Belle has always been my favorite Disney princess.

I loved her strength, her humor, her adventurous spirit, and especially her love of books…and if I’m being totally honest, I loved that she had brown hair just like me. I think we all want to see a little bit of ourselves in our favorite characters.

As I grew older, my admiration for Belle only grew. She was brave enough to choose the Beast over Gaston, curious enough to look beyond the surface, and compassionate enough to put herself in danger in the place of others.

And, of course, she was gifted the coolest library of all time.

I even wore a yellow dress to my senior prom as a little nod to her iconic ballgown.

So years later, when I was teaching high school and challenged my students to dream up passion projects and find their own creative muses, Belle immediately came to mind.

I knew I had to create one for myself.

Funny enough, I’d already made the mood board and mapped the entire project out in my head. And then… I put it on pause for about a year, because something about it just wasn’t quite right.

I didn’t want to create something that was simply pretty. I wanted to make something that felt as magical as it had in my head.

Then I met Hilary Maiberger, through my friend Meagan during a branding session. I quickly discovered that Hilary is not only an insanely talented vocalist and vocal coach, but someone with a presence and joy that is infectious.

From the moment we met, I knew she was my Belle. As it turns out, she was also a lot of other people’s Belle. Come to find out, Hilary actually holds the title of longest-running Belle on the Broadway national and international tour having performed the role for three years and 750 performances at the Pantages Theatre before taking Belle around the world.

I mean… come on. Coincidence? I think not…

Finding Belle in Hilary

For Hilary, Belle wasn’t simply a character she played. She was a character she had dreamed about becoming.

Beauty and the Beast was one of the first shows Hilary remembers seeing, and the movie had always been a favorite. So when she had the chance to step into the role herself, she didn’t just get to play a character she loved.

She got to live a dream.

For three years, she performed as Belle at the Pantages, eventually taking the role around the world — Istanbul, Greece, Bangkok, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Italy, and beyond. And yet, after hearing Hilary talk about Belle, I realized the most beautiful part of her story wasn’t the number of stages she’d stood on. It was what she found in the character.

She especially loved the scenes between Belle and the Beast in the library… the quiet moments where they begin to discover they’re equals. Both struggling. Both learning. Both trying to find joy.

There is something so beautifully human about that.

“We’re all just trying to find joy. We’re all carrying something. And sometimes the greatest gift another person can give us is a place where we feel safe enough to be ourselves.” — Hilary

That felt like Belle to me, too.

Bringing Belle to Life at Kimberly Crest

Once I found my Belle, I needed to find her world and Kimberly Crest House & Gardens in Redlands, California, felt like the obvious setting.

Built in 1897, Kimberly Crest is a French-style château surrounded by six acres of Italian Renaissance gardens: terraced hillsides, a rose garden, koi ponds, and stone stairways that have been growing more beautiful for over a century. It’s one of the most storybook wedding venues in the Inland Empire, and it sits just down the street from the stage where Hilary regularly performs, which felt like too perfect a detail to ignore. With its sweeping gardens and romantic, fairy-tale architecture, Kimberly Crest already held the feeling I’d been chasing in my head for the past year.

But I didn’t want to simply recreate Beauty and the Beast on the Kimberly Crest grounds. I wanted to create a world that felt like Belle’s world … and Belle’s world isn’t complete without a library.

So for part of the session, we left the gardens and wandered into the Browsing Room at the University of Redlands, a place that felt almost too perfect for the story.

It also happens to be my alma mater. I spent time in that very room as a student, so standing behind my camera and watching Hilary bring Belle to life among those books felt like one of those wonderfully strange, full-circle moments you could never plan.

So there we were.

A girl who grew up loving Belle.

A woman who had spent years bringing Belle to life.

And a library full of stories.

It felt a little like God had been in on the mood board all along.

More Than a Dress

Of course, I couldn’t create a Beauty and the Beast-inspired editorial without a dress.

And while Belle’s iconic yellow ballgown was part of the inspiration, I wanted to interpret her through my own lens. I imagined Belle not simply as a princess waiting for her story to begin, but as a woman stepping confidently into the next chapter of her life.

So Hilary stepped into a wedding dress and somehow, it felt completely right.

She told me that being in the dress, surrounded by the setting, made her feel incredibly beautiful and confident.

“We don’t always wake up feeling beautiful and confident,” she shared. “The experience reminded me of my own self-worth and assurance.”

That stayed with me. I think that’s one of the quiet gifts of photographs. Sometimes they don’t give us something new…sometimes they simply remind us of something we’ve forgotten.

The woman underneath the dress.

The strength underneath the softness.

The confidence that was there all along.

For Hilary, this was a chance to step back into a character who had shaped so much of her life, and to rediscover a little of what Belle had always given her.

For me, it was a reminder of why I love creating in the first place.

Not just to make something beautiful.

But to make something felt.

And the Story Continues

There’s something especially fitting about sharing this story now.

Just as I’m finally sitting down to tell the story of this passion project, Hilary has announced she’ll be returning to the Pantages as a guest speaker on the very stage where she performed as Belle for three years and 750 performances.

The role that took her around the world.

The character that has continued to give her opportunities, friendships, students, and memories long after she left the production.

It feels a little like the story has come full circle.

I started this project because Belle had been part of my story for as long as I could remember. I found my way to Hilary, who had spent years bringing Belle to life for thousands of people. We photographed her among the gardens and château at Kimberly Crest, stepped into a library, and created our own little version of a story that has meant so much to both of us.

And now, the story continues.

There’s one more chapter I’m particularly excited about…

Because Hilary isn’t just my Belle.

She’s also a future Jenny Garrett Co. bride.

The next time I photograph her, she won’t be stepping into Belle’s story….

She’ll be stepping into her own.

Thank you to my incredible creative team for bringing this vision to life with me. The candelabra now sits on top of a stack of books in my living room, a little piece of that day woven into the everyday. I find myself looking at it often and thinking of each of you, and of the beautiful magic we created together…

Creative Team:

Creative Direction & Photography:
Jenny Garrett Co. @jennygarrettco

Belle:
Hilary Maiberger @hilarymai

Videography:
Danilo Hernandez @dhcinephoto

Florals:
Hyunju, Petit Amour Flower @petitamourflower

Stationery:
Michaelene Rae, Queen Bee Design Studio @queenbeedesignstudio

Hair & Makeup:
Francesca Bevens, Frantastic Faces @frantastic_faces

Dress:
Beloved Couture Bridal @belovedcouturebridal

Jewelry:
Emerson Fine Jewelry @emeremeraldfinejewelry

Venue:
Kimberly Crest @kimberlycrest

Library Location:
University of Redlands @universityofredlands

Thank you to California Wedding Day for choosing to publish our flatly shot photographed by Jenny Garrett Co. designed by Michaelene Rae, Queen Bee Design Studio @queenbeedesignstudio