.e-pics: lessons learned.

Lessons Learned from Engagement Photos:

1. I read up on E-pic sessions and it was recommended to leave your purses, bags, etc. behind and just take your car key. I disagree. Take everything you need: lipstick/gloss, compact, hair spray, make up for touch ups, mirror, and snacks! (especially if you are diabetic, like me)…. At the Boneyard, there was a table where we kept our items and I totally could have used a touch up.

2. Keep your lip sticks, gloss, keys, etc. in a bag. DO NOT keep them in your pocket like I did. D’oh….

3. Practice your poses! We did this, trust me…but still ran into difficulties with “performing” on the spot.

4. Therefore—if you find pictures that you love, save them, print them and take them with you. Give them to the photographer or the assistant so that they can guide you through the poses when your mind goes blank. We reviewed poses with Scott at 11 am but by 3 pm we had all forgotten everything. Should have brought the photos with us.

5. Over prepare. I spent weeks trying to get the outfits perfect- I took two garment bags full and wore only four outfits but I was prepared and felt good about the day.

6. Be sure to share with your photographer body parts, skin imperfections or your best side so that he or she can be sure to warn you about your armpit cleavage and not get your cheek pimple!

7. Have a mimosa! It would have loosened me up a little bit earlier. Even though I’ve been friends with our photographer for years and am comfortable with him, there was just something about the pressure of engagement photos that left me stiff, antsy and showing a forced/fake smile.

8. Enjoy and have fun! It hit us a few times, “WOW! These are our engagement photos.” It was surreal yet exhilarating.

.engagement photos: recap, part I.

Our engagement photos were Tuesday! It was quite exciting yet exhausting. We left our house at 8:15 am and returned home at almost 9 pm. It was a full and quite productive day.

Instead of starting the day with an energizing workout, the day started out with me tending to a rather large pimple on my cheek. I knew that it was coming; it made its presence felt way before it ever showed its ugly face. Isn’t that how luck goes? Especially for someone who rarely has any blemishes? Once the sun began to rise, I began to shine. My excitement could not be contained behind tired eyes and I was up at the crack of dawn.

Best part of the morning? Getting up, showering and not having to do my hair or makeup. It made the morning a breeze! We packed up the car and headed out to get my hairs did. The thing that I love most about my stylist, other than her also being a great friend to me, is that I never have to really tell her what I want. This time, I did show a photo and she blew that photo out of the water! I should have known that no images were needed for her amazing skills. In an hour we were out, onto make up. My regular and preferred artist, Craig, had the day off, so he substituted himself with another artist. Make up was done at the MAC Pro Store so I knew that my face was in good hands. It is always a slight challenge to have someone new work their magic on you, but Talia did a great job—so good that I had forgotten she even put on fake eyelashes! Not once did I tug or fidget with them throughout the entire day. It still would have been nice to share the day with my glam man, but there is always the wedding day.

Once we were primped and ready to go, we began the shoot with some portrait/glam shots. Seated, standing, on steps, we looked like we were in a grand mansion somewhere that is not here. We moved into the make shift studio, which is a wedding chapel by typical day, shot some more of the formals, a few solos and then moved onto the comedy shots. With Flo being a local weatherman, we played off of his career by playing Weatherman and Hot Weather Assistant. Those were actually fun and I may, just may use one of those shots for my column.

We took ourselves to the Neon Boneyard, which is what I’ve been waiting for! You pay a fee for one hour, private use of the boneyard. Gosh that hour went quickly! I never changed into the “dressy” outfit that I wanted, but that was by choice, I liked the way our everyday clothes shots were turning out. It took a little while to get into our groove of posing- I had no idea it would be that challenging. It isn’t easy to laugh, smile, pose and joke when put on the spot. Here, we used the cardboard signs with the hopes of using these photos for our STDs. After our hour whizzed by, we took our first break, reviewed some shots and talked about our last set of shots.

When Flo proposed, it was on New Years at Fremont Street. So it was only fitting to take a few shots here. I changed into outfit #4 and off we went. After dinner, wine and a beer, we were warmed up and these shots were effortlessly chic. I’ve always loved the brick wall shots, or where the bride-to-be wears a vibrant outfit and pops from the background. Low and behold we found a brick wall and posed.

But not before we were:

1. Asked to leave by Fremont Security. We kindly told him that we only looked like professional photogs and models. These photos were for personal use- our engagement pics.
2. We were serenaded by two random people who asked if I was a model. My response? “No, I just look like one!” Snap. I’ve always wanted to say that. The serenade song? “It’s So Hard to Say Good Bye to Yesterday” by Boys II men… totally inappropriate? I think so.
3. We were then accosted by a man cradling a Sparks beer in a paper bag. He suggested that Scott put away his camera or he will end of arrested and in jail. Apparently he was rubbed the wrong way by the segway riding security guards who were following him. Can’t say that he is to blame.

It was finally a wrap with some fun, artistic shots that are out of the ordinary. Flo and I are game for anything and are happy to have Scott and Cameron on our team to help us take fabulous, unique, stunning engagement and wedding photos. After yesterday, I am that much more excited for the wedding and all of the amazing ideas that we have for photos! Yippee!!! Now, I have to take my own advice and save the wedding shots that I like.

Up next? My post-shoot advice and things I’ve learned…. In the meantime, enjoy a small preview....

.engagement photo eve.

Finally-tomorrow is our engagement photo session with Scott! Excited is an understatement. Nervous is an accurate statement. Not nervous about the photos themselves, but nervous that l will forget something at home. Or that the wind blows my hair around and I can’t fix it or that one of the selected outfits won’t work, match or fit properly. Yes, I’ve tried everything on. Twice. I have binder clips to help the red dress fit better, double stick tape to de-pouf the sleeves on the blue dress. Skinny underwear, boy short underwear. Strapless bra. Bra with straps. Camisole. Black shoes, nude shoes, green shoes, purple shoes and super high black dress shoes. That ought to do it. Oh! Props. There are some props in the trunk of the car, can’t forget those.

Had The Ring cleaned today while at work. Funny, the lady who discouraged the type of ring that I wanted said, “Oh beautiful setting!” That’s right, lady. And because of your lack of desire to sell anything other than what is in your store, we went elsewhere to buy the ring but thank you for cleaning it. Moving along…. She wouldn’t even let me try on gemstone rings when I saw the setting that I liked. Roo!

Once the photos are taken, Laura and I will begin to collaborate on the Save the Date cards or STDs for short. There is an immature part of me who chuckles each time I write “STD”; I can admit that but only to you.

Flo and I are stoked for these photos and to see how they turn out. This is the first actual organized pre-wedding activity so far! We haven’t had an engagement party because 80% of the bridal party, including our families is from out of town. Maybe down the road? Or how about the “co-ed” shower/engagement celebration?? Upon further research, that may be a viable option. Flo needs love too and needs to be showered with things like towels, video games, shams & bed skirts. Maybe I can register him for some cookware and tie a big hint to it?? Silly, I am.

Time to get rested, at this rate, I can get a full 8 hours of sleep if we try. Hair at 9 am. Makeup at 10:30 am. Photos begin at 11am. Follow my tweets tomorrow for as much play by play as I can give. www.twitter.com/thenearlywed.

.just say ahhhhh.

Today, I treated myself to a little pre- engagement photo pedicure at a fabulous place called Futzpah 118. It is located inside of a podiatrist’s office and is just a-mazing! A little…ok a decent amount more expensive than your neighborhood nail place, but for me, it is worth it. They have a special pedi called “Unsugar my tootsies” and it is for diabetics. Being a Type 1 diabetic, the last, absolute last thing I need is a cut on my foot to lead an infection and thus ending in amputation. You see, everything always ends in the worse possible, dramatic way when I speak, think or write. So to save myself, I treat myself to the pedis on rare occasion. Last occasion was my birthday.

I think about taking my Zillaz here for pedis before the wedding, but they can only seat three people at a time and that means we would have to spend two hours there… hmmmm I will need to think about that. But while I was there, I found great inspiration for my e-pic hair and makeup. So far, I have taken photos of my outfits and will use them to show my hair and makeup gurus what I plan on wearing so that they can beautify as necessary. I’m thinking of starting with my hair up so that we do the formal, glam poses and then pull it down for the casual shots. Although I am not sure that I trust myself enough to do it seamlessly. I was thinking of a smokey grayish eye so that it will potentially match with everything. I can change up the lip color as necessary to match the looks of the photos. While enjoying my pedicure, I slyly ripped out two photos from an old US Weekly magazine! If my scanner was connected to my laptop, a photo would be posted here.

Back to feet-this, by the way, is the one thing that I hate most in this world. I have an awful anti-foot thing. I digress… I found some flip flops in the dollar section of Target last weekend. It is spring time, so time to throw in all of the spring bridal items and bachelorette party items. Most items were cheesy but they had these super cute flip flops, so I bought two pair.
One for pre-wedding and then the pair that says “Just Married.” And then I got to thinking… I want to have a “flip flop bin” at the wedding where the ladies can grab a pair, kick off their heels and dance/lounge in comfort. Who doesn’t cry barking dogs after hours of dancing? Oddly, Flo isn’t into this idea. My guess would be that he has never crunched his feet into a non conforming pair of ladies heels for more than 1 minute, yet alone four hours. I had an idea of buying out all of the pairs of flip flops from my local Target stores. Well our visit today turned up two pairs. Yes, count them folks, two pairs. Seemed rather pointless to buy them so we left and I now will search the wonderful world of Google, eBay and anywhere else that may sell bulk flops. As I get further into posting inspirational ideas and photos, more of this flip flop bin will be revealed.

.engagement photos: four days away.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Seriously, that is an understatement. For the past week, I’ve been shopping and buying, shopping in stores and shopping on line in search of the perfect outfits for our engagement photos which are on Tuesday. This may not be right and it may not be ok, but I am over-buying with the intent of returning whatever isn’t worn.
When I first brought up photos with our photographer, he had some novelty shot ideas, some things a little but out of the ordinary. Flo and I are game for anything that is unique, original and can capture our true selves via the lens. In thinking about our Save the Date cards, we had some ideas for props and shot ideas. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we are having our photos taken at the Neon Boneyard and the novelty shots will be captured at Caesars Palace.

We met our photographer for nachos and beer earlier this week and discussed locations, outfit changes, props, etc. I am a little OCD and like to map things out, so I drew a chart with our photo locations, scene ideas and potential looks. There are very few images out there of engagement photos that were taken at the Neon Boneyard. Although we’ve been there before, choosing the proper outfits is daunting. Most of the signs are red, yellow, and blue. I know that black and white aren’t favorable in photos, so I have chosen some purple, some polka dots and stripes for the Neon Boneyard. For the formal shots, I have a few dressy gowns and a few dresses hanging up in my closet waiting to be dusted off.

To say that I’ve put a lot of time and research into this photo session is an understatement. I played “runway” with Flo the other day—putting on the outfits that I have put together. He seems rather pleased with my selections all we need to do it get him his looks. As a reader of this blog, you are probably wondering why on earth am I being so OCD?? Well… I work in retail/fashion and I’ve created an imaginary pressure to make these photos stellar. Maybe the pressure is real and deep down the viewers of my photos will be waiting eagerly to see what we wore. I’m not sure what it is, but its presence is felt like an unwanted neighbor looking over your shoulder.

In searching for Neon Boneyard photos, I’ve found a few where I like the poses…. Don’t be surprised if I post something similar in the near future:

{first three photos by heidi ryder photography}

{photo by jessica claire photography}

Sigh. I can't wait for Tuesday. Supposedly the weather is looking pretty good too... Wait- where did that wind come from??? Yikes.... windy weather in Vegas is no match for anyone.

{photo from Channel 8}