Picture Perfect!

It finally happened! We took our engagement pictures!!

Today was beautiful... sunny, clear blue skies, slight breeze... and best of all-- NO RAIN!

We started at 6:00pm in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens where we met Joseph and Stephanie Ellis of JosephMark Photography. For the first location I wore a navy and white dress by Antonio Melani and Eric wore Seven for All Mankind Jeans with a white Polo and his Lucchese boots. The first couple shots included Eric and my most favorite things... our dogs!! Louis and Lucky were so well behaved and helped create super fun shots! Those pictures will be priceless! After we finished shooting with the dogs, we took pictures at several different locations around the rose gardens. I got to preview one photo that Joe took looking through a bunch of Lavender at Eric and I. It was so beautiful! Joe is such a talented photographer with a beautifully artistic eye. The Fort Worth Stock Yards right before sunset served as the backdrop for the second round of photos. I wore a cream colored dress with my Leddy Vaquero TCU boots, while Eric sported a light brown Polo with his jeans and Lucchese boots. We took so many neat shots! In one of the shots we were in the middle of the street with the "Fort Worth Stock Yards" street sign in the background. Eric was holding me in his arms and dipping me slightly. The sun was perfectly shining in the background... Joe said it was one of the best stockyard shots he has taken in a long time... if not ever! (That made me so excited because he has taken SO many amazing pictures in the stockyards.) The last location was by the Ashton Depot on the outskirts of downtown Fort Worth. The abandoned parking lot Joe chose to shoot from had a perfect and beautiful view of the downtown skyline. By this time it was completely dark outside, so the lights made for very dramatic, incredible photos! Joe found a small puddle of water in the parking lot and was somehow able to capture our reflection in the water with the skyline and lights... I saw the preview on his camera and it was breathtaking! For this set of photos, Eric wore a solid black Robert Graham button down (it had beautifully embellished cuffs, of course-- a Robert Graham signature) with jeans and black Prada loafers. I wore a silk black baby doll style tank by BCBG Maxazria with jeans and black patent Tory Burch wedges.

I could not be more pleased with the way our shoot went, and I know I will be overjoyed when we get to look at all of our beautiful photos!! Eric was even commenting on how incredibly talented Joe is and how his passion for photography is so evident. During the last set of photos with the downtown skyline, Joe was laying on his stomach on the ground so he could capture the shot from just the right angle. He got all excited every time he captured a perfect shot. Eric and I later commented on how blessed he is not only for having such a priceless skill, but also to be able to do what he loves and get paid for it! How rare! Joe and Stephanie are a very positive and uplifting couple to be around... we can't wait to see them again on our wedding day, and I can't wait for them to take my bridal portraits in the spring!!

Hooray for a fabulous day of picture perfection!

Looking Good So Far...

I'm still freaking out about the possibility of having to reschedule the engagement pictures this Sunday for the millionth time!! HOWEVER... I have been doing some intense praying and I was pleasantly surprised when I just checked the Weather Channel's website!!

ZERO % CHANCE of PRECIPITATION!! We might actually get to take our pictures!!!

HOORAY!!!

3rd Time's a Charm?

Eric and I have had to set 3 different dates for our Engagement Photos so far.

Sunday, August 2nd, then Sunday, August 23rd, and now Sunday, September 27th.

The first time we rescheduled because there was way too much going on and Eric and I were not prepared for the photos. The 2nd reschedule was due to Eric's horrible cold that he developed the day before our shoot... and now I am fearful of having to reschedule because September seems to be the new MONSOON SEASON here in Fort Worth, Texas! WHAT in the WORLD is going on with this weather?! I am SO sick of rain and no sunshine! I keep hoping "3rd Time's a Charm" will apply to this situation, and that the weather will not force us to reschedule and set a 4th date for the photos!!

On top of the fact that delaying them in general is frustrating because I'm looking SO forward to having these pictures taken, it is getting pretty expensive to keep rescheduling!! Think about all the prep work we have done each time... we each get our hair trimmed, I get my nails done, we like to tan a couple times so we aren't ghostly pale, I get the dogs groomed because they're going to be in a couple of the photos... etc. If I do all this again and then it rains us out, I'm going to scream!

Ok that's all... just needed to vent :)

PRAY FOR SUNSHINE!! haha.

"...And They Will Talk About It!"

BEST NEWS YET!! I PICKED a FLORIST!! (Pun intended... haha.)

Call me crazy, but the floral decor at my reception is one of the single MOST important things to me. When planning events, the overall appearance is one thing that most people remember and later reminisce about how beautiful everything was. SO, after much competitive shopping, I have decided that Signature Productions Florist and Event Planning will be responsible for creating centerpieces and floral decor that will be memorable and beautiful! Signature Productions is in the Village in Colleyville right across from The Piazza where my mom works. Their slogan, "And they will talk about it!" happens to be exactly what we're going for! The shop is absolutely beautiful and the owner, Ed, is genuinely nice, very knowledgeable, and so accommodating. I emailed him, along with several other florists, a huge list of all the floral pieces I would be ordering with quantities and pictures of floral designs that I like. This quote request was very detailed and so specific that some florists just told me I needed to come in and discuss it in person, and some didn't even respond!! Not only did Ed communicate regularly with me, reassuring me that he was working on my quote and had not forgotten about me, but when he finished the quote and we met to talk about it I was completely blown away! Ed had payed specific attention to every detail that I sent him. He formulated a detailed quote for me that ended up being about a half a dozen pages. He went as far as contacting growers in several other countries to ensure the most bang for my buck. Ed is enthusiastic, polite, fun, very talented, and most importantly, he wants to make me happy. I can tell that he genuinely cares about his clients, and not just about the payments involved. I CANNOT WAIT to see what he comes up with when we meet with him a couple months before the wedding to see the mark-up arrangements. I am so confident in this decision, although I felt like it would be the hardest and most nerve-wrecking part! I couldn't be happier!

Here are a couple pictures of Ed's shop and designs...