A few nights ago I was on TikTok and came across a video from Jen Hamilton and Chris Olsen. If you missed it: they’d both been cheated on in eerily similar ways, so Chris jokingly proposed a “lavender marriage.” Jen said yes, and the internet decided it was the best fake engagement of the year. Most people laughed, hit like, and moved on. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Not because I thought they should actually get married, but because I kept wondering what would happen if someone committed to the joke fully. You can see it on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DbYHQbjOSv4/

The idea

I’ve photographed over 250 weddings in the last decade, I’m a brand photographer and videographer, and my favorite thing about them is the creative design that goes into each event and shoot. Months of planning for one day. Every flower, every outfit, every toast, all of it intentional. So I started asking myself what would happen if a completely fake wedding got that same level of care and met the brand photography space. A parody meets a real luxury wedding with the funniest premise imaginable underneath it. The comedy wouldn’t come from a punchline, it would come from the contrast: gorgeous florals, editorial fashion, candlelit tables, a cinematic wedding film, all for a marriage everybody knows isn’t real.

Once that idea landed, I had to pitch it. Within a few hours I was building mood boards, then sketching wardrobe: a lavender suit with an oversized floral lapel. A bridal mini dress under a cathedral veil for an anti-bride vibe. Moody plum and lavender florals. A glass conservatory with black steel framing and installations dripping off the ceiling. It stopped being an idea and turned into a full campaign. An angsty, moody, lavender filled day that channels the darkness of betrayal and the softness of friendship.

Then I did something I’d never done before and found Chris’s management team to send them the pitch (from bed at 10pm). Then they wrote back the next morning!! A few hours later I was on a video call, walking through a deck I’d built less than 3 hours earlier. They didn’t greenlight it on the spot, and that made sense. Creators have packed schedules and timing is everything. But they listened, asked good questions, and pitched the concept to Chris personally. That alone felt like a win. For a small business like mine to even get a video call to pitch a creative concept to a management company as big as MGMT Entertainment is huge!

What I actually learned

The real lesson had nothing to do with weddings. The best opportunities rarely show up as inquiries. Sometimes you have to build them yourself. No one asked me to make this, and no one hired me for it. I saw a cultural moment and imagined what it could turn into. Even if it never happens, it reminded me that creativity isn’t only about making beautiful work, it’s about noticing what everyone else is scrolling past.

It also changed how I think about my own business. I’ve always described myself as a wedding and brand photographer and filmmaker, and that’s still true. But this project reminded me that what I actually love is building the creative concepts behind shoots, and photography is just one of the ways I bring them to life. A luxury wedding, a brand launch, an influencer campaign, an experiential event, it’s the same process every time: start with a story, build a world around it, make something people can’t stop talking about.

Will this one actually happen? I have no idea, but I’ll keep you updated! Maybe Chris loves it, maybe the timing’s off, maybe it turns into something else entirely or work with other talent down the line. Whatever happens, I’m glad I chased it instead of letting it die in my Notes app, because sometimes the win isn’t booking the project. It’s proving to yourself that your ideas are worth acting on.

More form my pitch deck: