Engagement Photo Preview

If you have been on Facebook in the last week then you have more than likely seen the preview to our engagement photo session. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts on the photos.

This may sound somewhat narcissistic but I am slightly obsessed with our photos. Calvin and I have never looked so good in photos. We both suffer from the rare disorder Goofyphotofaceitious.  Calvin's comes in the form of a crocked smile, mine in the form of a crazy person face. It is a crippling disorder, but somehow Beth of Blush Imagery, was able to get past this and take great photos. I can't begin to express how happy I was with Beth- her personality, her work- she is all around amazing!

You can see the full preview at Beth's website. 

A little behind the scenes about the day.

It started out a little tense. Calvin and I got stuck in traffic on the way over so we were running late. We both hate being late so we were a little stressed out.  I had enlisted the help of Laura to do makeup. I am incredibly clueless about how to make my face look presentable and Laura is a super star makeup artist. She had gotten stuck in the same traffic, so she was also running late.  Because Laura was also late I still wasn't even ready for photos when we arrived.

I thought for sure Beth was going to be annoyed but she was incredibly calm and patient with us. As we started shooting photos (late of course) Beth's calm spirit was contagious. Calvin and I were quickly comfortable.

Calvin got a little silly during the shot and made Beth laugh a lot. Her laughter encouraged him to get a lot sillier and a lot more comfortable.  At one point, while Laura was touching up my make-up, we overheard Calvin talking to Beth. The conversation went a little like this

Calvin: Beth, I have a little request.

Laura to me: How, cute he has a request.


I know Calvin, so I knew it wasn't going to be the Kodak moment Laura may have been imagining.


Calvin: Have you ever seen the show My Big Red Neck Wedding?


Beth: Yes (laughter)

Calvin: I was hoping to do a photo like from that show on my truck.

That is my future husband! How can you not love him?

We managed to get Calvin's truck photo, as well as many other incredible shots. I can not wait to see them all! I am also very excited for the wedding! We have so many good looking people in our wedding party. If Beth can make Calvin and my goofy faces look good, I can only imagine what she can do for all the beautiful and handsome people at our weddings!

The Photography

I have a confession to make, I may have a slight addiction to wedding photography. I find so much joy in visiting wedding photographers' blogs and seeing all the moments they have captured.

A wedding day is often considered the biggest day of a person's life (and one of the most expensive ones too). Couples spend months perfecting every detail and working to look their very best. The day is full of emotions and often after looking at strangers' wedding photos on a blog you feel as if you know them.

So when Calvin finally popped the question one of my first missions (after finding my perfect barn of course) was to find the perfect photographer. Luckily I had done my research.

I knew that I wanted a photographer with a photo journalism style. Of course we will have some posed photos with everyone lined up. But what I really want is a photo album of Calvin and myself and all our family and friends in the moment. Not an album full of us with our posed smiles. As adorable as Calvin's crooked little smile is that comes out every time someone says "Cheese," is, I can go without 100s of photos of it. I want to be able to remember the real genuine smile that he will have on our wedding day!

Calvin's Crooked Smile in Full Effect

I found a handful of photographers whose portfolios I really loved. The challenge was finding a photographer around wom we could be comfortable.

The other challenge was getting Calvin on board with getting a photographer I really like. His idea was to just give our friends cameras. I may not have overcome this challenge completely; however, we did reach a compromise that I am paying every cent for the photography (which Calvin reminds me of frequently).

So back to the first challenge: finding the photographer.

I knew what I wanted and I knew whose work I liked. Now I just needed to find a personality I liked.

I met Beth who owns Blush Imagery at the Portland Bridal Show. I already knew I loved her work but I was so excited when I also really liked her! I met a few others at the show who had equally beautiful work, but who didn't make me feel as comfortable as Beth did.

Beth has an amazing bubbly personality that I think shows in her work. I snagged a few photos from her site to share. Hopefully that isn't highly illegal and she doesn't sue me for millions, I just had to share her talent! She obviously gets the photo credit!

Oops, didn't do a very good job copying this photo of her site.

I am so excited to do our engagement shot with Beth this spring!