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.
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.
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.
