Engagement Pictures - Take Two!

Last Thursday, we took our second set of engagement pictures. This time we got to take them with our awesome wedding photographer, Natalie. We took them at Waveland, an old museum here in Lexington, and of course we had to bring Carter along for a few shots! We really love them all, but here are some of our favorites:




We like these soooo much better than our beach pictures, but Fall is my favorite season so I'm sure that has something to do with it! What do you think?

Engagement Pictures!

We got our engagement picture proofs in the mail today! Although I will not bore you with all 209 pictures, I am going to share some of my favorites. Before the pictures, I wanted to pass along a little advice for anyone who plans on doing any kind of beach pictures in the future. So here goes...

1. Do not wear as much lotion on your legs or arms as usual. The sand will get all over you (obviously) and the lotion makes it a lot harder to remove.
   
2. Bring a towel, for situations such as those described in #1.
3. Don't wear anything that will blow too much in the wind. Our picture day was SO windy and this little flap thing on the front of my dress was all over the place, as was our hair. The wind would also blow under my dress at times, causing me to look 6-8 months pregnant in several shots.
4. Bring a brush. I think brushing my hair each time we changed spots was the only thing that kept my hair looking (somewhat) normal.

I hope these tips help someone in the future.. I definitely wish someone would have told me a couple of them beforehand! I am also REALLY glad we decided to go with color and not khaki/white outfits. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

engagement pictures, part deux

I made a new inspiration board with some of the colorful alternatives to our white & khaki ensembles. There are 4 different outfits I have created, with each row across being a different outfit. Here's the board, with descriptions below:

Row 1: A colorful "beachy" look with the yellow dress for me, turquoise shirt & khaki shorts for him.

Row 2: A little more sophisticated black & khaki look.

Row 3: Our wedding colors, although the green polo is a little too neon. I couldn't find a good apple green polo, which could be a bigger problem if we choose this look.

Row 4: Another colorful-matchy look. The pink dress with navy belt for me, navy polo & khakis for him.

Alright, those are some more options. Anyone love/hate any of these? I am completely incapable of making my own decisions, in case that wasn't obvious at this point:)

engagement pictures

We have decided that we are going to take 2 sets of engagement pictures. One traditional session will be in the Fall when the colors are changing, and the other session will be at the beach on Hilton Head Island when we go on vacation in August. I have always wanted my engagement pictures to be at the beach. I probably wouldn't even do the other set, but they are free with our wedding pictures. Well, anyway, I have the dilemma of deciding what we will wear in the beach pictures. The photographer told me to wear something simple and solid colors so that our clothes do not distract from us or from the background. I totally agree with this. Most beach pictures I have ever seen show the people wearing a combination of white and khaki, or jeans. I really do like this, but I also really like the rare pictures when the people are wearing black, or even bright colors. Well, once again, I am coming to all of you for advice. I got such amazing responses on my post about wedding shoes (really, thank you so much to everyone for your input!) that I am requesting your input about beach pictures and what you have seen (or done) in beach portraits that you really think worked well. I am going for a very casual, beachy, relaxed, flip-flop wearing vibe. I really want to wear a beachy dress, and I see Ryan in some relaxed khaki shorts with some kind of shirt. So far, I have only pursued the white/khaki/light blue scheme. Here is an inspiration board to give you an idea of what I'm envisioning:

{images via J.Crew, Ralph Lauren, Vineyard Vines, The Peppermint Palm, Banana Republic, Gap, Victoria's Secret}

So, what do you think? Should we stick with the traditional white theme, or go with something dark or bright as a contrast to the beach?