Wedding Wednesday Update 9: Our Engagement Photos

I’m so excited to share our engagement photos today. There are a LOT of pictures, but I just love so many shots. Picking a photographer for the wedding was something I spent a LOT of time on, but in the end I went with the very first photographer I considered. (I should have listened to my gut!)  And from the very beginning, I knew our engagement photos would include our dog, Maizey. That was the easy part. Outfits were a different story. 😉

Choosing our photographer

I cared a LOT about our photographer – I was almost majored in photography and I worked for a wedding photographer for 2 years in college. I researched and researched and looked at so many different styles, and sent 5 contenders to Tommy, and Vesic Photography was his top choice too. 🙂 When I sent my top 5 to Tommy, I was a little nervous he wouldn’t like Hooman’s style. It’s definitely distinctive, but Tommy loved Hooman’s work for the same reasons I do: the way he plays with light, how he captures emotions and the emphasis on little moments rather than posed pictures. He’s so incredibly talented. And after I talked to him on the phone, I liked his personality (funny, sarcastic, witty and kind). And I knew that we’d be very comfortable with him, and that’s key for good photos.

What we wore for our engagements

On the day of our engagements, I still wasn’t certain what I was going to wear. I knew I’d wear the yellow dress and wedges and had planned for that, but I wasn’t sure what my “casual” outfit would be. In the end, I just went with shorts, a tank and sandals that are my go-to’s every week. And by far, that outfit is my favorite in photos because I was comfortable in it and felt very much in my skin. I honestly don’t love the dress photos since I think that dress is a little too snug up top and on my back (#crossfitproblems), but that’s okay.

Tommy asked for a little guidance on what he should wear, so I just picked what I loved him in: a light blue polo shirt + shorts + loafers. 🙂 And, of course, I wanted him to wear his needlepoint dog belt. He wore jeans for the first half, but I really love the pictures with him in shorts – again, that’s just us. And in the end, that’s what matters – capturing us, capturing this this phase of life. Outfits really don’t matter.

Maizey wore her best pink collar. 😉 She’ll wear her engagement collar on the wedding day.

Where we took photos

Since Tommy and I both live in downtown Winston-Salem and LOVE it, we knew we wanted to take our photos here. Our photographer said he would travel anywhere in the state to get great shots, but we wanted to capture our lives as they are now. There’s so much happening in downtown Winston and we love being in the midst of all of it!

We considered doing some of our pictures on the golf course, since we love spending time there together. (And Forsyth Country Club has AMAZING sunsets.) But, in the end, one of my friends, Kate, help me realize that we’d probably feel too rushed to change locations. I’m happy we kept it all in one place.

During the shoot

We shot for 3.5 hours and were pretty tired (and hungry!) by the end, but Hooman kept us laughing the whole time. Plus, we just genuinely like him as a person, so it was a fun night. But the REAL trooper of the night was our dear friend Alise, who gave up her entire evening and trekked all over downtown with us to help wrangle Maizey. She’s a wonderful friend.

Our photos

When Hooman sent us the link to our photos, I cried as I looked through them. I am so incredibly grateful he was able to capture our family. These pictures just felt so much like us, how we feel about each other, how integral Maizey is to our family 🙂 and how much we love our life in Winston-Salem.

Now – onto the photos!!

You can see previous wedding updates here! Thank you all so much for sharing in our happiness!! I have the sweetest readers. 

I blogged about how I curl my hair here and my skincare/makeup routine here. 

Shop my outfits

Shop his outfits