Boy and Girl take engagement pictures (part 2)

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says Yes.
Boy gets orders.
Girl wants pictures.

As I was writing yesterday's post, I went back to get a link to our engagement photos and realized that I never posted the second half here on the blog! If you didn't see the first half, you can check it out here. I spent a lot of time and energy while J was first gone planning this engagement session with the help of our amazing photographer, Jordana of Hazelnut Photography, and our wedding planners Ashlyn and Heather of Carter and Cook Event Co. I knew that I wanted our photos to be personal and special to us. So together, we pulled off a pretty cool little shoot. The reason I couldn't share it on here earlier is because it was picked up and featured on Green Wedding Shoes. There was so much thought and detail put into this shoot and I am thrilled to share it all with you now :)

Our theme was love letters and stars. The thinking behind it was a combination of several things... The stars symbolize the star in the Cuban flag (J is cuban) as well as the star that represents the Army. To me it also represents that old childhood tradition of wishing on a star. The love letters represent the long distance relationship between J and I. Obviously we have spent a lot of time apart and the letters have so much symbolism to the two of us. In addition to that, we added a little bit of a 1940s "Notebook" look. "The Notebook" is my favorite movie. I adore it. I love the love story that is so passionate between the two characters. I have told J over and over again that he is my Noah. And I feel blessed to have a relationship that is that passionate and genuine. I think it is truly rare.

Tying in with our vintage-y theme... this coke bottle holder has been my mom's for years! The coke bottles I got at Costco :) That compact mirror I bought at an antique show last summer.


I loved these books and HAD to have them when I saw them at the antique show last summer. Being a photographer, I loved the 1940s book written about how to make good pictures. The book below is a book of poem's that is actually refered to in the book, "The Notebook".





Ohhhh the letters! Some of these are real, and some of them are stuffed and made to look real :) You may also notice my cameras. I collect old cameras and they were a perfect addition to the shoot! The little white thing is my mom's. She's had it since I was a kid. The pocket watch just seemed too perfect. I got it at the antique show as well. Funny thing is that it's broken... but I love it!


J's vest. This is a hilarious story. My mom blogged about it. She is better with words than I am. But in a nutshell, we went looking for something for J to wear to the photoshoot and ended up almost getting security called on us in Forever 21. But we eventually made it out alive... and with this vest :)





Right before we left, I asked J's nephew if I could borrow a few of his Army men. I promised to make them famous... I ended up LOVING this shot!











Jordana brought this chair along and it was perfect! I was so glad that she did!


One of my absolute favorites.


Lauren of Lo Boheme made this amazing hair piece for me. I love her and her stuff. This was perfect! There will definitely be a few of these at my wedding *hint hint*


These stars were a labor of love. It took quite a while to put them all together, but I love how they came out!








These cake lollipops are our favorite. We eat them every chance possible! They are from Sweet and Saucy Shop. They will also be making an appearance at our wedding :)


J's Army boots




It makes a big difference when you have an awesome team assembled. I couldn't have pulled off this shoot if it wasn't for the incredible people that pulled together to make it possible!

Girl gets wedding bands

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says yes.
Boy gives girl beautiful ring.
Boy goes to war.
Girl plans a wedding.
Girl orders wedding bands.

I absolutely LOVE my engagement ring. I think it is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen.

It took me a while to start looking at wedding bands. In fact, I didn't until we decided to move the wedding up. Then it kind of hit me one day that I really needed to get on that and buy our bands. So I started looking. I went to several jewelry stores and tried on all kinds of different things. I really thought I knew what I wanted, but as I began to look, I found that was not the case at all. I ended up ordering the ring from the jeweler that was made to go with my engagement ring.



It arrived in a beautiful little box (with a green holiday bow)...



And it even had Godiva chocolates with it! Now that is class!







LOVE IT.



J and I have gone back and forth about what he wanted. He knew he wanted something plain...no stones, no design. But at first, he said he wanted yellow gold. Then not much later, he said that maybe he'd like white gold. The thing is... he isn't here! So he hadn't had a chance to try on rings and really decide what he wanted. So I found a ring that is made out of tungsten. Which is basically steel. I figured it was different looking and would be tough.



When he is home and wearing his ring everyday, I figure we can go pick out the ring he loves... but I wanted him to have a ring for the wedding. And who knows, maybe he will end up loving it! :)

Boy and Girl take engagement pictures (part 1)

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says Yes.
Boy gets orders.
Girl wants pictures.

I became a photographer because I love pictures.
I have always been that girl with 10 million photos strewn around my room and hung on the wall in various frames; the girl who carries around her camera, says "PHOTO OP!" at every possible moment and snaps away.

So it is only natural that as J and I have dated and done fun things, there are always pictures. J on the other hand has never been the one to jump at the chance for a photo. But he has very quickly adjusted to my love of all things photo.

When I found out we had two weeks together before he deployed, I knew I wanted to try to take our engagement pictures during that time. I knew that we'd be getting married shortly after J got back, and I knew I'd be doing a lot of the planning while I was gone, so I wanted to be sure that I had photos to use as well.

So I asked my WONDERFULLY talented friend Jordana of Hazelnut Photography to do some photos for us. She was so amazing and flexible and worked with us and produced some AWESOME pictures! Like I am seriously soooo thrilled! As a photographer, choosing a photographer is a huge decision. Maybe one of the biggest. I knew I wanted Jordana to shoot some photos for us because I've seen her work and it's gorgeous. But I've also shot with her and I know HOW she works. And I love it. There is so much to a photographer other than just their images. The reason that photographers get the pictures they get is not only great talent and great tools, it is also the ability to interact and direct clients. When you are choosing a photographer... think about the whole experience... not just the finished product.

The other thing that I think is so important is to plan for your engagement session. That doesn't have to mean you have to have a theme and props (although those can really add a lot!) but think through what you are going to wear, how it will photograph. Think about little things that are special to the two of you. For our shoot, I knew right away that we wanted to incorporate one of J's motorcycles. It's something that is unique and something that we love to do together. I also knew that I didn't want us to be too matchy matchy, and I wanted something that would look like what we wear on a regular basis. It was also important to me that our clothes added to the photos but weren't the focus of them. Here are a few of my favorites from the motorcycle portion of our session.



















We did some special photos that were styled by the wonderful Carter and Cook Event Co, but I can't share those quite yet, but I promise you'll see them soon :)

Thanks to all the amazing people who made this shoot possible. It's so much fun to collaborate! Especially when it's with friends!

Girl gets a Ring

Girl loves sparkle.
Boy loves Girl.
Boy buys sparkle.
Girl loves boy.
Boy asks will you?
Girl says yes.

I knew a ring was coming.
I knew what I wanted.
I wanted to make it easy on him...
...so I bookmarked it on his computer.
And he got exactly what I wanted :)

The ring.
Ahhhh the ring.
We spent time looking around at rings... we even went to jewelry stores and tried them on. I knew what I wanted. I had lots of opinions. But I didn't know what he wanted to spend, and I didn't want to push just one on him. I didn't want him to feel like he had no say.
But when it came down to it, and I gave him several ideas of what I wanted, he wanted to know which ONE I really wanted. So I narrowed it down. But narrowing it down wasn't enough. He wanted to be sure that I had the ring that I liked the best because, after all, I will be wearing it forever. :)

And so, I showed him the one I really wanted.

And that is what I got!
I adore this ring. It is perfect.
It is sparkly and beautiful and flashy without being over the top.
It is absolutely gorgeous.
I think the most perfect part is the fact that he was so set on making sure I had what I wanted.
It was about me. It was about what I liked... what I wanted.
That beautiful ring will forever be a reminder that he has my best interest in mind.

Boy Proposes to Girl

Boy takes Girl out.
Girl doesn't suspect a thing.
Boy plans a picnic.
Girl thinks Boy is acting weird.
Boy proposes.
Girl cries.
Girl says yes.
Boy gives Girl the most beautiful ring.
Ever.

We knew he was going to be deployed.
We knew it would be for up to a year.
He promised not to leave without being my fiance.