Wedding season is right around the corner! If you or someone you know is deep in the wedding planning process, I’m sure the idea of having engagement photos has come up. First, let us clarify that an engagement session is a casual photo session with your fiancé that highlights you as a couple. Some couples may feel it is a waste of time and money but we strongly feel this is a valuable opportunity. Apart from documenting this amazing time in your lives, there are several important reasons to get engagement photos, especially if you are looking for a professional wedding photographer.
First of all, this is a great opportunity to test out your wedding photographer. Engagement sessions usually last more than an hour. So, it allows you time to develop a relationship with that photographer. It also gives you a chance to reaffirm whether the photographer you picked for your wedding is the right one for you. In case you clash with the photographer, get engagement photos done as early as possible. Second, as wedding photographers, it helps us give you better wedding photos. Once we get to know your personalities, we can work on getting you unique wedding photos that mean more to you. You will learn our style of shooting before your wedding day and you will be more comfortable being photographed on your special day.
Finally, engagement photos can be used in so many ways while planning your wedding. They are great for personalized save the dates or wedding invitations. You can make a fun guestbook using the photos. We’ve also seen them creatively used in centerpieces, reception slideshows, and wedding websites. Finally, some parents use a photo when making an announcement in the hometown newspaper.
Convinced yet? Well, before we go, here are some engagement photo tips…
Get your photos done as soon as you set the wedding date. Normally you need atleast 8 to 12 months to plan a wedding. This gives you time to test out your wedding photographer and use the photos in your wedding planning. It also gives you time to just enjoy the photos during this moment in your life. Find out from your photographer exactly what products they offer. For instance, if you are wanting a custom photo guestbook, save-the-dates or if you will need the files to make a reception slideshow.
Engagement photos should be unique and special to you as a couple. Get your photos done in a place that has meaning to you or around an activity that you love to do. Also be conscious of the season. As natural light photographers, we encourage outdoor photos and fall photos look very different from spring photos. Engagement photos should be fun, creative, and unique to you. Have fun wedding planning!
Today didn’t start out really great for me, not because it’s a Monday{ha}! But because I had very little sleep and kept waking up every single hour through the night. Cedar or juniper pollen must have been high yesterday since my head felt fuzzy after we came back from our little fishing trip with our friends. The next thing is I needed to sleep almost sitting down since I couldn’t breathe and my sinuses hurt so much and made my throat so dry. So I skipped work and slept in some more in the morning and went to work after lunch. I did feel better. But despite the grogginess, I am really hoping Spring is just around the corner. This afternoon within 5 minutes, the weather changed from being cloudy, to raining, to hailing, then everything stopped and cleared up, then the sun was shining so bright and there was a faint rainbow in the sky. Wow! It’s only here that I am amazed by the weather change everyday, let alone in 5 minutes! Anyway, I was going to take hail photos but then I am really missing Spring so much that I had to dig through my photos from last year to cheer me up.
Yes, I am in denial. And I miss the light, the smell, the joy of springtime. I really want Spring to come soon! So I hope it could hear me or else I will break into a tribal spring dance to get all the buds blooming and the leaves sprouting! Green green green! See you on Wednesday! Have a good one!
Happy Friday friends! What are your plans this weekend!? I hope you have something either exciting or relaxing in mind. I’ve mentioned a lot of times how Oklahoma’s weather is unpredictable and tomorrow we are having some rain! Just a few days ago it said it was going to be sunny with a high in the 50s. Oh boy, I feel so bad that I have to move our client’s shoot some other time. The rain could turn out to be a fun shoot but they still have little boys and yup we don’t want them to get sick and cold. Anyway, I think I need a drink today! It has been a tough week with my day job but here’s some good news…I am not going to China this month! Yay! I’m going to skip this trip. I’m pretty positive my colleagues can do without me on one trip. So hooray that I get to spend more time with Scott!
I so need this break since we have so many house chores that we need to do. We’re also looking forward to some antiquing this coming weekend. Well, I’m going to keep it short this time and let you enjoy your weekend. And leave you with this happy song and hope it paints a big smile on your face. Also don’t forget, if you’re local to Oklahoma, the Hello Lovely Indie Bridal Fair is coming up on March 11. Check out my previous here for more information. Pretty please come by and say Hi to us! We would love to meet you there! ♥
Hi y’all! So how was your Valentine’s day celebration!? I hope you guys enjoyed your day a lot. Everyday is a day of love for us but we did go out for some wine and yummy bruschettas last night with our friends to make it fun and extra special, so that was exciting! On the other hand I even have more exciting news for you! Drumroll please…We are officially having a booth at the Hello Lovely Indie Bridal Fair! Yay! Here’s a flyer that I found from their page for more information:
It is actually our very first show so imagine me jumping up and down when one of the Hello Lovely ladies, Hannah, called about being one of the vendors there. I am so stoked! I like that the fair is small and more organized, 20 hand-picked vendors, cool barn location, and lots of fun and giveaways in store for the attendees. Eeek! So if you are engaged, a mother of the bride or groom, or would just love to attend, please do! Tickets are pretty affordable and can be purchased at the Hello Lovely website or at the door. And pretty please stop by to say Hi! We would love to meet you there!
Happy Monday Everyone! How did your weekend go? Scott and I had so much fun yesterday since we got to visit a really cool businesswoman and artist in town, Jenny of The Crimson Poppy. We’re big into supporting local businesses and love her creative work so we thought we could connect with her. She is so talented and so nice and cheerful to talk to! And her paper flowers were so darn gorgeous! She’s an awesome multi-tasker. She was talking to us about business, the upcoming Hello Lovely bridal show, various types of florist papers, the DIY Flower Kits she made, while at the same time she was unconsciously making pretty small flower pieces. She’s one busy girl! And I’m sure it has been crazy these past few months for her with interviews and features everywhere. I love her feature on Southern Weddings and Brides magazine; the flowers she made for them were stunning!
It all started when Jenny decided to do something different with her own wedding…using paper flowers! She found instructions and do-it-yourself kits online but quickly out-grew them in the search for more realistic creations. Many of her beautiful works of art were discovered by taking apart real flowers, lol. Well, in the process of doing all this research she had created many wonderful items like cards and decorations. With the encouragement of friends and family she started selling these creations in local shops and online. It wasn’t long before she was being asked to create flowers for weddings and even the Golden Globes and The Oscars! That’s right, she gave away DIY paper flower kits to celebrities in their swag bags. Wow! Isn’t that awesome?!
I love these gigantic flowers that she had and I think they’re actually pretty popular right now with brides. Instead of a regular flower bouquet, I’ve seen brides just holding one gigantic flower. Pretty unique! And what’s more unique is having one made out of paper that looks so real and hey you can actually keep it forever. Anyway, I’m just so excited to share this since I just love it when brides bring something different to their weddings…be it a paper flower bouquet, boutonnieres, a hairpiece, or what, I’m sure Jenny can get it covered *wink*. Support your local everything! Stop by her website or like her Facebook page and help her win a commercial, I’m sure you will like what you see.
Hooray! Friday has finally come! And we can finally share a shoot that we’ve been falling in love with all week…a lakeside engagement shoot. We’re also so excited because this is our first engagement session of the year and the shoot turned out to be so much fun! Emily was actually the one to come up with the idea. While we were all brainstorming ideas on where to take photos, Emily happened to be visiting some family land. Emily described cabins filled with antiques along the shores of a drying up lake. She didn’t even have to ask for we fell in love with the idea in an instant! So, we all drove out to the land together with vintage goodness dancing in our heads, and when we got there it was…like a dream.
This past summer was extremely dry and the drought had left the lake practically dried up. It has left behind petrified looking trees shooting straight up out of the sandy mud. It was so very breathtaking but surreal…especially as the sun was setting.
Emily told Jeff that if he is ever going to propose, not to ask but just to give her a ring. She didn’t want anything big or a dramatic scene. So, one day they were having dinner at an Irish pub and Jeff pulled out a ring just as she had previously asked…and she happily took it. She admits though that she was a bit surprised since she thought he may propose on a trip they were planning. But she says that she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Jeff and Emily are extremely competitive with each other and will make anything into a contest {Emily usually comes out on top}. They both enjoy trying new things and traveling. In their free time they like playing games and going to the movies. Jeff and Emily are finishing up their degrees in Economics and Bio-systems Engineering at the same university. So, not only are they fun to hang out with but they’re obviously super smart, lol.
We love this e-session so much! And there’s more photos! So be sure to check out the slideshow on their Event Page. Have a fun weekend everyone!
Happy Wednesday! Due to inclement weather this past weekend, we had to move our schedule around a bit. So no photoshoot but no worries, we still have a fun session to share! Quentin & Victoria came to us last November to get some Just Because photos done. This is the first time to post any because they wanted them to be a surprise for their families over the holidays. Take a look!
As you can see this was in the heart of fall and all the trees were glorious. I’m so glad that Sophie and Bella, their pomeranian’s, were able to come out and play! And boy they loved it!
Kitchen utensils? Power tools?! Lol, this couple was so much fun! We always try to find something that a couple has in common and we center the photoshoot around that. This time there was a twist! The thing is that they don’t exactly share everything but for every interest or hobby one of them has, the other has a complement. They each have their own bookshelves with different types of books. One has a PC…and, yup, the other likes Macs. Victoria likes to spend time in the kitchen {she bakes the best banana bread} and Quentin spends time in the garage {his truck is his baby}. The best thing about this couple is that they encourage each other even when it’s “different”. It would be so boring anyway if two people are too much alike right!?
Quentin and Victoria have been together for 5 years and we asked them if they would share their porposal story. They have such a sweet story! Quentin has a handy man business on the side but was worried about how long it may take to save up for a nice ring. As luck would have it, he had a client that had a beautiful loose diamond. The client made him a deal, in exchange for a summer’s worth of yard work, he could have the diamond. All he needed to do was find the perfect setting. The ring is beautiful so I think they got a great deal and such a labor of love!
Quentin and Victoria have a new passion for running. And as you may expect they have simliar shoes and water bottles…matching but different.
While we were running around we came across a fallen eagle’s nest. How crazy is that!? I swear I could fit in that nest no problem…I mean it was B-I-G! Anyway, there was no sneak peek on this one so head straight on over and visit their Event Page for more sweet his & her photos. Have a great week!
Happiest Monday everyone! I am so excited that you dropped by. What do you think about the new look of the website? I hope you like it ’cause Scott {especially} and I had been working hard to make our website all look nice and clean and easy breezy. I actually love the INFO page the most! It’s neat how it transformed from being all so wordy to simple and outlined. So I hope you love it and enjoy checking out the different pages. And of course you know how much we love polaroids, it had to stay! Anyway, I was trying to clean up and make some space on my computer when I found some old film photos that I took almost 2 years ago. I found this one of Judith taken with my Holga.
I used to carry a film camera during our shoots but have forgotten doing that more often than not. So this year I need to make sure to do that! I love the look of film. I wish I had more time to practice shooting with film. Maybe that is something that I can do this year around Springtime. I did remember to bring my polaroid camera to the engagement shoot that I did a few weeks ago. This is a photo of Jeff & Emily that I took around twilight.
Oh and make sure to come back this week, I am actually excited to show you Jeff & Emily’s full engagement session. Tata for now!
I know I’m blogging late on a Friday evening, my apologies. I actually just got back from a wonderful dinner with one of my very first clients, Cris and her family. She’s become one of our close friends now and we enjoy spending time with them when we can. It is definitely hard to say No when she makes scrumptious dinners and desserts. Tonight she made us an awesome homemade pizza! Ah delicious is an understatement! Dough was made from scratch and it had artichoke, fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, and more! Homemade stuff are really the best! I was so glad that we were able to take a break today and just hang out and play with her kids! Fun! Sorry, I have no proper photo of the pizza but I took one with my camera phone which I can post tomorrow morning.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed your Friday night! And Happy Saturday if you’re on the other side of the world! Next week, I can’t wait to show you our updated website. We thought we needed some upgrading! LOL We just changed some few things here and there, some background colors, simplified the information page and all. I am actually getting excited to show it to you! Each elephant step we take, I feel that we are honing in on sharing this vision we have with you. I feel this year is going to be a big year for us and I can’t wait to see where it takes us. Big thanks to Scott, he has been working so hard on updating our website. Big hugs to you all and have a happy weekend!
Scott and I have been thinking so hard on how our new business cards should look like. I think business cards, though small, are cheap yet effective tools for your business. We’ve been discussing how to design it ever since I left for China and debated on using still photos of vintage cameras as a background to our contact information or having a camera-shaped card maybe. But we really wanted it to convey our business, straight and simple, but unique. Think think think! And then it just suddenly clicked!
With our love for Polaroids, what other way than to mimic the skinny or business card-sized polaroids {that comes out of my Polaroid 300}! And so here’s a shot of our new business card. They just arrived fresh from the printer…Tadaaa! What do you think? Has anyone done this before?
Yes, I am so delighted with this little thing but I thought it was such a genius idea. Anyway, on the other hand I have been obsessed with Pinterest! Ugh, it’s not very healthy for me since I stare and spend lots of time over there. Plus it really slows me down on my work LOL. I really think that site is awesome. And I learned some few wise words to live by or maybe silly jokes that breaks a boring day. Have fun and Happy Wednesday!
Also don’t forget, if you’re local to Oklahoma, the Hello Lovely Indie Bridal Fair is coming up on March 11. Check out my previous 
but no worries, we still have a fun session to share! Quentin & Victoria came to us last November to get some Just Because photos done. This is the first time to post any because they wanted them to be a surprise for their families over the holidays. Take a look! 
What do you think about the new look of the website? I hope you like it ’cause Scott {especially} and I had been working hard to make our website all look nice and clean and easy breezy. I actually love the 
