Engagement Photos Revealed, Part Two

I'm back with the second half of our lovely engagement photos by Ashley Cortes of Agape Creative Studios. If you missed the first half, you can check them out here.

To give you a bit of background on the sword and shield, these were the first gifts I ever gave Frank. They are the master sword and shield for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which was the first game I watched him play. So, in true nerd love fashion, we used them in our engagement shoot! I also like to think of them as symbols of our relationship, working as one against a myriad of life's obstacles.

We're really excited to use our favorites (which I omitted from these posts) and include them in our Save-the-dates. The Mister is great at designing things and I know they're going to turn out amazing.

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Engagement Photos Revealed, Part One

Now I can finally reveal our photos! I'm over-the-moon excited about them! As I said before, our friend Ashley Cortes took them for us as a favor, and I'm so happy we went with her because it made it fun and a bit more relaxing. 

It was really hard to choose which photos to share, so I decided to break them up int two posts. Next week I will be sharing the second half of our photos.

Unfortunately Ashley doesn't do photography as a regular gig (don't worry, I'm trying to convince her to) but she and her husband love doing videography for weddings. If you are interested in their work or would like to talk to them about you're wedding you can check out their website, Agape Creative Studios.

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Iceskating Engagement Shoot by Chantal Andrea

This and the fact that it is like 200 degrees outside is making me crave winter right now. Such a sweet couple anda gorgeous place for an iceskating engagement shoot. I would like to say that I am loving this photographer I found last week. Her style is so similar to mine not to mention she is so sweet. Thanks so much Chantal Andrea for letting us post this super sweet engagement.

Engagement Photo Sneak Peek

We were extremely lucky to have our friend Ashley shoot our engagement photos since the business she has with her husband is strictly videography. With a great location and a great friend behind the camera, we were ready to shake our jitters away. The Mister is so used to being behind the camera that I thought he would be uncomfortable but it ended up that I was the one that was stiff and giggled like I was being mercilessly tickled. Luckily Ashley was able to keep me from making too many crazy faces and the photos are looking absolutely beautiful. Here's a little teaser!

Photo by Ashley Cortes

I cannot wait to share the rest with you, Ashley did such an amazing job. We've also check off a few things on our to-do list and I will be sharing the details with you soon.

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Girls Just Want to Have Fun {Bachelorette Photo Shoot}

This past weekend, I headed down the coast to central California to celebrate my friend and bridesmaid's bachelorette weekend. (Remember her adorable Save the Date?!) In addition to sun, wine, and LOTS of food, we did a bachelorette photo shoot! She did this as an alternative to engagement photos (she and her fiancé had already taken some professional photos prior to their engagement), so it was still a great way to get to know her photographer before the wedding, while having some fun with her girls. We had a ton of fun with the shoot! We got dressed up in colorful dresses and brought fun and silly props. I have to say, this is a fabulous activity for a bachelorette party with some great keepsakes for the bride!

Check out the beautiful results from photographer Jodie Szablowski.

And here's the beautiful bride.

Source: Jodie Szablowski Photography

Engagement Photo Inspiration

The idea of taking engagement photos has come a long way from portrait studios in the 70's with a plain back drop and no natural light. Today's bride and groom have so many options when taking photos. Popular today are outdoor backdrops with natural lighting  reflecting of the bride and groom's style and personalities.

Source: Amy + Ryan

Long before we took our engagement photos I knew that I wanted our photos to be a reflection of my Mr and I. Since we both work in the construction industry as project managers, photos at an active jobsite were just one of the ideas that we had when choosing locations for our photos. Here are some photos that gave me inspiration in choosing locations and ideas for props that we included in our photos.

Source: Green Wedding Shoes

Source: Hannah + Blake

engagement photosSource: Heart

engagement photo with dog

Source: Tiana + Daniel

Next week I'll be back to share our fabulous engagement photos.

Engagement Pics!

I am finally revealing our amazing engagement pictures from the extremely talented Gladys Jem. I have to say that getting your picture taken can be a bit uncomfortable. During our entire session I kept thinking to myself, “We are so awkward – we are not giving Gladys anything to work with!” But then we received them and I was blown away. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but if you are in the Bay Area, I highly suggest reaching out to Gladys. She has been a “Jem” to work with it (get it? I’m hilarious). On top of taking amazing pictures, she has a killer personality – I am excited to have her by my side the entire wedding day! Hope you like the pics as much as we do!