Trial Engagement Photos

Dave and I will be in NYC this weekend, amongst other things, to take engagement photos with our fairy godmother (a.k.a. Missy, whose wedding and e-photo services we won via a blog contest!). We have a gazillion photos of the two of us from around the world so I wasn’t at all anxious about the upcoming e-session - until we did a trial run a couple of weekend ago (umm, am I turning into a bridezilla? Practice engagement photos?). After that session, I realized that until thatpoint, all our pictures had been variations of the same photo format! Dave on the right, Kasia on the left, with landmark behind us.  Effective but boring.

Us skiing in Vermont

So a couple of weekends ago, my family and I were in Chicago at my parent’s house for their annual 4th of July party. Since both my fiancé and my sister were there, I asked them if we could go down to our neighborhood beach to take some pictures. Although she started out as a mommy blogger, my sister has developed into a ridiculously talented photographer, by documenting the last 7 years of her children’s lives.

Ready, set, go - I grab Dave’s hand and start walking him down the beach while my sister starts snapping away.

Here are the transcripts of our dialogue while the following shots were taken .

D: Um, this is really uncomfortable. What should we be doing?

K: Just smile and do what you’d be doing if my sis wasn’t right there.

D: Well, if she wasn’t there, I’d be swimming.

K: D, smile and try to relax.

K: D, I saw a picture I want to try from a blog. Let’s skip together along the beach and my sis will shoot us from behind.

D: I’m sorry K, I just cannot skip. I’ll run.

K: Ok, then at the count of 3 turn your head to the left and look at my sister. 1, 2 ,3.

D: These pictures are going to turn out really weird.

My sis: Look at each other with star gazed eyes.

K: *cracking up* this is really corny. You are right.

D: I really don’t know how to follow these directions.

Needless to say, it was our first time modeling and boy was it uncomfortable to have someone shoot you for the first time.

Despite all this, when my sister showed us our pictures back at the house, Dave was shocked, in disbelief, exclaiming, “Wow, they turned out great. We almost look natural!”

I highly recommend that you get an engagement session done before your wedding, with your photographer or even just with a family friend, so you and your beau can practice what it’s like to model. It’s not as easy as it looks. Smile with your eyes ;)