E-pics are Here...Go Terps!

If you weren't aware, UMD plays Duke tonight, hence the title of this post. But back to the real reason you're here...the e-pics! I received the cd with all our photo selections last Friday from my cousin who did an awesome job. And here are our top choices for your viewing pleasure!

 *Some lovey dovey photos ahead :)

If you missed any of the posts leading up to the big reveal check 'em out here:

• Brr! It's Cold Outside
• How to Survive a Winter E-Pic Session

How to Survive a Winter E-Pic Session

We had a busy saturday planned and we made the most of it. In the DC area, this past saturday was coined as the coldest day thus far for winter and boy it felt like it. I just kept wondering why does the coldest day of the year (so far) have to be the day when I'll be spending a good amount of time outside...oh well, we just decided to roll with the weather punches and keep it moving.

We ventured out to our alma mater, the University of Maryland College Park. There are so many great buildings and open spaces to utilize as the backdrop for our session. Just driving onto campus brought back so many great memories. You don't realize how fast 4 years really flies by. After getting onto campus we met up with my cousin who was our wonderful photog. We mapped out a quick course of action and hit the campus.

At the beginning of the session we were both very nervous and took a little time to warm up to being in front of the camera. But after about 10 minutes we loosened up, laughed a lot and eventually had a great time.

So here are my tips for any couples out there who are considering or are planning a winter e-pic session.

• Make sure to choose a coat that is warm yet sleek, i.e. close-fitting to the body (please no large puffy coats!!)
• Are you willing to go coat-less for a couple shots? If so, then make sure you consider what you both are wearing under the coat and try to coordinate somewhat but forgo the matchy-matchy
• LAUGH! Laugh alot! It gets the blood flowing which in turns warms you up a bit and laughter is the best way to get a more natural smile

Those are some of things I'm glad we did and they really did help us get through the session. I can't wait to share some of our favorites with you in an upcoming post so stay tuned!

Brr! It's Cold Outside

We are fast approaching our deadline for sending out our save the dates and we would both like to have a photo std card to send out, something like these. The only problem is, we have ZERO photos that we both like which are actually usable. But thankfully, my cousin is coming to our rescue and doing an impromptu e-session. She is our go to family event photog, and well, she's just great. I'm just nervous about the weather. I'm the type of person who wears a scarf in the summer in the office because the AC is on too high, so obviously I don't do very well in the winter. And to top it off, in the past month or so we've gotten hit with snow, freezing rain and blustery winds that have made me shed a tear (I can't make this stuff up). So I'm crossing my fingers that none of the crazy weather will make an appearance and I'm hoping that it will just get above 35 degrees.

I'm gonna suck it up, bundle up (in something cute of course) and hopefully produce some beautiful, natural looking e-pics.

We Have Our Photog!

I am pleased to announce that we now have our official wedding photog! I'm super excited and pumped about this decision which racked my brain for many a night. So who is it you ask? None other than Edward Underwood Photography. And I must say our road to finding this guy was no small fete...I stalked many websites trying to put a new faves list together after getting obsessed with photos from another photographer who was way out of our budget (another post altogether). But after viewing his portfolio I fell in love with his work. And even after visiting another photography duo I still couldn't stop thinking about those pics, they are just everything that I want my wedding photos to be. So instead of me ranting about them why don't I just show you.

* All photos are from Edward Underwood Photography

The Road to the Perfect Photographer

You've gotten a glimpse into the type of photography that I adore and get frequent crushes on and I've also mentioned how we couldn't make up our minds regarding two fabulous photographers. But now I'll tell you how we reached that point.

Like any other wedding related task it starts with google. I wanted to learn everything there was about wedding photography - what are the prices, what does it entail, what am I in for...you know the typical stuff. But I also wanted to know what some other regular people like me were doing in terms of choosing their photographers, so I headed over Weddingbee. I searched the boards many times over, local boards, general boards, blogs, etc reading any and everything that I could. I came across a local post on a DC board which was really helpful where many brides talked about who their photographers were and their photography budgets. It really helped me to see who people were using and research portfolios. I quickly learned what type of photography I was into and wasn't into. That's where I discovered my local photography crush which would prove to be out of my price range. And believe me I was convinced this person was the end all be all, I had even setup a meeting with the woman. But I eventually canceled when I talked some sense into myself and came back to reality. 

I found the following websites to be a great resource and I'll go into more detail on how they helped me in a later post. So for now, that's it.

• www.wpja.org
• www.weddingwire.com

Wedding Indecision

I'm torn. My brain is mish mosh. I just don't know what to do. All this indecision has to do with our wedding photography. We have two photographers that we are seriously considering and therein lies the problem, they are both pretty fabulous. And they are both within the same price range! I love both of their portfolios and their personalities are great as well. I've done a pros and cons list and there really aren't many cons for either one. Why couldn't one of them just have a serious deal breaker so that this decision would be a little bit easier.

Another part of the problem is that my fiance and I were only able to meet with one of the photographers together. For the other, I was the only one that could make the meeting, so we have a little bit of a lopsided perspective here. I've asked both of the photographers if we could see one of their weddings from start to finish. I know we should have done this during the actual sessions but my brain wasn't working properly. So hopefully they'll oblige this request and we will be able to really compare apples to apples.

Stay tuned for how this ends...

You Are My Photo Crush

While surfing some of my go-to wedding blogs Style Me Pretty and the like, I found some great photo inspiration which quickly turned into another wedding obsession AND my first wedding crush. I love the emotion captured in these photographs and I love that they show the love between the couple on their big day. So it's my mission to find a photographer to provide crush-worthy photos for us. Photo's below...I know I'm not the only one with a wedding crush.

All photos from Style Me Pretty & Jubilee Events