From Her Fridays: On the Air

I’m going to try to tell you the following information really calmly. I was on the air at the radio station I intern with yesterday. Yes, I know. It’s pretty cool. But with no holding back, I loved it. I totally dug it and I’ll pass it on to Isaiah: “If someone told me she was on the radio, I would be like ‘Yeah, that makes sense.’ It’s something I assume, she has the gift of gab, as they call it.”

In all seriousness, if I didn’t know radio was it for me before, I certainly know now. Beyond loving the station I intern for, as a PR girl, I had no idea I would love radio this much.

Anyway. Back from our brief break from weddings. We are having our engagement shoot tomorrow and are so excited. I wanted to share a couple of the things I did to get ready if you’re planning for your engagement shoot.

• Gather some inspiration. If you’re tapped into the wedding blog community, this should be NO problem. Get together a couple of photos for inspiration. Don’t get too many, because you chose your photographer based on their style, not the style of 10 other photographers. Don’t make the poor kid struggle to recreate someone else’s style all day.
• Props. We have a quilt, picnic basket and some big letters for ours to keep it simple. You can scour thrift stores and your apt/house or ask friends or family members for other props to help. Don’t get too involved with the props, however, you’re not Style Me Pretty, and you don’t want the props to overwhelm the focal point: You two.
• Suited & Booted. Get your outfits together beforehand. Don’t try to plan that morning and don’t freak out a month beforehand either. A couple of days will be enough to change your mind in between. Make sure everything is ironed and animal-hair free. We thought ours should be colorful, but I have seen a ton of great e-sessions with all black outfits or white shirts or whatever.
• Mani-Pedi. I am not a mani-pedi girl. I definitely don’t fall into that category of females {if you do, you’ll be way more prepared than the rest of us}. I don’t know..there’s something weird about sitting there and enjoying someone’s tiring work massaging your feet. I feel guilty for some reason. Also, cost. Anyway, definitely get one for the shoot. They’ll be taking photos of your hands for the rings and heaven-forbid your heels be as calloused as my barefoot-tendencied feed did before today in the photos.
• Location, Location, Location: Scout a couple of locations beforehand and ask your photographer if they have any tips. We love textural backdrops, so we chose: A used books & records store, an ice-cream parlor and some great alleys in Denton.
• Get to Know Your Photographer: I think this is way huge and should be mentioned more often. We chose a great student photographer for ours, and we are way pumped to work with her. She goes to the same college as I do, but even if she didn’t, I would have made the effort to get to know her beforehand. We invited her to a late lunch before the shoot {Our treat, of course}. If your photographer knows you, they’ll get to know a few things: (a) Your personalities, (b) your style and (c) be more invested in making sure you and your photos look great.
• Stay Lighthearted and Have Fun. Don’t argue the day before the shoot or the week before the shoot, and certainly not about the shoot! The session is about your love and commitment to one another, and that tension will definitely come through in the photos. Have fun with each other, and relax.
• Keep it Simple. Don’t freak out about a new hairstyle or new makeup the day before. Just look how you look each day. You’ll be much happier with the natural photos and your comfort level the day of.

*New Addition from Sarah of MSFBW: Be sure the props and locations you choose are meaningful to you. She added: “We would look ridiculous in some of the rustic-chic engagement shoots I’ve seen on the blogosphere. Our children would ask, ‘Why are you holding that accordion?’ We would have no good answer except, ‘uhhh…'” I definitely think it’s important to keep what’s really you, central. It’s easy when you’re tapped into the community to let your personalities transform into something different…tell yourself you want a different e-session or even wedding than you do. But definitely, keep what’s really you central in the shoot. Thanks for the tip, Sarah!

I don’t know how many of you already had your photos done or are a long way from having them done, but it’s part of our journey getting ready for the wedding, so I figured: Sharable. These are a couple of my favorites, without getting too restrictive:

I love the romanticy-grungy-dreamy feel of this shot featured on Rock’n Roll Bride:

Considering that Isaiah can definitely do this, we’ll be recreating half of this shot from Hi-Fi Weddings:

Let me know if you have any other keepers for tips and what not!

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