Engagement Photos - NO AWKWARD ARM!

When I first got engaged, my momma told me that the thing she wished she had from her wedding was more photos.  I've seen very few photos of her wedding.  Something happened where either the photographer didn't show up, or the photos were lost, or something equally as terrible. 

 

So I knew I wanted an excellent photographer.  I searched online, I asked for references, I inquired about price (I had to keep my budget in line...) until finally, I found our photographer, Allichelle Photography.  Alison was just starting out on the wedding circuit.  She had booked one other couple with a full package from engagements through wedding.  The engagement photos had already been posted and after looking at them, I just fell in love with the style of photography that Alison uses. 

 

I contacted Alison and she gave me a great price that included an engagement session, a bridal session, a groomal session, a first look, all day wedding coverage, and a trash the dress session.  All for a great bargain price of $800.  (We didn't do groomals, first look or a trash the dress.  I only regret not doing the first look photos.)  Alison has since upped her prices, as she should, and offers different packages, depending on your need.  Like I said, she was just starting out when we hired her.  And I am so glad we did. 

 

During our engagement session, I learned a lot about what I liked in the photos themselves.  There was one shot where she told Nathan to put his arm up above me, but it is so out of character for him, the final shot just looked awkward.  During the wedding day session, we were trying to get in a good pose, but I yelled (in my lovely bridal voice) "NO AWKWARD ARM!"  And Nathan put his arm down so fast.  The wedding pictures turned out awesome and we were giggling too, so the natural laughter came through on our faces as well. 

 

Also with the engagements, I told Alison when we were looking at our finished product photos that I hated seeing my double chin.  She took that to heart and if she shot any that gave me a double chin, she tossed 'em.  At least that is what I assume happened.  There are very few photos of me after that that show me with a double chin.  

Here are our engagement photos from a wet February morning in 2012. The rain kept coming and going, making for some interesting work for the camera lighting. And, Alison had to digitally remove droplets off of Nathan's glasses.  Except for the last picture of us dancing, all of these pictures were taken at the intersection of Victoria and Baseline in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.  There is a winery there, some fancy pillars, and a field behind the gas station.  Oh, and Victoria is tree-lined, so we got some nice shots there, too.  The last picture is in Alison's backyard in front of her orange tree. 

We used the black and white version of the photo below for our invites.  It was printed right into the invite.  We felt it pretty much sums up our personalities.  Nate doesn't like being the center of attention and I really like my hair in this shot. 

 

 Awkward Arm #1 below...

 

Doesn't our hair look really red in these next two shots?  It was just the lighting at the time.  Nate has since grown a beard that is red, and he has a red headed sister, so it is a more natural look for him.  It looks fun on me too.  Like a little teaser for me to see what I would look like with a different hair color. 

Awkward Arm #2...

These in the meadow are what my bridesmaid Sara deemed our "Twilight" shots...

You can see it was really raining at this point.  My hair has lost the battle.  This is also the shot where Alison digitally removed water droplets off of Nathan's glasses. 

This is one of my favorites. 

 

Bridesmaids. Are. Awesome.

Bridesmaids:  they are all different body shapes and sizes and heights.  To find a dress that looks good on everyone is an impossible task. 

My plan was to send everyone to David's Bridal to get a dress of their choosing and style, but all in the same color (teal).  As the wedding prep progressed, the colors of the wedding grew to incorporate anything in the teal-turquoise range.  I realized this could work for the bridesmaids dresses, as well.  In picking their dress, I gave the girls some guidelines, but otherwise, they could pick whichever dress they wanted.

Don't they look gorgeous?!?!

I love the mis-matched look. 

My guidelines for my bridesmaids' dresses:  knee-length, modest (with sleeves or a cover), formal looking, and within the teal-turquoise family of colors.  I also asked that they wear white dress shoes of their choosing.  These guidelines freed up the shopping process considerably!  I was not able to purchase the dresses for my bridesmaids, so they each found something within their own personal budget.  Some went to bridals stores, some were from discount stores, one was from their own closet that they adjusted a bit, and one was even homemade. 

Here's the shoe shot:

Twelve white shoes, six turquoise dresses, two turquoise shoes, and one white dress.

I was actually really afraid I or my train would fall in the water, but this shot was worth the momentary fear...

One of the things my dad said in his toast at the reception was that I've made good friends everywhere I have lived and there were friends at the wedding representing all of those eras in my life. I wanted all my best friends to be in my wedding. I couldn't have all that I wanted - but I wound up with 7 anyway. It got widdled down to 6 by the wedding.

My bridesmaids were awesome and amazing. I had Nate's two sisters Alex and Lauren, plus Melissa (local), Nicki (Hawaii), Ralene (Arizona), and Sara (local).

 

 My sister-in-law made rings for each of my bridesmaids:

Melissa was my matron of honor.  She helped me so much.  She threw my bridal shower for me and also gave a toast at my wedding.  She helped with set-up and many other little things along the way, including just being super-duper excited for me.   

Sara - she helped with the set-up and, fun fact, her parents were second place in the anniversary dance at the reception (47 years strong!).  Sara is a previous roommate and a dear, dear friend:

Nicki drove from Las Vegas to be at my wedding.  We met 10 years ago in college in Hawaii.  She been one of my best friends ever since.  We've gone on vacays together and have had a lot of fun times.  She brought a song to the reception and played it for us as a surprise:  "De-lah" from the George of the Jungle soundtrack.  At some point in my life, she said I said I'm going to dance to that song during my wedding.  So she made sure it happened.  :)

Ralene drove from Phoenix.  I met her in grad school when I lived in Tucson.  She came a few days before and worked tirelessly to help decorate the reception. Ralene made the emergency run to Target to get new t-lights since ours melted in the sun before the reception.  Both her and Nicki got up on the day of the wedding at 6:00am to go hang lanterns at the reception site.  That's how you define best friends.  How early they get up on the day of your wedding...  Ralene also was my shoulder to cry on when I had my obligatory melt-down the night before the wedding.  I couldn't have made it through the day without her.  She is amazing.
 

Alex got an entire post to herself describing her awesomeness.  She made our cake!  For free! 

See the post: 

http://waitmanwedding.blogspot.com/2012/09/sweet-alexs-cakes.html
 

And Lauren, also one of my new sisters-in-law.  She is an amazing girl.  I felt so welcomed by her into the family from the very first minute I met her.  She helped her mom so much at our wedding.  She was the all-around helper.  Whatever needed to be done, she was there.  



And just for fun, we took a few funny shots of me girding-up my loins.  My bustle hook was broken...

Not the most flattering pose, but, eh.  It's my wedding day.  And I will always look pretty no matter what.  Nate said so.  :)

Here's Melissa and her hubby bringing the flowers to the back door of the temple. 



Every time she sees this picture of her waiting at the back door, she says, "Man!  My legs are so white!"  I think she looks great.



 All pictures by allichellephotography.com.  Hire her!