Weddingbee Blog

We’ve been meeting with photographers recently (it’s so hard to choose!), and everyone we’ve talked to includes an engagement session in their package. We both like this idea because it lets us get comfy being in front of the camera. (We might both work in theatre, but we’re backstage people!). And it gets us some images for save the dates, thank you cards, Christmas cards, etc. Now there are a few things to decide about engagement photos: what to wear (that’s a whole separate set of posts!!) and where to do them. Today we were thinking about where to do them.

Cinnamon Buns suggested the library—I like that idea, and it is very us…In fact, it is so us that I’d been thinking about doing wedding photos at the library! Related question: should we call the library ahead of time and ask, or just show up and start shooting so they can’t tell us “no” until we already have a few photos? Would a librarian really turn away a bride in a big white dress? I shared those thoughts (well, the ones about not wanting to repeat locations), and then Cinnamon Buns said, “Well, we could do it in front of our bookcases at home.” And that just got me rolling.

I’ve seen some lovely kitchen engagement photos, and our kitchen/living room/library is just one open space. Maybe we could get some lovely shots like these:

Photo sources (from top to bottom): Melissa Jill, Dana Grant, Aaron Shintaku

I love these photos. I love to bake. Cinnamon Buns likes helping me bake and loves cooking. I don’t know if I love our kitchen this much, though. Although I do love my Kitchen Aid mixer enough for this…

We’d be doing these photos within the next month, I imagine. That means that the sun is setting later and later every day. Our house doesn’t get a ton of light to begin with, what with it being a first floor, slightly below-grade, north-facing condo. Our kitchen is lovely and big but full of very orange terra-cotta tile, and the window is at the other end of the large, open room. We have an island, so they could get shots across it of us chopping and mixing—the oven is in a bit of a corner, though. We’d also have to really (REALLY) clean it and the rest of the big room. And maybe hide some things away, like the dish-soap bottle, the bar stools I dragged out of a “FREE!” pile that have paint on the fabric, the garbage can, the half-knitted projects on the coffee table, the wedding stuff that is currently stashed behind the couch…At least we have our bedroom and the office to stuff all that stuff into! I still get stuck on commemorating our orange kitchen, though.

Also, I would have to plan what to make! I like the idea of strawberry shortcake or scones with strawberries, but strawberries in Calgary in October? They’re totally out of season, so the strawberries wouldn’t be as pretty. Chocolate chip cookies do involve the Kitchen Aid. Brownies are tasty. Cupcakes are adorable. I’ve got those cookie cutters with word stamps from Williams-Sonoma…too many choices! And, for the record, I would not go out and purchase cupcakes and pretend like we made them to take the stress off. I’m too hardcore.

Another location I had thought about was Rosedale Bluff, which is a nice grassy hill that gives a great view of the river, and downtown Calgary. I’d imagined, maybe, us sprawled on a nice quilt reading our books, with the city in the background. This would also involve buying a nice quilt, probably from Etsy. I’ve wanted one for a while and don’t really want my maroon polar-fleece blanket memorialized. Hmm, that’d have to come off the couch if we did the home shoot…

Nessa K

Another location option that Cinnamon Buns thought of was the Rundle Ruins. I’m not sure what they’re ruins of, to be honest, but they’re very cool looking and pretty close to our house.

Redfern photography

They’re something that I’ve always meant to investigate but have never gotten around to.

Keep in mind that all these photos are of lovely summer sunshine, and even if we book our photographer in the next few days and schedule the session within a week or two…we might have snow. I have my heart set on wearing a certain very pretty, short-sleeved dress in at least some of the photos. Although I do have an awesome pair of boots that I also want to wear (for a jeans look) that would look great in snow. As I said, that’s a whole separate post.

Was it hard to pick locations for your photos?