Military Bride

I'll get back to pre-wedding shenanigans in just a bit, for the moment, I want to touch on a bit of my real life.
So there are lots of fun things about being a military bride. Not the least of which is a dashing uniform!! Oh, and add to that that my husband is a pilot and spends most normal days in a flight suit... am I the luckiest girl ever? I think so! :) We also don't have to worry about insurance or lay offs, and we have a decent support system. Being in the Coast Guard, it becomes a very small personal world, scattered from coast to coast. But it does come with its drawbacks. We were married for 2 weeks before he left. He has 6 weeks of training in Alabama. I mentioned before that we spent our first 18 months of dating 6000 miles apart, but it still hurts every time, and now that he's my HUSBAND (still not used to that word!) its worse than before. So its back to phone calls and emails for us, while I try to keep busy enough not to notice how lonely it is to wake up without him. So, to any of you girls who has your guy nearby, go give him a hug and be glad you can.
Just so this isn't the most depressing post ever - one of the upshots of being a military bride - the sword arch!!

Thank you Wes for capturing this moment! (I know this shot was Wes because I can just see the edge of Rae's camera and shirt in front of us.)

I miss my husband.

Blog Bliss: Jasmine Star...and her dog Polo

Jasmine Star is an amazing photographer. If you've never seen her work or stalked her blog, I HIGHLY recommend you do so. So shoot beautifully, and interjects personal tidbits and personality into her blog. Some people wonder why someone should stalk photog blogs.... this is why...Jasmine has a dog (Polo) who is celebrating his 2nd birthday.. and that might be the funniest picture I've ever seen. Thanks to Jasmine for posting Polo fun on her pro photog blog! Go, stalk, and enjoy!

Photo Tease...

Guess what we did...

Image Courtesy of Guru.

Our Engagement Photo session!!
More to come...

Color IQ Test: Will your tablecloths ACTUALLY match the dresses?

Do you care if your table cloths EXACTLY match your bridesmaids dresses? If so, WHY!? Are you going to make your girls sit in the center of the table as centerpieces? Anyway...... =)

Quick break before my Save The Date reveal....

Since we are all in the insane world of matching colors to dresses and table cloths to ties and flower, I thought this would be fun to share and see how high your color IQ is!
My wonderful photog, Rae actually sent this to me. She scored a perfect 0!! I am proud to say I earned a 12, and Guru got a 27.
Can you beat that?

Engagment Photo Tips

Ahh the wonder of the bridal blog world. I followed someone else's picture to Allebach Photography and then started scrolling through the older blog entries when i found this little gem of info...

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Aug 1, 2008

10 Hot Tips for Engagement Photography

We get many questions about Engagement Photography. Like what do I wear, where do you recommend and what is it like. We list 10 tips and answer a few questions about engagement photography on our handy dandy new pdf: 10 Hot Tips for your Engagement Photos. In the pdf we talk about what to wear. Over the last year we are thinking about implementing a "no khaki pants policy" when people ask engagement session - what to wear. What do you think? Should we let people wear khaki pants instead of jeans for the engagement session?

Engagement Photography Hot Tips

View SlideShare presentation (tags: engagement wedding photography tips)

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Happy Monday!

Photography: In the Moment

So I've told you the background of "picking our photographer"... which in reality was me convincing everyone else that while I chose our photographer 1 day after getting engaged solely based on 1 friend's recommendation, I had made a really good choice. So I thought I would post a few photos that exemplify what I mean by "you don't have to be there to understand."

Note: I was not a guest at any of these weddings.

This picture just made me smile and want to shout "mazaltof!"

This just captures not only a pretty bride, but a genuinely happy, beautiful soul.

I have no idea what this man said, but I laughed anyway.

I am a goofball. There will probably be moments like this at my wedding... and while I probably won't put them in my formal album - I sure as heck want those moments captured!

Pictures like these I want to put in my album. You can feel the emotion and they have an artistic flare.

I don't know what she was laughing at, but it made me giggle.

I am a fan of all things water... and thus a fan of this photo.

Can we say "frame it and stick it on the wall, please?"

Nothing better than capturing a happy bride in her "unassuming, it's all about me" moment. (Yes, I know thats a contradiction in terms. But look at the picture and tell me that doesn't fit. She's not pompous but she's walking down the middle of the street without a care in the world, knowing no one else would dare mess with her moment. And time seems to have stood still around her.... hmm... sounds a lot like walking down an aisle!)

And this one is just cool.

Ok. So there is a quick snippet of why I love Rae Leytham Photography. Go check out her blog for MANY MANY more reasons to love. Seriously, some photographers create pictures that make any bride look like she just stepped out of a magazine. Some take a very avant guard approach for artsy shots. Some can make it look like you were actually married in 1940. Those are all great. But I don't think there is anything better than a photographer that can make any viewer (read blog-stalker) laugh or cry or smile or aww at photographs of moments they have no other connection to. Isn't that the point of photographing the wedding? So you can share with others, and other generations what it was like to be there in that moment?

Vendor Bender: Photography

So we booked our venue. Now its on to vendors... we started with photographers.. and not on purpose.

Let me start by saying this: Research research research.

That being said, I actually chose my photographer the morning after I got engaged on one persons' recommendation. I didn't book her until a few months later and LOTS of research, but in my head, all along I pretty much knew.

My crazy scavenger hunt proposal took place on a January Saturday (If you haven't seen the slideshow yet - Click and watch. It was amazing and I still want to share it with the world at every chance I get). Monday morning I told a friend at work (we'll call him Guru) and his response was
"Congratulations! Rae Leytham."
Me - "umm - no - my name is Michelle."
Guru "No, Rae Leytham is your photographer."
Me - "We don't even know where or when we are getting married! We only get engaged on Saturday."
Guru - "Doesn't matter. Rae Leytham. Here is the website. Here are my favorite photos. Hands down best photographers. Husband and wife team that also have the best equipment and back ups of everything. You don't even have to be there to understand the moment." (I'll explain that last remark in another post.)
Me - "Ok then. Rae Leytham it is."

A few hours later I go home to my now fiance:
Me - "Rae Leytham is going to be our photographer. And I got a few recommendations on great cake bakers in the area."
Adam "Don't plan the whole wedding without me!!" (This was one of my favorite real life love moments.)

My family was INCREDIBLY skeptical of my being so attached to the idea of one photographer before I had even researched the other possibilities. The next few months were filled with lots of research of prices, style, locations, styles, albums, personalities etc. And then in May - we signed the contract with Rae. =D Thank you Guru!

I promise my next few posts will detail the rest of the photographers we considered, and what really sent everyone over the edge for Rae.

Anyone else make a quick decision that ended up being fantastic?