Engagement Pictures: Part 2 (Plus Some Engagement Picture Tips!)

January 10, 2017

{Outfit Details}

Hers:

White Dress: Free People (here)

Maroon Dress: Old Navy (exact dress not online, similar style but different colors here)

His:

Gray shirt: J. Crew Factory (here)

Maroon Shirt: J. Crew Factory (no longer online, similar here)

Hi dolls!

The wedding countdown is seriously winding down and I am on cloud 9 with excitement. Yes, there is a lot left to do, but I am seriously just SO excited to be this guy's wife & knowing that at the end of our wedding day, that's what I will be, gives me the greatest joy!!!! So y'all have probably seen my Engagement Pictures: Part 1 post HERE, and when I wrote it, we were 199 days out. It is so fun for me to look back on that post, because now we are approaching being LESS than 100 days away....like double digits!!! I can't believe how fast the time is flying by!

For our engagement pictures, we were lucky enough to be able to have time for 3 outfit changes. As I have already shared the first look with y'all (the more "formal" look), the pictures above are our two more "casual" looks. From going through this process, I wanted to share 5 tips with y'all when planning your engagement pictures sesh. These are just my own opinion (as this whole blog is) but I found these ideas very helpful!

1. Take a family heirloom and make it your own.

Do you have a favorite family photo? Or what about a favorite antique/piece of jewelry/etc? For me, it was the picture below that has been a longtime favorite of mine:

That is a picture of my grandparents circa 1944. It has always been one of my absolute favorite pictures of all time, and honestly looks like it could be on the cover of a movie! I even have it framed in my room. Soooo I wanted to create a replica of this picture with my love, so that one day we can show our own children & grandchildren. We showed our photographer, and he loved the idea, and I think he definitely nailed it!!! Here was the final product:

2. Think of a location that represents you as a couple & has a special place in your heart.

We decided to do our engagement photoshoot at my family's little lake property! We have spent family get-togethers at this location, and we knew it would be the perfect backdrop for pictures. Also....I knew it would be ideal for the recreation of my grandparents' picture 😍 So it definitely had a personalized, "us" feel. And, just a side note,....the dock that we are standing on for some of these pics is one that my grandfather built. Seriously makes my heart melt!

3. Color-coordinate outfits.

Of course, since this is a fashion blog, my fashion piece of advice is to color-coordinate outfits for your engagement pictures. They don't have to be matchy-matchy or anything, but we tried to pick outfits that coordinated. One way we coordinated outfits was by pairing light and dark colors together. So as you can see above, in one outfit, I wore a white Free People dress, and he wore a darker maroon shirt. In the other outfit, I wore a darker maroon dress and he wore a light gray button down. So, we definitely tried to color coordinate in a way that would come across well in photographs! We also tried to pick styles that are classic/timeless, and that won't be completely out of style 20 years down the road. Button downs and sundresses definitely fit this requirement! Side note about the white Free People dress I am wearing in these pics: y'all NEED this dress! I first bought it in black and I loved it so much that I went back and bought the white version for our engagement pictures. The back is SO cute (it has a cut-out) and it's perfect for warm days as it's light-weight and flowy. See how I styled the black version I own HERE.

4. Bring back-up supplies.

So since this was a family property, we were able to set up a makeshift "dressing room" for me in the little house on the property. We brought a full-length mirror and I also packed a bag with my makeup/curling iron/etc in the event I needed to do any touch-ups. We also packed a little cooler so we had drinks on hand. It turned out to be a hot day, so we were all glad to have some water to cool off with! Even if you aren't making the

5. Relax, have fun, & most importantly, SMILE!

Relaxing can be easier said that done when you know you have the pressure of being photographed; however, our photographer made us feel SO comfortable! He really encouraged us to focus on each other and basically "ignore" him. He gave us direction when we needed it, but after our first few photos, the nervousness washed away and we had fun being able to just talk to each other and laugh together (while having our picture made in the background). It was honestly the perfect day! I have to give all the credit to Imago Photography for making this experience wonderful. Be sure to check them out. I'm so excited to have them photograph our wedding day as well!

Sooooo I hope these tips are helpful if you're planning on taking engagement pictures any time soon!

Thanks so much for reading dolls, hope y'all are having a fabulous week!

XOXO
Ashley

Engaged Engagement Pictures Love Wedding Wedding Planning

Engagement Pictures: Part 1 {199 Days!}

October 4, 2016

Hi beautiful readers!

So since today marks 199 days until I get to marry the love of my life, I thought I would post part 1 of our engagement pictures! I can't believe we are already down into the 100's...woohoo! I have truly loved every single part of wedding planning so far. There have been a few things we've found stressful, but so far most of the planning process has been enjoyable.

Between work & school, I have been trying to maximize my time with wedding planning by setting goals & sticking to a timeline. One of my goals was to try and send our save-the-dates out this month in October (6 months ahead of the wedding), which meant that we needed to have our engagement pictures made sometime in September in time for the pictures to come back & for save-the-dates to be made (whew, that's a lot of planning haha)! I'll be honest, taking engagement pictures is something I was really looking forward to! What is better than getting all dolled up and getting to love on my honey for a few hours?! :)

I spent a long time browsing Pinterest for inspiration for outfits & the type of photos I wanted (be sure to follow me on Pinterest here!). At first I thought we may do a downtown shoot, but since we were taking our pictures on a Friday evening, I was worried it may be too crowded. As I was brainstorming, I remembered that my family has a lake property in North Georgia. It has beautiful lakes, fields & trees. In other words, the perfect back-drop for pictures! Not to mention that it holds a special place in my heart as we have had multiple family gatherings here over the years.

One of the "looks" I wanted to create was more formal with a long black dress and my fiancé wearing a black suit & tie. When I found this black beaded Adrianna Papell dress on a shopping trip in Nashville, I just knew it would be perfect (and also, some of my bridesmaids dresses are AP, so it fits in with our wedding! haha!). I just love the juxtaposition of formal outfits against an outdoor backdrop. Plus, we both love dressing up so I feel like it is an accurate reflection of who we are as a couple! I'll be sharing these photos today! Since we had time for 3 outfit changes, I thought I would do 3 different posts highlighting each outfit :) I hope you enjoy these first photos!

{And as a sidenote, just have to say that we LOVE our photographer, Tim Ivey with Imago Photography! He is amazing & made us feel so comfortable the day of our shoot. Click here to check out their website!}