Wedding Blog

We received the CD of our engagement pictures a few weeks back, and I love them! Here are my favorites:

I love them all—I love that we look like ourselves but also really cool, I love that we look happy and honest, I love that the colors are so bright and beautiful around us.

So with that, I offer my suggestions for taking great engagement pictures…

On what to wear:

• Consider your location. I initially wanted to wear something bright blue (I look good in bright blue), but I’m very happy that I chose something very neutral instead. The location colors come through better this way.
• If you are busty, like me, I highly recommend a black wrap shirt. Unfortunately mine had these ruffly things all the way down the front so the profile pics look a little odd, but the general effect was exactly what I wanted: minimize the boobage, emphasize the waist.
• I’m glad that while we both wore jeans, they didn’t match.
• Be honest (and by that, I mean authentic). J’s a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy, so he dressed up a bit with a button-down shirt… but still worn casually. I’m a heels and jeans kind of girl, so I went that route.
• Be sentimental. His jeans are my favorite, and the ones he wore the night we met. I bought him that shirt, and it reminds me of one of my faves. He loves that pair of jeans on me.
• Personal note for pet owners: dog/cat hair does not show up in pictures, even on a black shirt, so don’t stress out over it like I did.

On locations:

• Again, be sentimental and authentic. I love this city, and it’s the city where he grew up, so we wanted something quintessentially Knoxville, and nothing says Knoxville like World’s Fair Park. We also considered the property around our home, but decided that WFP would be cooler when our kids ask about the pics in 10 years (the kids we haven’t had yet).
• Do some location scouting on your own… especially if working with a novice photog or new location. Walk around together and decide what feels right. We didn’t do this, and while our pics came out beautifully, I wish we’d gotten a few more of the Sunsphere and at least one near the ampitheatre.

On preparation:

• Come up with a few poses, a few expressions, a few composition ideas… again, especially if your photographer is a bit inexperienced. Our photographer was lovely and produced beautiful pics, but she’s used to working with babies, and you don’t have to direct babies. When we got to WFP, she gave us carte blanche—so we had to figure out our own shots, poses, expressions. Very awkward at first, and the reason that so many e-pics are smoochy. You run out of things to do! Note: even if you’re hoping for mostly candid shots (like I was), you still have to be doing something (ya know, to catch candidly). Think of things to do!
• Think about a few stories that embody how you feel about each other. That way, when you run out of things to do (call them poses, call them whatever), you can tell your story. Some of our most honest expressions came out of the telling of our “how we met” story.
• At all times, even when playing around or not posing, look either at the camera or your partner. On close-up, a few of my favorite shots fell out of the running because you can tell we’re distracted or looking at something that just doesn’t “make” the picture.

I love, love, love these pics. We never wanted to take engagement pics. But a serendipitous Craigslist-surfing session, combined with all the FIL’s clamoring for pics, and my realization that I just didn’t like any of the snapshots we had led to this session, and we’re both so glad we did it.

Now we’re talking about scheduling another session in early spring on our property with the animals!

I have to say, one of the best things about being a repeat bride is that I’ve had a chance to think about what’s important. Things (like this) that I might have blown off the first time (had I known about them)—pictures commemorating a happy moment in our lives—are so important to me, and I’m thrilled that we took the time to do them.

Is there anything that you did for your wedding on a whim, only to realize later that you were so thankful you did it?