I won’t lie, I was wicked stressed out about taking my engagement photos. We scheduled them really quickly, since we live in Massachusetts and as we all know, winter is coming. (50,000 points if you can name the reference!) We’re having a relatively short engagement, and as silly as it sounds, I really wanted to get our engagement photos done before Christmas 2012 so we could use some of them for our Christmas card. For Christmas 2013 we’ll obviously be using a wedding photo, so 2012 is really all the chance I’ve got to use our engagement photos in a practical application like this one. There are so many more intelligent, compelling reasons to schedule and take engagement photos, and I’ll discuss some of them soon. But the reality for me is that I wanted a pretty Christmas card photo. So I did them as soon as we signed our photography contract.

Pretty much everyone has heard the really great reasons to take engagement photos. They help you get to know your photographer and her style, they help you get comfortable with your photographer and comfortable with the whole photo shoot experience. Most people haven’t taken professional photos since their senior pictures, so everyone can use a refresher course on that. They’re also great to use for your save the dates (we had already made and sent ours, so we couldn’t, but more on those later!) and there’s always the classic using them as a photo guest book for your wedding, which is probably what I’ll also be doing. But really, for me, it was all about the Christmas cards.

Before our shoot, I read a lot of blogs with engagement photo tips, so I wanted to pay it forward and give some of my tips. I only had about a week or two to prepare for the pictures, so I did the best I could. I drank a lot of water, washed my face with my Clarisonic religiously, and avoided salt as much as possible, but a week can only do so much, you know?

My best tip from my engagement shoot is to splurge and have your hair and makeup professionally done. I’m not doing my hair and makeup trials until this winter/spring, so that was kind of out of the question for me. If that’s an option for you, take it! Instead, I did what I do best, and hit the web. I’ve had great luck finding restaurants and vendors through Yelp and this time was no exception. I searched for a salon close by my house and hit pay dirt when I found Verde Salon in Braintree. The two owners of the salon were the ones who personally did my hair and makeup, and I was thrilled. I can never get my own hair to look as good as it does when someone else does it, and I really appreciated the makeup primers and finishers they put on me, my makeup stayed put!

I felt so much more confident taking photos knowing my hair and makeup looked really great. It was completely worth the salon splurge.

I was also really concerned with what we both should wear. I didn’t want us in matching outfits or anything, but I didn’t want us to clash. Honestly, Joe was much easier to dress than I was! My tips on wardrobe may sound pretty common sense, but it’s worth noting. First of all, don’t be afraid to shop your closet! You may have already bought the pieces of the perfect outfit! While I wouldn’t necessarily wear an outfit I’ve worn 50 times before, I did incorporate elements of both of our outfits that we previously owned and in fact love. I bought a few new key pieces, and made it all work. Second, dress in something that looks like “you.” If, like me, you buy your dress for your engagement photos with the thought that you can wear it to the office or to the family Thanksgiving dinner (which I did!) then that’s probably a good thing.

I’ve spent a lot of time before and after we took our photos looking at engagement photos, and I will say, I love when the couple’s outfits change. I love having a more formal and a casual outfit. By formal, i don’t mean a ball gown or anything! I wore a dress I’ve since worn to the office, with tights and colorful flats. Joe wore his suit pants, his favorite dress shirt, and a tie. We did end up having to lose the tie halfway through the shoot because the wind was causing major problems with it, but I still love the look. For our casual look, I wore dark skinny jeans and black boots with one of my favorite tank tops under a new purple pea coat. Joe wore his dark jeans with a black tee shirt and his new green coat. Before we arrived at Castle Island, Joe and I were on the fence about whether or not he’d wear his suit pants at all, or if he’d just stay in his jeans for both looks, and I’m really pleased that we chose to go a little more formal.

My next tip is to trust your photographer. Leah had lots of ideas when we started out, and already had shots planned. At the end of the shoot, we decided to venture out a bit to the far end of the loop around the Island, and I’m pretty sure some of the pictures we got there are going to be amazing. We didn’t choose to go with a “theme”, because that’s not really us, but if you want a theme, talk with your photographer. They’re in the business after all!

At the end of the day, you want to leave your engagement photo session saying to each other, “Wow, that was so much fun!” and we definitely did. We were really comfortable the whole time (especially after we changed into our jackets brrrrr!) and left the session feeling really excited about the results and about our wedding. For most people, it’s your chance to get to know your photographer. We were lucky, we already knew our photographer, but I can see even more how important it is to establish that rapport.

While technically the largest part of our budget is devoted to venue and catering, I’m pretty sure photography will come in as the second largest piece of the budgetary pie, and I’m completely OK with that. Literally almost every bride I talk to or read about admits that they “splurged” on their photographer, and they don’t regret it for a minute. The ones who didn’t “splurge” often do seem to regret it. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

When I started thinking about wedding photography, I immediately had a potential photographer in mind. Luckily, one of my friends from high school started a wedding photography business with her husband a few years ago, and ever since I saw their blog and their work, I knew that I wanted them to shoot our wedding. I was thorough, did all my research, looked at every potential photographer, and went back to my original (correct) choice – Bailly Photography!

Was I right or what? We did our engagement photos at Castle Island (across the street from where I grew up in South Boston) this month with Leah, and we couldn’t be happier! I woke up really nervous about the weather, hoping it wouldn’t be too overcast, but it ended up perfect. This is just the teaser photo, I got to see a few on Leah’s camera, and I can’t wait to see the rest. We’re already planning on using them for our Christmas cards this year.

If you’re on the fence about photography and potentially spending a good amount on your budget on it, my advice is to go for it. When we were fretting about the high cost of photography and I was trying to find a lower-end photographer, I was miserable. I’m only planning on getting married once, and let’s face it, these pictures are going to be one of the only ways I get to remember this one day (not to mention these will be my facebook profile pictures for years to come!) and I want to be thrilled with them. I’m so excited for our wedding and for the great photos that I know Leah will take for us.

It’s one of the questions every bride faces, I think. To video, or not to video? It’s one section of the wedding budget that often seems unnecessary, and ends up getting cut. I had never really thought that much about it, to be honest, and at first I thought I would probably skip it.

But then, I spent some time on my favorite wedding website, Weddingbee, and started reading up on videography specifically. So many girls said their one regret was cutting or skipping the video, and that photos only do so much. I also talked to my aunt, who got married in 1976, and one of the things she loves most about her wedding is that she does have some video footage, even though it wasn’t really common yet.  Realistically, we’re spending the equivalent of an entire car or a healthy down payment on a house for a one-day party, I want to have a way to remember it. Everyone says the day goes by in a blur, and as the bride, there’s definitely going to be entire sections of the wedding I miss. For example, I’m not going to get to see my bridesmaids walk down the aisle, or a lot of my cocktail hour. We’ve decided against a first look, so there’s no way we’re really going to get to enjoy our cocktail hour. I want a way to look back and see that stuff!

So now that I’ve decided to hire someone to tape my wedding, the next question is who to hire? We’ve been looking around online, and will be starting to meet with people soon. As I’ve started looking around though, it feels so intimidating! Almost everyone I’ve looked at is priced so far out of the budget I’m hoping to stick to! Everyone certainly takes pride in their work, and their filmmaking, but that’s really not what I’m looking for here. I just want a basic video of our day, not a film that tells a story. As gorgeous as those videos are, I don’t think that’s really what I need. I’ve already gotten the amazing photographer of my dreams, all I want is a basic professional video.

My other issue is that I want a vendor who will be willing to tailor the video to my day and what I want filmed. I have absolutely no desire to have anything beyond our cake cutting and our first dances immortalized on a DVD. No one needs to see any members of our families doing the Thriller dance! I can’t imagine that a reputable vendor wouldn’t be willing to tailor our contract to our wishes, but it’s still something to think about. I watched a potential vendor’s demo video, and that really just cemented my decision here. No one also needs to see a video of a tipsy member of the wedding party falling over on the dance floor, like I did on that demo video.

So, in the end: Fun-loving bride seeks professional videographer with a simple style, a non-astronomical price tag, and a willingness to work with the nature of the event. I’ll keep you posted on the search!

I’ve had a wedding pinboard on Pinterest basically since I signed up for an account. What girl hasn’t? It’s been so awesome to get to keep so much inspiration in one place, although I will admit that it can be a double edged sword. When you’re looking at such gorgeous pictures, it’s easy to lose track of budgets and basic time and venue constraints. The next thing you know, you’re seriously feeling like your wedding will be inadequate without a photo booth,  DIY mason jar centerpieces, wedding bouquets wrapped in lace from your mom’s dress, and a sparkler exit.

The reality is that my venue has no place for a photo booth, and as much as I love mason jars, my venue already comes with lovely hurricane glass centerpieces. I don’t know how I would feel about cannibalizing my mom’s wedding dress, and I’m terrified of sparklers. I’m trying to focus on the positives, however, and use Pinterest as a resource to find and catalogue my inspiration. To that end, I thought I might post a few of my favorite pins, just to demonstrate the kind of wedding I’m hoping to have.

Source - Style Me Pretty

Source - Etsy

Source - Project Wedding

Source - Catch My Party

Source - Bride in Bloom Canada

Throughout this all, I’ve attempted to remain realistic. I want a gorgeous wedding, but at the end of the day, as long as Joe and I are married, I will count it as a success.

Next up – wedding dress inspirations!

On August 4th, 2012, I got the surprise of my life. After a day of Joe acting oddly, I came home to him waiting for me on our deck wearing his suit, holding red roses and my engagement ring. I said yes, (I’m also pretty sure I said “Are you serious?!”) and now, the wedding planning and DIY can begin!

Really, the DIY starts with the ring, in a way. When my mom passed away, we inherited her gorgeous engagement ring. While buying a new ring was certainly an option, we thought incorporating her center stone into a new setting would be very meaningful for us, and exactly what she wanted for us. This stone has a pretty good track record after all. My father gave it to my mother on Christmas in 1968, and she wore it every day until she passed away this summer.

This is what my mom's ring looked like originally

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