Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Engagement Pictures

(click on the pictures to make them larger)


























Our default prom-pose picture, lol.



Some pop-art inspired photos.








And here we are on the ranch. You'll see some pictures of Mr. Pink (his new nickname on my blog) helping me off of my "high horse" lol.


























I'm in love with a cowboy.









For the most part, I decided to just shut up and let you enjoy the pictures? What do ya think? I have more photos, each time I look there are new favorites. I had a few solo shots of my own that I might post later. I still don't have all of the pictures yet, I'll post more when I do.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Bought the Veil

Huge item tacked off of my list! *Wipes sweat from brow*

I ordered my veil today online at wedding-veils.com. They are awesome because I was able to order a few swatches for free and match them to my dress.

I ended up ordering the following veil in pink ($15 extra) with pink edges ($10 extra). With shipping it came out to $65. I should be expecting it in the mail in 6 to 8 business days.

Here it is:



And the back.



I feel like a real bride. Again. One small step for me, a giant leap for my wedding!

I loved the website, they had a lot of options as far as length, and customizing with rhinestones/pearls/edges. A lot of the veils were displayed with multiple photos and these intense 360 degree videos!

I wanted to stop shelling out money so I got a simpler veil, and I kind of the thought the fact that it was pink would make a statment on its own. I'm sure my mom and I could garnish it with rhinestones or something if we really want to. I decided that I did not want a chapel or floor length veil like I originally thought because I fell in love with this one. I hope its not the coy looking model in the photo that's pulling the wool over my eyes! JK I know I like the veil. Can't wait to have it in my hands!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Pretty Bouquets

I didn't realize, until talking to a florist, that bouquets come in shapes. Then I started looking at pictures and started comparing bouquets. And I think I found the shape that I like (images taken from theknot.com):







All of the bouquets I like have orchids and calla lilies. Onto the bouquet shapes I definitely do NOT like.

1. Ones that seem to drape or spill over:





Although this one is pretty once it's held to the side:



2. Perfectly round shape. So boring:



3. Long bouquets, like this all calla lily one:



4. And this one, I had never seen before. It reminded me of an octagon:



I know I do not like bouquets that have only one sort of flower. I think two bad examples of those (for my tastes) are purely peonies, or purely calla lilies. I have no clue what my bouquet will be like yet. Hopefully orchids are in season because I love them! Although my birth flower is a rose. Maybe we'll mix those in there.

Friday, March 26, 2010

The Wedding is Bejeweled

Originally, I was going to get around to doing a post about the accessories I decided on for my Bridesmaids. I ended up getting Pearls for My Girls.

Here they are:



They are a light pink and are meant to not drape but be just around the neckline. I'm sure there's a term for that but I'm not sure what. Would you believe I found these beauties at Burlington Coat Factory? Bride on a budget gets an A+ for that one!It looks so pretty when I play around with all five sets. (Sorry I'm too lazy to take pics).

All of my bridesmaids seemed happy with the idea. I guess they're just glad they don't have to wear those jackets I almost bought them. Lol! But the pearls are lovely.

Now, here are my jewels. I just found them yesterday. I love how allowing plenty of time for the wedding has allowed me to just get things as I go, instead of having to make a mad rush for anything. I fell in love with this set:



18 karat white gold and swarovski crystal in *pink*! I feel so pretty with it on, even in a white t-shirt! This is my camera phone. My sim card on my camera is acting up.



**I managed to get the below picture off my actual camera.



The pictures don't do it justice. It looks so clean and the white gold is just as dazzling as the pink gems. I am happy that I'm super excited about my jewelry, something I didn't even really think about and actually thought would be kind of boring. It makes up for the jitters I someteimes still get when I think about my pink dress. IMO, this jewelry wouldn't look right with a white dress.

Anyhoo, next I just have to get a veil! And then lingerie for under the dress! And then maybe I'll be done with this whole shopping-for-a-wedding-thing! (And maybe a bracelet since I will not be wearing the other one I brought now that I have come to my senses.)

Photographer Good on His Word

The pictures are in! Just a matter of me going to pick them up on Wednesday. Apparently, I missed his call when I could have come to pick them up this week. :/ Just didn't want to leave you guys hanging. I'll show you them as soon as I have them!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Grading the E-Pic Experience

Hey all!

Well, we are officially done with our engagement pictures! It was a very exciting experience. It feels like a huge thing to have checked off of our list, and makes the wedding seem more real and like it's getting closer!

Lol. I've been measuring our progress on wedding plans based on school breaks. This Spring Break is the last break I get until the summer, when we have our wedding! I'll update you on our progress in a bit.

For now, I would like to tell you about our engagement photo session to hold you over while we wait for the pics.

We did two shoots. One at the Phoenix Civic Park, and then we drove about forty minutes to a family friend's ranch and took pictures with a set of matching horses.
I wore two outfits at the park, two at the ranch. My fiance wore two at the park, one at the ranch.

Allow me to list the pros and cons from the day.

Pros:

-PERFECT weather. Blue skies, puffy clouds. Everything I could have asked for on a March day.
-Great outfits, thanks to me. I hadn't even really pieced them all together until the day before and day of. I actually ran to Target the morning of to get a "cow girl" hat for the horses shoot, and came out with two shirts for me and my guy plus a great hat.
-Hair and make-up were done. My skin was great!
-We had perfect timing and got on our horese at our second photo shoot right before sunset.

Cons:
-Started an hour late. MIL was holding up the process. She did my make-up and was our ride for the photo shoots, so it could not have been avoided. And she brought her man and her daughter with us.
-Photographer needed a ride! He didn't have his own car, something I did not know about. There were six of us in one four door car. (Me, MIL, her man, her daughter, fiance and photographer. This is when my small frame comes in handy, cuz I sat up front between MIL and fiance and at least we weren't cramped.)
-Horses were not glammed out like we were promised. Not to point the finger, but I'm positive that planning is not a strength of my MIL. We've known about this date for how many months now? And we show up to the ranch with the horses and they didn't even "know" we were coming? Okay. Whatever. Horses are horses, whether they have flowers and jewels braided in their tails or not. (sad face)
-Photographer was a little unprofessional, a little moody, and a little lazy at times.

Overall grade for the day: B+/A-

Hmm. Looks like there were more cons than pros. But I'm pretty critical so I guess those would stand out in my mind more.

Let me rant about the photographer! Okay, how are you a professional photographer by telling us to do whatever and laughing at us because we don't know how to take pictures? After awhile we need some ideas, and that's where his help could have came in. All he knew how to do was direct us for posed pictures. I ended up pulling a lot of inspiration from what I've seen other people do. Thank goodness I had looked at E-Pics before. I don't think our photographer has done candid shots in a public setting, he's used to studios and models who can really ham it up for the camera. In other words, not us. Grr.

My next issue is I had some ideas of places I thought would make a good photo and he said no like three times. Um, your camera should be good enough to take pictures of us wherever we want to go! And if you're going to tell me "No" I want it backed up with your expertise.

He would say three in the afternoon was a horrible time to shoot pictures. Um, don't let your client know what is wrong! Make it right. And you're the one who said we HAD to do two shoots in one day, so one of them had to be at three p.m. if the other one was going to be at sunset. Grr!

So after the park, and two outfit changes, we headed out for the second photo shoot at a ranch. And if I sound mad, allow me to reassure you, I really wasn't that mad. Lol.

When we got to the ranch, we had to sit and wait for the kind folks to get the horses washed down and saddled up. We sat for maybe twenty to twenty five minutes talking, catching up with the family who owned the horses. I hinted that we should take pictures instead of sitting around, but he said something about waiting for the horses. Okay, great. But we can take pics without them too. I let it pass, but before long I had to pick up the photographer by his boot straps and say "Okay, let's take pictures now." I mean, we were dressed up so why not get more photos? I'm glad we did. BTW this guy is older than us! Like almost thirty! Get with it! No wonder you don't have a car. How does laziness earn money?

And then, to cap it off, when we got on the horses, we wanted to do multiple poses and I heard him say "That's enough now, it's getting to be too many shots to go through." Are you kidding me?! I ignored that. I said out loud "This is the only time we'll do something like this, we need to take pictures while we can." Lo and behold, we get off and the next thing I know he's riding the horses and taking pics with the family. Oh. Kay.

(Side note: If he isn't used to doing e-pics, shouldn't he be happy to have a lot of shots with a GREAT looking couple-lol-in a GREAT setting? Don't you need to build your portfolio so you can attract clients, make more money, and maybe get your own car some day? Geez).

I was happy regardless because the photographer at least had the decency to try to be sly about his attitude so I never felt like I had to actually confront him. And my fiance and I were having a great time. I was just happy because the pictures will speak for themselves. And we're not paying a lot at ALL because it is a packaged deal with the wedding, so. I'm happy to have these pictures at all. He showed us some on the camera and they looked great already.

He said we'd get them in about a week. In all, I just think this experience has been really funny. It's nothing for me to get stressed about because in this situation I feel like as a couple, we're coming up. We aren't paying, it's a greeeaaat deal (you get what you pay for!) and pictures are pictures. We'll keep them forever.

If you're wondering why we used this guy, it's not only the price but our friends also another couple (and "models") recommended him. He already knew MIL by coincidence, so all those factors made us feel like it made sense. I think that is WHY we are getting such a good deal. Plus no one elese would give us the deal he's giving us, all the rights, a few prints, etc. for around $500 total. Yes, TWO SHOOTS and Wedding day, $500 total.

Notice none of the issues involved my mother in law once we actually made it to the shoots. She has played a big part in this wedding but she is not pushy at all. So that was a positive. And she was there to tell me to move my hair out of my face and other stuff the guys wouldn't have noticed.

I brought snacks with us that day which really came in handy because after the second shoot we were starving! I also brought along lotion, a lint roller, make-up bag, hair brush and comb. I would suggest bringing ample snacks and the only thing I didn't bring was wipes for my face. I usually use dry napkins, but I will look into those oil wipes other brides rave about. But my skin was pretty good anyway.

Whew. It was fun telling you about my experience! Hopefully you laughed and did a few "Uh-uh, no he didn't!"s with me. Good luck with your engagement photos! And if you've already had yours, hope it went well!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

E-Pic Prep

So, tomorrow we will be doing our engagement photo shoot with our photographer. Three months before the wedding. Is that late? Early? We didn't have Save-The-Dates so I don't think it matters.

To look more like my best self tomorrow, I have taken the night to prep myself for the photos. I will share with you the things I did:

1. Shampooed Hair. (I would've gone to the beauty college to get my hurr did but they are on Spring Break this week too!)


I used Pantene Pro-V "Beautiful Lengths" Shampoo



2. After lathering and rinsing twice, I deep conditioned with the Pantene Pro-V Restoratives Time Renewal Replenishing mask. With this, I combed through my hair and sat under a heating cap for twenty minutes to deep condition.



While I was conditioning, I started working on face/body.


3. I cleansed with my Clarins Gentle Cleanser for Normal/Combination Skin. Now, this I am using twice a day. I applied to face, neck, chest, back. I will be wearing a spaghetti strap dress! Usually, I just do the face and neck.



4. Then I exfoliated with Prescriptives Immediate Smooth Exfoliator. The line closed down in January so I won't post pics because you can't go out and buy it. But I got rid of dead skin! Which is what exfoliators are supposed to do. This is the point where I looked at my skin and went "Ooh, la la!" It looked good :)

5. I moved on to using my Clarins HydraQuench Cream Mask. I left it on for 5 minutes.



6. Then I followed directions and removed with a toner. I used Clarins Toning Lotion with Camomile for Normal or Dry Skin to wipe it away.



I will put on a moisturizer from Clarins tonight.

Now, I am no expert. This post is for the sole purpose of inspiring the future brides out there to consider their beauty routine and it's importance leading up to E-Pics and Wedding Pics (and bridal shower, anniversary pics, etc., etc.) I am using these things with pretty normal results. I haven't used any of these products long enough to rave about them. But when I do, I'll update you on my progress!

If you have skin issues that you need to take care of, I suggest actually going and talking to some women at the make-up counters at the mall that offer skincare. Some big ones are Clarins, Clinique, Estee Lauder and Lancome. My MIL works at Clarins, after having worked at Prescriptives, so I'm lucky to have her expertise.

Don't let the make-up women upsale you on a lot of things; for oily skin I suggest starting with a 3-step system (cleanser, toner, moisturizer)and working your way up from there. Prices can range from $16-40 a piece. You can usually hit up deals that require you to buy one or two items and get one or two free. This is when I add on things like masks or exfoliators. I am in college and freugal!

I know plenty of people who swear by other brands like Clean & Clear and Neutrogena. Whatever you buy, don't skimp on your routine and do it twice a day of it calls for it! I'll try to follow my own advice :)

I can say my skin is much better than it was in high school now that I cleanse, tone and moisturize regularly.

Whatever your beauty routine, you'll feel sure of the results and them paying off when you feel good prepping for your pictures.

Other steps I did to prep for tomorrow:

7. Made sure I shaved. I will be showing legs and pits (maybe?) tomorrow. I do this regularly, I swear! Lol.
8. Filed and painted nails
9. Laid out and ironed outfits

Let's hope I am satisfied with my look in my pictures tomorrow.

The Pink Bride

Thanks for visiting!