New Beginnings + Engagement Pics!

Happy 2014!! It is hard to believe it is already January and another year is here.  I have so many things to look forward to this year.  It is exciting, stressful, overwhelming and a little surreal sometimes to think I am planning my wedding but I am loving the ride.  We took a break from doing any serious planning but now that the new year is here we are ready to get back into full gear!  More on that soon...!  

I have been wanting to do a blog post months ago but due to my moving to a new apartment and holiday stuff I had to push it back. Our engagement photos have officially been in for awhile but we are just recently starting to share them. We had such a nice time taking the photos and we got to meet and work with the photographer doing our wedding photos.  It was a great time and we were lucky to get a picture perfect day.  The weather, the sky, the breeze was just perfect.  I can only hope we get an equally beautiful wedding day. 

What we wore

For engagement photos our photography company suggested that we dress in complimenting outfits as if from the same catalogue without being too matchy matchy. In order to do that we bought clothes from the same store so that the colors and style would mesh well. Pete and I love the store Express and since they carry both men and women's clothes we picked outfits from this store for the photos.

Here is a photo of our outfits! We chose classic fall colors like gray, black and camel.

Michelle: Black Dress (H&M-old but Express literally had the exact same dress this season) , Cardigan (Express-old), Belt (Express), Bandolino boots (Macy's)

Pete: Black sweater (Express), Gray pants (Express), Black loafers (Journeys)

Our Favorite Shots

I expected to wait a few weeks before we got our proofs back but I was surprised that we got them back only 1 week later!! They came out beautiful and we are very happy with them!! Below I have posted a few of our favorite shots!! I'm planning to order a few prints to hang up around our apartment and we will also choose an image from the shoot to use on our save the date announcement.
  

One of the first shots of the day!

My favorite shot of us walking. 

Just you and me <3

Modeling like pros!

Love <3

The Cloisters

Perfect end to a  beautiful day <3

<3

XO,
Michelle G

P.S. Only 255 days til the big day!

Vendor Spotlight: George Street Photo & Video

                                           

Our wedding is almost 1 year away and I am starting to get really anxious to start all the wedding preparations. Up until now we have only set our date and venue. It felt silly to start planning everything so soon with well over a year before the wedding. But now that the 1 year mark is coming close I am finally feeling ready to really dig in and get the ball rolling. Time for the fun to begin! 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

Our wedding will be September 2014. September and October are 2 of the most popular wedding months so I knew we had to start the vendor search with photographers and videographers because they book up way in advance. I spent a nice portion of my summer nights researching all the preferred photo and video people my venue suggested. I also spent time stalking my married facebook friends to see what photographer/videographer they used for their weddings. 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

I had an idea of what I wanted my pictures and video to look like. I have really fallen in love with the photojournalistic approach and romantic poses. I wanted to make sure I chose a team that would give us exactly what we wanted. We will look back on these photos and videos for many years and so it was super important for us to make sure we get that. 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

My mother was the one who actually found the website to George Street Photo & Video and sent me a link.  It wasn't one of the suggested companies or one that I had found off a friend. George Street is a great company that works with couples all over the US.  They have many offices and photographers and really offer a great service.  

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

I was initially drawn to the beauty and quality of the work they did. I loved the angles, the clarity, the vision of the photographers. I watched some of the videos and was blown away by their work as well. They had what I was looking for. 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

Now George Street was not the first company I had fallen in love with. There were a nice handful of companies that I had listed as possibilities but their prices were astronomical and out of our price budget set for photo/video. So I was half expecting the same for this company but was pleasantly surprised to find that the prices were not just reasonable but totally in our budget! So I sent them an online inquiry to get more information. After speaking with a rep we were assigned a wedding coordinator to meet with and go over the packages and choose a photographer. We were given an online style assessment (which I took alone without Peter lol) prior to meeting so they can match us up to photographers who match our style preference. I thought this was a fabulous idea since I had no clue what my style was. Our coordinator, Natalie, showed us a few portfolios based off our results. We fell in love with the work of the second photographer we saw.  (Erik G. portfolio <---this is the photographer we chose! I love his work!)

Then we looked at the videos and agreed on adding video to our package as well. I love how they edit the videos to make it look like a movie or tv show lol. 

Picture taken from George Street online portfolio

The package we chose included a free 90 minute photo session that we are planning to use for engagement pictures. I wasn't planning on doing engagement pictures but since it's included we figured why not? So that gives us a new project: prepping this photo session. I will save that for another blog post though.

Sorry if this got a little long and ranty but there is just so much to mention!! Hope you enjoyed! And look out for my upcoming posts! 

xo,

Michelle G

PS: if you aren't already, follow me on twitter and instagram!! @itsmichelle_g

Bridal Trend: Trash the Dress (TTD) - what are your thoughts?

I am nowhere close to finding my wedding dress. In fact, I am not really even planning on starting to look for it until sometime this fall but I have been reading up on the Trash the Dress (TTD) trend and had to write a post!

So just in case you are reading this and have no clue what I am talking about let me just briefly let you know about this growing trend. From what I have gathered online, it was started by a photographer in Las Vegas over 10 years ago but has only recently gotten popular in the last 5 yrs. Basically at another time after your wedding you stage another photoshoot where the bride wears her wedding dress again and purposely ruins it during the shoot. Some brides will jump into the pool or frolick around a beach. Others run around in mud and dirt, or shred it up. I have seen brides who threw paint on their dress and even a very controversial shoot where the bride burned her dress (while still wearing it!).

FYI I believe this is a photoshopped TTD which might be a good alternative

From what I understand, the point of TTD is supposed to be a fun, different take on traditional wedding photos. It allows the bride to have fun with her dress, have different kinds of poses and change things up. One site I read said that it symbolizes your devotion to your husband since you can't wear the dress again. And as one former bride I know who has done a TTD shoot said "Since you only get married once its not like you will ever wear it again. So why not?". 

So what do you think of this trend? Would you do it? I certainly can understand the appeal and reasoning behind the TTD trend. And it definitely does look very fun but this is a trend that I personally will be skipping and this is why: 

1. I'm too sentimental: I still have the dress I wore in my Quinceanera (Sweet 15). My mom still has my baptism and communion dress. I come from a family who holds onto this type of stuff. For me, this is a very special dress that I want to keep perfect and show my children someday. It is sacred and important because of the commitment I made wearing it.  To spend so much money on a beautiful dress only to purposely ruin it seems to be a waste of money and disrespectful to the sanctity of the dress (to me at least).

2. Unforeseen dangers: Maybe I am being a little pessimistic but I have read about the bride who drowned wearing her dress in the river or the one who burned her dress while wearing it. The possibility that my safety can potentially be compromised for a photo is a huge red flag!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this post.  The next few posts will be coming soon as we near our 12 month countdown to the wedding.  I'm so excited and glad to know that this is just the beginning.

xo,

Michelle G