Engagement Session Follow Up - Part Due

Photo Credit

Here they are!! The photos you've all (or else I) have been waiting for!

First, the awesome slideshow Rob put together as a little teaser for us: http://www.robholley.net/data/slideshow/22/DesireeMike/index.html

The weather, as I said, was gorgeous and my fiance was a rockstar. We went with Robert Holley and he was absolutely fantastic. My fiance and I met with several photographers in the area and the decision to go with Rob was incredibly easy. He was one of the first photographers we met with, but I wanted to do our due diligence and we met with a couple more. He seemed to good to be true, but I'm so glad we chose him.

Because we booked him for our wedding, our engagement session was free - and we absolutely love the pictures he took! Unbeknownst to us, he made a short slideshow of his favorite pictures and sent it to us within days of the shoot. Both of our mothers AND our sisters cried! They watch it all the time and my fiance and I watch the slideshow just because it helps us relive (as cheesy as it sounds) how much we love each other.

Photo Credit

Rob focuses on capturing the emotion and feeling of the moment and he did such a wonderful job. (In the picture above, around the pillar on the right hand side were two little ladies and a little old man that would not stop taking pictures of us. I think they thought we were famous.)

In addition, I'm super excited at how much experience Rob has and his professionalism. My fiance's groomsmen are basically all his fraternity brothers and I'm not sure how many photographers would be able to tame a group as fratastic as theirs, but I have no doubt he will be successful and our pictures will be great.

Photo Credit

See the rest of our pictures here.

Engagement Photo Follow-up

Photo Credit

It was awesome. After much deliberation on the outfits (I went through 3 different tops, 3 different pairs of jeans, 2 different skirts, one dress, one dress, and a partridge and a pear tree). Think of all the permutations of outfits that produced. Thank you to all my friends for their advice and insight - and thank you to Gridlet - my beloved maid of honor - for her constant attention, support, and patience. . . all the way from London.

The weather: gorgeous. Fiance: A.MA.ZING. Seriously. He was so patient and such a good sport about everything. Rob told him to look at him, he looked and smiled. Rob told him to stand over there, he trotted and waited. Rob told him to pick me up, he heaved. Of course, I think he hid behind me during many of the pictures, using his affection for me as a convenient excuse to press his head against my ear, but I didn't mind.

Tips and takeaways for couples about to take their engagement pictures:

Do have an idea of what kind of mood and shots you want to take - close up, far away, walking away, silhouettes, portrait facing the camera vs. artsy.

Do dress up a little - it just makes it special. Rob told us "Dress like you're going on a second date with each other."

Do wear something that complements your skin tones and eyes. I was very hesitant to wear black because I'd been told that black doesn't always photograph well, but Rob said that because it was a great contrast to Mr. Sweetpea's white button-up shirt. Both of our hair is also very dark brown / black and, as Rob said, he was "able to get the light to shine through" and highlight our hair and frame us in an awesome way.

Do talk to each other while the photographer is shooting. We were able to ignore everyone and just be ourselves in our own little world. It was really neat, actually, because all these tourists were mingling and strolling around, and we were just us. In fact, Rob told us that during one of our sessions, this little old man could not stop taking pictures of us because he thought we were famous!

Do research your venue! We were stopped by the little ranger at least 2 times to make sure we were in the allowed areas and that we had our park permit. Seriously, it was annoying because we were just like everyone else with their cameras -- only we had a flash diffuser (whatever that silver disc was), a mini-ladder, and 2 bags of camera equipment.

Don't be inflexible. It got a little cold in the last hour, so I just threw on my jacket, ran around in between shots, and forgot about the rest. Just go with it.

Don't be late. We ran in to a bit of traffic on the way to the Memorial - typical DC. But we were ahead of schedule a little bit, so that still gave us plenty of sun light.

Don't ignore your photographer. Get to know him/her (especially if they're doing your wedding). This is a practice session, so find out who they are and develop your relationship with them. We found out Rob went to school in Ithaca - oh so close to Colgate!

Old-Fashioned Photo Fun

Just discovered this awesome Japanese website Three Potato Four blogged about. You can take your regular photos and the website will convert them so they look "100 to 150 years old." It's already late, but I couldn't help but post!

This is a fun "action" shot we took in London this summer outside Buckingham. If they only knew what their peasants were up to.

And now, a more "serious" one: Mom and me in the spacious London taxi.

And of course, one with the fiance! This was taken 102 years ago at the Holston Dam.

Here's the website. Just remember to choose the English option in the upper right. Enjoy!