I am not a die-hard Giant’s fan, I’m actually a die-hard Redskins fan (don’t laugh). But when I saw this engagement session I had to share it with the Garden! Plus it’s a timely post, since the Giant’s are playing in the Super Bowl this weekend. Whether you a football lover or not, this e-session is sexy, romantic, and oh-so-sweet! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Where are you, or did you, have your e-session photos? Was it themed around a hobby you both enjoy? Share them with us!

Photographer:  Vanessa Joy Photography

Like Vanessa Joy Photography? View more of her work!

The venue that Morning Glory Bear (MGB as I will put him for short) and I picked to have our ceremony and reception is a nice waterfront venue tucked back in a neighborhood. It actually used to be a crappy little restaurant/bar and the catering company bought it and completely gutted and remodeled the place. I love the view and it will make for some great photo ops, but I’m worried about the lack of variety and creativity available for pictures after the ceremony. Since 75% of the venue is physically on the water (see below for picture) it’s literally just the docks for pictures. There’s no beach or really anywhere to go on-site to make for different pictures.

Copyright Cesar Chavez Photography

So, basically MGB and I talked about going offsite after the ceremony to take our bridal party/family pictures. Luckily, there is a nice park about 5 minutes away with a beach, pavilion and another dock to take pictures at. I was worried about finding somewhere that was close enough to not take time away from the reception time and was pretty enough to allow the photographer some creative leeway. In my nervousness to make sure everything goes according to plan, I don’t want this to end up being chaotic! I still want to do pictures at the venue on the docks, especially something like this at the end of the night.

Copyright Theresa Choi Photography

Are you doing offsite pictures after your ceremony? If you already did, how did it go?

Saw this “first look” idea over on the WeddingWire Blog. What an adorable idea. I love how each emotion and moment was captured by the photographer.

Photographer:  Ellie Marks Photography

Are you doing a “first look”, and if so, are you doing something unique?

I had to share this with all of you because this bridal shoot it truly inspiring. This bride is so gorgeous and wanted everyone to know her personality. What I take from this is to always, always, be yourself, and don’t worry about the trends or what you think you should look like in your photos. This girl is your inspiration:

I recently looked at some photos from my friend’s wedding, I was in it.  The stress of the wedding could not have been shown any better than in my face, on almost every photograph.  I feel awful about this but at the same time, I cannot put all of the blame on myself.

This made me think about my own upcoming wedding.  The last thing I and Mr. Pom would want is unhappy people.  Yes I know, you can’t please everyone.  However, I want everyone to have a great time and not be stressed about silly things such as their dresses, how they look and whether sashes are tied correctly.  I have already thanked my bridesmaids, yes we finally settled on two people each, and told them that the bridal shower will be the only stressful and time consuming thing they’ll have to do.

I am going to let the bridesmaids pick their own dresses, hopefully they won’t even need to buy ones. I’ll simply give them a color and let them go.  The wedding day is supposed to be about love and fun, not making sure that everyone looks identical and matches the table cloths!

So here’s to all us brides who are more excited about the prospect of getting married, wearing a pretty dress and hanging out with all of our friends and family!

Because Mr.Pom and I are very concious of the amount of money that can be spent on a wedding we are trying to keep all of our costs to a minimum.  We are the kind of people who do not want to spend our life savings on one day and then have nothing to live off of.  We are also not the type of people who are willing to have their parents spend ten’s of thousands of dollars on one day either.  So we find ourselves in a very lucky situation with the friends and family that we have.  I say this because here are the things we are cutting out of our spending budget.

Photography-my mother and brother are excelent photographers and honestly I’ve been to weddings where people have spent thousands of dollars on photography and somehow my pictures turn out very similar and just as good as the professional.  I’m not at all tooting my own horn, but rather saying that you don’t get what you pay for.  We are also going to put together a way for people to take their own photos in a feauxto booth

Cake-my mom is also an excellent baker so as of right now she has decided that she would like to bake a cake for everyone to enjoy!

DJ - Mr. Pom’s brother in law and cousin have been and are DJ’s so between one of them mixing our tunes and the other brining some fantastic sound system with him we are good to go!

Where are you cutting back on the costs?

So we had our engagement pictures taken (finally) last week. First of all- let me just say that is was an absolute blast!!! Our photographers are amazing! But one of the most stressful things I had to do was decide what in the world Apricot Dude and I were going to wear! Let me share what we decided to go with, then provide some tips on how to pick and show you how they turned out!

I knew I wanted two different types of pictures. First, I wanted to do some more traditional, formal pictures that I know my Grandma would love. Secondly, I simply wanted some that were us. In jeans and comfy shirts, flip flops….just being ourselves! I was fortunate to find a dress for our more formal pictures that I LOVED. So I had one outfit down. Now onto number two- and I had no idea. I seriously think I bought 5 or 6 different shirts. I knew I wanted something solid, light colored and that sort of matched our wedding colors (peachy/corals/greens). Finally, I made a decision. Well, I thought I had. The day of our pictures, I had a few minutes to kill before my hair appointment so I ran into Banana Republic. Just browsing, I came across this fabulous shirt that I knew I wanted to wear for our pictures. It was like it was just calling for me! So I bought it and it turned out to be perfect!

Now for Apricot Dude….he was pretty open to basically whatever I thought would look nice. We settled on his favorite yellow button down shirt and khakis for our more formal pictures and jeans and polo for the others. It did take us quite a few stores to find a light green polo that we thought would look great with mine. (Quick word of advice: we found the EXACT same Tommy Hilfinger polo at TJMaxx for half the price of Macy’s!)

Here are a few tips that I have when looking for engagement outfits because there certainly are LOTS of decisions to make:

• I recommend solid colors; not stripes or prints. Sometimes stripes and prints are not friendly.
• Be yourself! Wear what you like…I LOVE flip flops so that’s what we wore!
• Coordinate, do not match each other. Too matchy matchy looks wrong.
• Make sure to iron, de-wrinkle, whatever you need to do to make your clothes look new
• Be comfy…don’t wear your tightest jeans so you can’t even move or the shoes that kill your feet. That isn’t a very fun couple of hours…
• Think ahead. We used bubbles (more on props in a later post) and spilled it all over Apricot Dude. But we had a towel handy to clean up….
• Wear jewelry that matches…if your engagement ring is white gold, don’t wear yellow gold jewelry and vice-versa.
• My opinion but don’t wear things that are dated (like summer scarves, leggings, etc) . You might regret it years from now when they aren’t in style. But then they’ll come back in style so maybe it will all work out!

I’m sure there are plenty more tips out there. What advice do you have for gals searching for their outfits?

Here’s how some of them turned out! My next posts will be about the use of props….because we used  A LOT of them!!

Pictures by Bh Photography

Pictures by Bh Photography

Pictures by Bh Photography

If a picture says a thousand words, why are we all writing long invitations? Can’t I just post card everyone a photo and just leave it at that? Sounds like a good plan to me.

Engagement photos can say a lot, especially if you’re including them with invitations and on wedding blogs/websites. It’s more than just a documentation of how you looked on that day. Just as the style of the invitation may say lot about the wedding so can the photo. When the invitation arrives in the mail the invite is the first peek that the guests have at the theme and style of the wedding. Is it going to be formal, causal? Beach style, Vintage, dress-up, casual, a BBQ or picnic? If that invite can convey that much, even before reading the details, then a photo included can say even more. What does your photo say about you? What does your photo say about your wedding?

The number one thing for me would be for the friends/relatives that know us well to look at the photo and say, “that’s so Daisy Bud and Mr. Daisy.” I spent a long time debating if we were going to include engagement photos in our invitations, we decided to do it because the only decent picture of us together was one taken on a cell phone 3 years ago. (it really is a pretty cute picture), But, we thought it would be good to have something a bit nicer. The hard thing about photos for us in general is that Mr. Daisy is a photographer and so we almost never get in a photo together.

We have a great Wedding Photographer, Vanessa Menendez. She primarily does editorials, headshots and pageant photography. Fortunately she’s a good friend and we were able to snag her for the wedding, engagement photos, and a session of head shots for me.  We met up in a sweet location about 20 minutes away from where I live and we took my headshots (of which I was in desperate need) and then headed off to the park to do the engagement photos we’re hoping to include in our invites.

For headshots it’s generally recommended to bring 2-3+ outfits, or at least tops, for the shoot so you can change and take a few different shots, have different looks. I think this is a great piece of advice for engagement photos as well. I told Mr. Daisy that he should bring more than one hat to the shoot (Mr. Daisy is a hat man…) to which he promptly asked if he could bring his pirate/three musketeers style hat with LARGE red feather. To which I responded–”of course, it means I’m bringing my 1920s/30s flapper hat with feathers.” [No, we did not choose hats to copy the royals.] So we brought our hats.

We started out with our hats in our more casual outfits. We had a fun time just goofing around and attempting to be ourselves. Then we took some more traditional shots and changed outfits. I changed in to a casual dress and Mr. Daisy added a nicer shirt over his t-shirt. And switched to a more “normal” hat. And took some fun photos in the park. We ended the park photo shoot by rolling down the hill. We aren’t sure if any of the shots were worth anything but it was really fun.

Recommendations for what to bring to a photo shoot:

• more than one set of clothing and shoes to match.
• Multiple choices of jewelry–to match obviously.
• More than one color of lipstick, hopefully your photographer will have a good sense of what will read with the back ground and your attire in the entire composed shot.
• Make up for touch-ups
• Downy Wrinkle Release (or a homemade wrinkle release, Try 50/50 water and rubbing alcohol with a dash of any liquid fabric softener, or even just 50/50 water and alcohol.– But, any water will get out a bad wrinkle if you try hard enough, misted-sprayed of course)
• a hair brush. especially if it could be windy.
• Extra bobby pins/hair pins.

What do before the shoot:

• Get a good night’s sleep! No one wants to look tired.
• Be hydrated, wrinkles will show up less if you’re hydrated, and make up takes better to hydrated skin than dry skin.
• plan for a bit of extra time before/after, you may need to work out contract stuff or the photographer may need to move locations to get the photo that they know you’ll love.
• IRON YOUR CLOTHING– and maybe his too unless you think he’ll do a good enough job of it. Don’t wear things that will wrinkle a lot on the way to the studio/location (button down shirts wrinkle fast, especially when tucked in, throw a t-shirt on and change)

If you’re sending a photo with your Announcement/Invitation keep the color palate in mind.  Your clothing color choices don’t need to match, but do you want them to coordinate? Do you want them in the same world/style as the invite? Where else are you going to use the photos? Grandma’s mantle piece? Website? On the wall of your first place together?

We had a great time with our shoot, here’s the photographer’s top pick.

This past weekend, Olive Dude and I happily decided that we would use Erin from Erin J. Photography to photograph our wedding. I loved her work the second I saw it, and, even though I feel like I looked at hundreds of photographers both around my area AND as far away as New York, my gut kept telling me that she was it. So – photographer – check that baby off the list.

In looking at photographers, I started wondering about videography. Initially, Olive Dude and I nixed the idea due to budget restrictions. However, I have heard from some married friends who did not get a videographer wish that they did. (That whole hindsight being 20/20 thing will really get you every time.)

Last night, while shamlessly watching The Real Housewives of Orange County, I found myself torn. This episode was about a surprise 40th vow renewal that Gretchen, one of the housewives, had planned for her parents. She took them to the church that they got married in, and they sat in the pew and watched their wedding video.

Gretchen’s mom (the bride) had a great reaction. Her first sentence was, “Oh my God – is this our wedding video?” (Meaning they clearly had not watched it in YEARS), but then she burst into tears and said happily “Oh my God. Look at us.” To which her husband of 40 years replied, “Who are those people?!” with a smile.

This particular video was the reason I HAD to go see our venue, the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club. I cry every time I watch it.

Kristan and Bryan from Monachetti on Vimeo.

Videographers are not cheap. And, truth be told, you may only watch your wedding video a grand total of two times. BUT, is it worth the money to have the option?

What do you all think?

Are you like me where you’re either afraid of going to the dentist, too lazy to get real teeth whitening, and just don’t want to pay for it if you don’t have to?  About a month ago, I got my yearly teeth cleaning and I asked my hygienist for non-professional teeth whitening options.  She recommended the Crest 3d White Strips.  Guess what I did the very next day?  That’s right, I got the Professional Effects 3d White Strips (Pictured on the left).

Results: Out of a scale from 1-5 (1 being no effects to 5 my teeth are blinding white!), my rate would be a 2.5 out of 5.  It wasn’t as white as I wanted it to be, but it did have SOME effect.   I thought about posting up pictures of my teeth, but I don’t want to gross you out!  =P

Would I Recommend this Product?
Not really.  I spent about $45 on it and the results weren’t what I wanted.  I thought about returning it to the manufacturer and getting my money back, but I just thought it was too much of a hassle.

What REALLY worked for me:

After the disappointment with the crest whitening strips, I decided to do a little research on other non-professional teeth whitening options.  I remember reading an article about the Crest Whitening toothpaste and it was the top rated one.  SO I went to the supermarket and got the Crest 3D White Vivid Toothpaste (pictured on the right).  I got mines on sale so I ended up spending about $5 for it.  Yay for deals!

Results:
After about using this for a month, my rating would be a 4 out of 5.  It was a pretty significant difference from the very beginning for me.  In the reviews it said that the Crest 3D whitening toothpaste worked the best; even though it took longer for the effects to come in.

Now I have a beautiful white smile!

Even though I am still over 1 year out from the “big day”, I know that there are certain parts of the planning process that are best booked early. The next item I’d like to check off my list: the photographer.

The amount of trust a couple puts into their wedding photographer is kind of unbelievable, don’t you think? Their job is extremely important: they have to capture your day in a way that will make the memory transcend years from now when you’re looking back or showing your little ones those pictures. That’s not a small feat. Being a graphic designer, the photographer Olive dude and I choose is overly important to me. I want artistic photos that I can use to decorate the current empty walls in our place. Olive Dude and I have the potential to look super awkward in pictures, so we need someone who will make us feel comfortable and be able to catch the moments when we think they aren’t looking. God bless them.

When I started looking into ceremony/reception venues, I tried to kill two birds with one stone and simultaneously look for my photographer. I would Google “wedding photos from [insert venue name here]” and be directed to photography sites that pictured a couple’s wedding at the venue I was looking at. This not only made me like/dislike the venue, but showed me the photographer’s skills and what shots I could expect to see on my wedding day, or get ideas of cool places to take pictures at said venue. This led me to a list of about 10 photographers in the “maybe” pile.

I narrowed myself down to two choices that were within the budget that Olive Dude and I set. I spoke to one of them over the phone, and met the other at a Barnes and Noble nearby. They were both great, but I couldn’t deny that one (the more expensive of the two, of course) was better than the other.

I’m still in the decision-making process, but here is what I have learned so far that I wanted to pass on:

1. Photographers are willing to negotiate on pricing. The photographer I am leaning towards offered to give Olive Dude and I an hour for free once I discussed my budget with her.

2. Make sure you look at a client’s proofing site from the photographer. The photog puts their BEST pictures on their website. If you can look at a full wedding from start to finish, you can more accurately judge the overall quality of the photographer.

I also found this article from Wedding Paper Divas to be very helpful.

Any other tips out there from the Garden on the photographer?

My fiancé, Apple Sauce, does not like to have his picture taken. For as long as I’ve known him, and as far back as his childhood memories reach. He says it’s because he’s a “private person” — so he probably doesn’t appreciate me blogging about it, whoops! — and he doesn’t like to be the center of attention.

As you’d expect, this poses a problem pertaining to our wedding, i.e. the most photographed day of our lives. So before we ended up with a photo album full of shots of a bride without a groom, we needed to tackle the issue head on, to throw him into the belly of the beast and work through his fears with a little immersion therapy. We did an engagement shoot … in public.

© Matt McDonough, 2011

One of my luckiest breaks, when it comes to our wedding, is that I work at MTV, a veritable treasure trove of creative talent. Every day, I’m surrounded by writers, graphic designers, web developers, photographers, music editors and videographers. And you bet your bottom dollar that when it came to time to cast the talent for our wedding, I called in some favors. Enter my friends Matt and Sahara, photographers extraordinaire, and the coolest people you will ever meet.

For our engagement shoot, we decided to head to the world-famous Coney Island, a location that not only has special meaning to Apple Sauce and me (we’ve spent many a summer laid out on the beach and riding the Cyclone), but also boasts a range of colorful, interesting backdrops.

We decided we’d meet the photographers in Union Square, do some test shots, hop on the subway, take some additional “love train” shots, and then descend on the boardwalk. This would give Apple Sauce a chance to get to know Matt and Sahara and warm up a little bit before we hit our prime location.

It worked. Our subway car got emptier and emptier as we got closer to the beach, so the worst of it — in terms of how many people were looking at us — was over by the time we arrived. And then Apple Sauce realized, it wasn’t so bad after all. We were in this together.

© Matt McDonough, 2011

I talked about our sudden need to find a new photographer in a former post.

As much as we enjoyed his photos, we decided not to take the risk of not having a photographer on our wedding day.

So we started on my favorite local resource, Today’s Bride. Being 6 months away from our wedding, I also contacted every bride I know and asked about their photographers and recommendations. But almost everyone I contacted was not available, or didn’t actually get back to me! Why would a photographer not respond and lose a possible client?

Finally I found three different photographers who had our date and fit our budget.

Photo by Chatman Photography

It was during finals week, so we didn’t have time right away to interview photographers so I kept in contact through email with all three.

Finally once Christmas break hit, I was able to set an appointment. So I picked the photographer who was most courteous and conscientious in our emails. That’s how we ended up at Starbucks with Joni Chatman or Chatman Photography.

Her photos were good, she was nice, she was organized, and her photo package was good (with a minor change needed since we already had engagement photos). We didn’t meet with anyone else. We hired her. As a plus, she is familiar with our reception venue and Louisville where we’ll be married. She even recommended a photo location in downtown that I had been thinking of!

Photo by Chatman Photography

My shopping again blog was delayed in posting until we had finally split with photographer #1. I know some of you showed concern about a refund. We received a complete refund and our engagement photos for free.

Yes, we had a photographer. Now we don’t.

Why we don’t have a photographer any longer:

Image from: photography-colleges.org

We had hired a photographer who had everything we wanted. And then I briefly told you about my photographer shooting a wedding out of state (California!) the day before our wedding. He wasn’t sure he’d make it back in time for our wedding but made arrangements to send his 2nd and 3rd shooters in his place if he’s not able to be there.  Well now for various reasons his back up shooters are not available. So we can gamble on having a photographer at our wedding. (Did I mention he booked the May 27th wedding months after booking our May 28th wedding?)

The two things that last after the wedding are the rings and photos. No thank you on the gamble.

With only 6 months until our wedding we’re racing to find a photographer in our price range who offers what we want.

So, one thing that I’ve learned in this process is that when looking at portfolios, I’ve found that the best photos aren’t the ones that I see and think, “those are pretty pictures” they are the ones that make me think, “that was a beautiful wedding.” So we’ve been reviewing photographers… again with only a few months until our wedding. So we’re trying to find the photographer whose photos make us say, “that was a beautiful wedding.”

Ever checked something off your list just to find out you’d have to do it all over again?

I know many people have posted wondering if engagement pictures are ‘worth it’  and I can say, without a doubt, that YES, yes they are.

If you are getting married in the Boston, MA or Providence, RI area I recommend that you set up a shoot with Heather Chick Photography

Heather is not only an amazing photographer but she has such a wonderful personality that you’ll feel like you’ve been friends forever!

Violet Dude can be kind of a shy guy, but from the moment we met Heather at our location (A park where Dude grew up playing Baseball) he was completely at ease.  In fact, at the end, he said “That was so much fun, I want to do that again!”

We are huge Red Sox fans and our wedding theme is vintage Baseball. Heather took this and really ran with it!  She even brought props for us! (Red Sox stickers, Lolipops and Cracker Jacks!)

We had ideas of our own and Heather worked with us to create exactly what we had envisioned. We loved her so much that we changed our wedding date so that she could be our wedding photographer! (She was booked on our original date) We cant wait to see our wedding photos, and in the future we’ll have her take all our family photos!

Here are a few of our favorites:

Click the image to see Heather Chick Photography's Blog

Click the image to see Heather Chick Photography's Blog

If you need photos taken definitely check out Heather Chick Photography if you live in the Boston/Providence area, in fact it doesn’t matter where you live, her talent is worth the road trip!

We already used our photos for our Save the Dates and our Christmas cards.  We plan on printing many of these and framing them for our home as well as gifts for our parents and grandmothers.  Did you have engagement photos taken? What do you plan on doing with yours?

I adore flower girls! My flower girl was my husband’s niece (now my niece too). She did an amazing job. Her mom told me that she practiced for months and the day of our wedding it showed. She was perfect before, during and after our ceremony.

I LOVE my new little niece. Her flower girl dress was made for her.

With her fancy dress and perfect hair do, she looked like a little princess. Her dress matched mine with the Ivory color.

She was so proud and excited about the role that she was playing on our wedding. I reminded her about how important the flower girl part was. She is such a model!

Here she is peeking at my hair and make up artist as she is getting me ready for pictures.

The following image is one of my favorite pictures. My little princess had the fabulous idea of us posing like this to the camera.

If you have a flower girl, don’t forget to treat her like a princess. This little darling was the most important person that I focused on before I walked down the aisle. She made my day extra special.

Shortly after I got engaged and started browsing the internet I fell in love with idea of having a photo booth at the reception (and then saw how expensive it would be to rent one). So Poppy Dude and I are rigging a homemade backdrop and having our photographer take the pictures.

We also want to have a prop table to encourage people to let loose and have some fun. After some more browsing I found these cute and quirky mustaches. I decided to try my hand at my own DIY version…

Supplies:

• 4 sheets of black felt
• 1 package of 1/4″  wooden dowels
• scissors
• pins
• hot glue gun & glue sticks
• template

I found a great template with 11 different mustache designs at lisawelge.com. You can download the template here… or you can create your own.

Directions:

1. Cut out the templates…or get creative and make your own
2. Pin the templates to the felt
3. Cut (make sure you cut two of each)
4. Insert a dowel in between matching felt mustache sandwich
5. Glue! Make sure to apply the hot glue to both sides of the dowel and all over the felt mustaches…not just the outside (this will make them nice and stiff)
6. Trim off any glue that seeps out

Have fun with them! This was a great project for Poppy Dude, myself, and a couple of bridesmaids one lazy night! (Thanks guys!)  Here’s picture proof…

Dandelion Dude and I have been married for over a year now.  For the first year or so, I had stopped looking at wedding blogs and magazines because I was scared I would have wished I had done something different.    I’ve come to realize that ideas will come and go.  My love for the art or craft of a wedding will never go away.  I enjoy going to weddings and being a part of them.

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda is going to be things I love NOW.  Am I planning another wedding?  HECK NO!  Just blogging new or older ideas that match my wedding style.

One thing that would have been awesome to have at our wedding that wasn’t very important to me at the time was a videographer.  A few weeks ago we went to a wedding in Orange County, California.  I was wondering why there were like 3 or 4 cameras in the front of the chapel.  This is why…

nic + amanda wedding trailer from ElmanAdam on Vimeo.

What seemed to me to be like an excessive amount of photographers/videographers, turned out to be ElmanAdams Films. They make the whole getting ready process look graceful, the ceremony so romantic, and the reception like the best party of the year!

Check them out!!  We Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda…

This past weekend Poppy Dude and I made the two hour journey home with our friend and photographer, Toni of TM2 Photography. As we set out that morning the air was cool and crisp…it was the perfect fall morning. I had been sick earlier in the week and was happy to be feeling better for our session. I can’t tell you how happy we were that Toni agreed to come home with us! Toni has taken many pictures of us in Lincoln, but for our engagement pictures Poppy Dude and I wanted the backdrops to be familiar places, places that hold meaning to us. Our session was an all day event! We took pictures in my backyard in the morning, and headed out to the church where we are to be married after lunch so everybody could take a look around. After that we headed to the family farm where Poppy Dude grew up. Toni was nice enough to share some proofs with me to share with you! Here are a few of our favorites:

photo credit to TM2 Photography

photo credit to TM2 Photography

photo credit to TM2 Photography

photo credit to TM2 Photography

We are so happy with the way our pictures turned out! The last image is probably our most favorite picture…you might see it on our save-the-date (more on that to come later!)

Are you using a picture from your engagement session on your save-the-date? Did you do anything unique with your engagement photos?

As you know, the goal of our beach wedding was to get married at sunset.  We had read so many wonderful things about sunsets in the Florida Keys, and had even seen amazing pictures of them.  We figured we would be lucky if we got even half a sunset as some of the shots we had seen.  Wow, was I in total awe once we arrived in Key Largo and had a chance to witness the amazing beauty with our own eyes.

Here are a few of my favorite sunset shots that absolutely took my breath away!

I definitely could not ignore the sunset at our rehearsal dinner on the beach.  It was just incredible.  What I loved most was that our photographer made sure to grab all the couples and get shots of them in front of the sunset so that they would all have keepsakes from our wedding!

Thank you to Emily Harris for our amazing photography….phew she can take a shot!

All shots were taken from the beach and dock at the Key Largo Hilton.

I was glad before that we did an engagement session with our photographer, Jay. And after seeing our photos we’re even happier that we did it!

As I promised here are just a few of my favorites:

We actually found out that Lilac Dude’s mom and dad had a picture like this taken on their honeymoon.

All photos were taken by Jay Kossman of Digital504 Photography.

In a few weeks Poppy Dude and I get to take a break from our busy school schedules and make a trip home. With us we are taking a dear friend and photographer, Toni. We thought it would be nice to go back to where it all started to take our engagement photos.

We have worked with Toni of TM2 Photography in the past…and she has been good to us! Here’s one of my favorite shots:

(*photo courtesy of TM2 Photography)

Poppy Dude and I are looking forward to being in our own element as we take pictures. Bring on the farm equipment and cowboy boots! I’ll post about the experience soon!

What about you? Take your engagement pictures somewhere special?

Many times during the planning process out of pure frustration I would declare I wished we had just decided to ELOPE!  But now…50+ days after our wedding when I reflect back on how amazing it was… I am so glad we had the actual wedding.

I started crying (happy tears of course) on the way to work one morning this week as I was reflecting on the wedding.  It was so nice to have all of our my visions and designs come to life.  When I look back on all of the wonderful photographs and see how amazing it all was it fills me with a sense of pride to know that everything from the save the dates, to the decor, to the food, to the favors was picked, planned, and in some cases created by me.

Everyone keeps asking me to see wedding photos.  So using a code I had for a free 8×8 Shutterfly book I whipped up a quick book I now carry around in my purse to share with people when they ask.  It was a quick and easy way to have photos handy to share with friends and co-workers.

Here are a few more professional shots from our July 2010 wedding taken by our photographer, Amy Sandoval.

Our photographer snagged this bike rental for us on the boardwalk to use for a few fun photos.

This is my husband and I after we had come back inside to the reception after photos on the beach.

Hydrangea Dude and I got engaged nine months ago and are excited about our upcoming wedding in April.  Once we got engaged, we knew that there were a few vendors we wanted to secure right away including the photographer.  In my opinion, a great photographer is very important in capturing what will be the best day of my life, so I wanted to make sure I did my research.  After a friend recommendation, we chose Emily Harris Photography, a photographer who works near where we will be married in South Florida.  After meeting Emily in person, we knew that she would be a perfect match for our personalities as well as capture beautiful moments.

One thing we debated right away was getting engagement pictures.  I don’t know about any of you future brides, but for some reason, I just couldn’t understand why we needed pictures of ourselves all lovey dovey and posed before our actual wedding.  In my head, I wanted to be different and not send out a photo as a save the date, so I just couldn’t see the reason why to do it.  So, we debated.  Should we get engagement pictures or have Emily come and take pictures at our rehearsal dinner as well?

Here the rest of our photos

In the end, we decided to go with the engagement photo shoot.  And to my complete surprise, I LOVED THE PICTURES.  It captured Hydrangea Dude and I’s personality perfectly and combined some great close-up pictures, but also great shots of us in our natural fun-loving environment.  We can’t wait to see what she has in store for our wedding.

What did you end up doing? Did you go with the engagement session or do something different?

Lilac Dude and I met with our photographer, Jay Kossman (digital504.com) this afternoon for our engagement photos. He includes one additional shoot with wedding packages and we opted for an “e-session.”

Not one of our photos, just one from the night we got engaged (personal photo)

It was so much fun! We went to a playground and pretended to be kids for awhile and then we had a classy picnic at a park.

The e-session was so valuable to me because we got to spend some more time with our photographer and we were very comfortable smiling, kissing and interacting for him. Which will make our big day just a little bit easier. I know some couples just go to a cheap studio and have 3-5 pictures taken to have one to put in the newspaper and to frame. I’m very glad that we opted to go with our actual photographer for these photos. I highly recommend picking a wedding photography package with engagement photos included.

We should get to see all of our photos in 1-2 weeks. I’ll share a couple of my favorites with all of you in the garden when we get them.