Weddingbee Blog

Mr. A and I took our engagement pictures back in May of this year. Initially I was a little reserved about how I might look in the photos, particularly since I’m not quite as…um…healthy as I’d like to be. However, once we got our photos back, I was pleasantly surprised!

You guys, I am SO HAPPY with how these babies turned out. James from Ballenger Photography was an absolute blessing to work with—he put Mr. A and me at ease, totally invested his time into our session, and was completely open to suggestions for some creative and unusual shots. Best of all, his turnaround rate for getting the finished photos back to us was exactly one week—this was especially fantastic because I’ve been eagerly anticipating what traipsing around town in our fancy duds for two hours got us. Not only did James flawlessly capture the dynamic of mine and Mr. A’s relationship, he also made us look GOOD!

Ballenger Photography’s slogan is “a thousand words aren’t nearly enough.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. So, enough jibber-jabber and onto the photos! (All upcoming photos by Ballenger Photography)

I’m so glad that James was able to capture “us.” We aren’t one of those incredibly affectionate in public types of couples (definitely NOT a fan of PDA). Kissing in front of a camera with random people walking by and cars honking in approval obviously didn’t feel even the slightest bit natural to either one of us. That being said, I can definitely still see the love in these photos along with the solid partnership Mr. A and I share as a couple, and I know we’ll be able to look back on these pictures 20 years from now and still get a sense of that euphoric energy we felt when we were freshly engaged and on the brink of starting our journey together as husband and wife. After all, at the end of the day, that’s what these photos are really all about, ya know?

Anyway, for anyone figuratively “on the fence” about doing an engagement session, I highly recommend it. Wedding photos are nice, but there isn’t a whole lot of opportunity on the wedding day to capture the intimate relationship between you and your significant other sans the typical shots during the ceremony and perhaps during the first dance at the reception—engagement pictures really complement wedding-day photos in that way. They’re also a great way to get acquainted with your wedding-day photographer so you’ll have a better understanding and rapport with him or her when the big day rolls around.

Stick around for another blog post coming soon with some engagement photo “tips” related to my personal experience about the process—everything from prepping before the shoot, ways to relax during the session, and what to do after it’s all over!