Wedding: Bridal Shoot

I shattered my iPhone screen this morning, so to make myself feel better, I thought I'd go ahead and share some of the photos from my bridal/boudoir shoot with my fabulous photographer, Jessica. 

I went through the photos and chose some that weren't too risqué. There aren't really any that are too much, but I'd feel better leaving you with some mystery. Anyway, we took these photos more than a month before the wedding at my cousin's beautiful house. The location was a neutral ground for everyone and my cousin has the most perfect bathroom and private porch, so it was wonderful. 

My dress hadn't been altered yet, so we had to be a little strategic about those photos, and the props I used were either from one of my grandmothers or one of Kyle's, so they were all very nostalgic. Me, nostalgic. Imagine that. 

I made a photobook from Shutterfly with these for Kyle on the wedding day, along with his axe I bought him from Best Made Company. (More on that later.) 

For the boudoir photos, I wore a pair of high-waist, light pink lace underwear from American Apparel with a lace bralette from intimint, as well as a little nighty I've had from Victoria's Secret for years. I liked these because they were so girly and vintage and didn't make me feel too scandalous. I love boudoir photos, but some of them I've seen are just…well…a little scary. To each her own, but I wanted mine to be fun and pretty and a little pin-up-y, and I think Jessica captured that balance perfectly. I felt comfortable with her, and not just because I've known her my whole life, but she really just makes you feel relaxed and excited to have your photo taken. 

When it was time for the bridal portion of the shoot, I put my dress on with my hair clip and did a few poses on the porch where the sun was finally coming out and the lighting was nice. This was such a weird feeling…I had on my wedding dress and was taking photos but it wasn't my wedding yet. I sort of realized all at once, "I'm going to be doing this for real soon." So weird/exciting/wonderful.

After a couple hours, Jessica had taken a zillion photos and we wrapped it up. We all joked during the shoot that I'm the cutest I'm ever going to be, so we really need to document it!

If you're not sure what to get your soon-to-be husband for a wedding gift, I really recommend this. It's special and romantic, and even if you don't want to go the boudoir/photos in your underwear route, you can always just have some pretty photos taken of you in your dress.

Find a photographer who understands what you're going for with the photos and makes you feel comfortable. Jessica and I had a shared secret Pinterest board where we could both pin examples of photos for each other to see, which really helps give your photographer an idea of what you're going for, and will let you see the styles your photographer likes.

Also, Jessica and I are in contact all the time. She is great about texting me with updates on the status of the editing or previews of photos she's really loving. Find someone who is open with you and doesn't disappear after the shoot or event, but also remember that they need time to get all the photos ready and they probably won't be finished the very next day unless they have magical powers (and probably horrible photos), so it's best not to stalk them, either. I haven't had to contact Jessica myself much at all because she is so good at keeping me updated, and because I have seen Jessica's work and love it, I haven't been worried about the photos at all.

She actually texted me this week and told me the wedding photos are in the mail, so of course, I'm obsessively checking the mailbox. I can't wait to get them and eventually share some here.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on boudoir photos, and if you have any questions about my photos or working with Jessica, just let me know! 

love.

krq.

the new dyers

Well. It's over. It happened. I'm married.

That's just a preview shot from my FREAKING AMAZING photographer. Of course, once I have all the photos, I'll post more extensive details, but in short, it was magical. The whole day. Of course everything never goes exactly as planned, but like my aunt Angie said, even if we drove up the day before the wedding and the barn was on fire, we'd still get married, and that's what matters. The barn wasn't on fire, by the way. Unless you count all of us crazies dancing to "Blurred Lines" like it was our job, then yeah, it was on fire. 

Everyone tells you leading up to this day that it's all a whirlwind and it goes by so fast and you feel like you don't get to talk to anyone or even really eat any of your own food. Well, everyone was right. It's really quite crazy. You plan and plan and plan, then eat nothing and talk to no one. Or at least that's how it feels, because it goes by so quickly, and if you're like us and invite an entire county, there are just too many people to have a meaningful conversation with in one night. Everyone also told us that once you leave, it's the most exhausted you've ever been. Also, correct. 

Kyle and I had a vision for what we wanted our wedding day to be like, but sometimes our ideas sounded crazy, and were never the easiest to accomplish.

"Let's compile a list of songs no one knows and invite members of our families to sing them together, and let's hold practices for them three weeks before the wedding, so they can try to learn the songs, even though everyone has to like, work."

However, everything turned out so incredibly. It was so beautiful. I've never felt so loved in my life, and not just because of Kyle. When people just show up to help decorate and make flower arrangements for the tables without you even having to ask...that's when you feel loved. When your parents bust themselves in the summer heat to build arrow-shaped signs and cut flowers off the side of the road because you actually like those weeds...you feel loved. When your college-student siblings buy gifts for you they know you'll absolutely love and know you want them for your wedding day and honeymoon...that's love. 

I know this post isn't giving all the real details about the wedding, because really I just wanted to thank everyone. My parents, my siblings, Kyle's family, all my family and friends, our wedding party, everyone who sang and played instruments, the wonderful men who married us, our photographer and caterer and readers and cake-bakers, people who traveled pretty far to be there, people who posted such kind comments on our photos and Facebooks...everyone...thank you. Because of all of you, our day was exactly what we wanted — a day filled with people and love and fun.

Click here for the beautiful video my photographer made with some of the photos in it. So wonderful. I cry every time I watch it.

More details to come!

love.
krq(d)