterhood!) for sunset portraits. She looked absolutely stunning in the Nahla gown (no surprise there) and we had such a blast in the dunes. Rue De Seine’s Nahla Gown is probably their most popular dress and I’m not at all surprised! The bodice is an absolute work of art with the most intricate and intentional lace lining a gorgeous floral print fabric. The sleeves are billowy but sexy with their off-the-shoulder neckline. The dress is quite fitted in the waist down to the hips and the lace lining is extremely flattering! But the best part of the gorgeous Nahla gown is the wildly flowy skirt! It is long and light and absolutely stunning. We had quite a bit of wind, which I’m certain the Nahla gown was made for, and Brianna had such a blast letting the skirt flow all around her.

We played music, sipped tequila, and danced our way around the sand dunes while the dogs had the time of their lives keeping up with us. As the sun dipped to the horizon, the clouds in the distance dropped desert rain and turned all kinds of colors around us. From desert towers to never-ending sand dunes, this day was such a blast and we went to sleep that night absolutely exhausted with big dumb smiles on our faces. Little did we know, the next week would be even better in it’s own epic-everything-went-wrong-but-so-very-right way!

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The Hearnes Adventure Photography is run by Abbi and Callen Hearne, a husband & wife wedding photography team with an emphasis on adventure. They live on the road as full-time nomads, allowing them to serve a large portion of the western US. You can typically find them in Moab, Utah or Yosemite National Park, California, with side-quests to Patagonia and Alaska. They believe love is the greatest adventure and strive to create photos that are epic, romantic, true, and timeless.

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Abbi Hearne http://www.thehearnes.com
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Rue de Seine Elopement Dress Inspiration with Brianna Madia in the Utah Desert | Part 1