Around the same time I chose my dress, we confirmed our photographers. We got an engagement shoot with our photography package, and we’d decided to get the photos done and use them for Save-the-Dates. This posed its own problem, as we wanted the photos done before it got too gross and wintery here, plus we needed to get them done pretty quickly anyway to have any hope of sending them out before Christmas. We didn’t factor in our photographers’ other clients/jobs/life when coming up with this plan! They were very gracious though, and managed to squeeze us in early one October Sunday morning, before Cinnamon Buns had to rush off to work.

Beware: this post contains almost entirely self-timer photos taken in our dark bedroom, then edited into visible-ness.

I knew which dress I wanted to wear for the photos from the start:

"Amarena" from Anthropologie

I bought this dress in the very first Anthropologie I ever saw in person, and I love it so much! I figured I’d find a pair of shoes and be done with it. Well, the weather forecast got closer and closer, and colder and colder. I bought some awesome shoes that matched a pair of tights I already had. In hindsight, I could have saved money by going about this the other way: finding tights to match shoes I already owned. Oh well, these shoes are awesome.

Camper Ariadna

The weeks leading up to our session were balmy and unseasonably warm. Then, on the Friday before our pictures, it snowed! It was then I went into panic mode, and bought all sorts of things I didn’t need:

Sweater from Mexx

Sweater from Smart Set

Gloves that matched the tights that matched the shoes. Plus awesome belt.

I tried all these things on in every combination I could think of. I wasn’t happy with either of the sweaters – they hid the dress, which was what I wanted to show off! And the fluttery sleeves gave me weird shoulder lumps under any cardigan I tried on. I was worried about looking cold and miserable in the photos though, and if the snow stuck around I’d look pretty silly in short sleeves, frolicking in the snow! So, I started trying on all the dresses I already own that have sleeves.

Sweater dress from Superstore, of all places.

Got this on sale at BCBG a couple years ago

I wasn’t giving up on that tights/shoes combo! None of these dresses make me as happy at the Anthro dress, so on Saturday night, Cinnamon Buns talked me into just wearing the dress I wanted, and bringing my coat for between photos.

That morning dawned nice and sunny, and luckily Saturday had been warm enough to melt all the snow! I put on my Anthro dress*, purple tights, fierce purple shoes, amethyst earrings, nice winter coat (as opposed to my down-filled -30C coat) and went to go feel like a supermodel. A 5’3″ supermodel! I left all the cardis, the gloves, the scarves, even the belt at home. Later, I returned everything except the belt, which made me (and my visa) feel much better.

Were there any weather mishaps/scares for your photos? Did you try on 300 outfits, then decide on the first one you tried on? Sounds a lot like wedding dress shopping….

*There is another Anthro dress in my life/closet that I may love a tiny bit more than the knit one:

Yes, those are BICYCLES! (photo from Anthro)

I wore this every chance I could get this summer, and if we’d gotten things together in time for a summer e-session, I probably would have worn it, photographer’s advice against patterns be damned!

We’ve been meeting with photographers recently (it’s so hard to choose!) and everyone we’ve talked to includes an engagement session. We both like this idea because it lets us get comfy being in front of the camera (we might both work in theatre, but we’re backstage people!). And it gets us some images for save-the-dates, thank you cards, Christmas cards, etc. Now there are a few things to decide about engagement photos: what to wear (that’s a whole other set of posts!!) and where to do them. Today, we were thinking about where to do them.

Cinnamon Buns suggested the library – I like that idea, and it is very us… in fact it is so us that I’d been thinking about doing wedding photos at the library! Related question: should we call the library ahead of time and ask, or just show up and start shooting, so they can’t tell us ‘no’ until we already have a few photos? Would a librarian really turn away a bride in a big white dress? I shared those thoughts (well, the ones about not wanting to repeat locations) and then Cinnamon Buns said, “Well, we could do it in front of our bookcases at home.” and that just got  me rolling.

I’ve seen some lovely kitchen engagement photos, and our kitchen/living room/library is just one open space. Maybe we could get some lovely shots like these:

Photos from (top to bottom): Melissa Jill, Dana & Jeremy, Aaron Shintaku.

I love these photos. I love to bake. Cinnamon Buns likes helping bake, and loves cooking. I don’t know if I love our kitchen this much though. Although, I do love my Kitchen Aid mixer enough for this…

We’d be doing these photos within the next month, I imagine. That means that the sun is setting later and later every day. Our house doesn’t get a ton of light to begin with, what with being a first floor, slightly below-grade, north-facing condo. Our kitchen is lovely and big, but is full of very orange terracotta tile, and the window is at the other end of the large, open room. We have an island, so they could get shots across it of us chopping and mixing – the oven is in a bit of a corner though. We’d also have to really (REALLY) clean it and the rest of the big room. And maybe hide some things away, like the dish soap bottle, the bar stools I dragged out of a ‘FREE!’ pile that have paint on the fabric, the garbage can, the half-knitted projects on the coffee table, the wedding stuff that is currently stashed behind the couch… At least we have our bedroom and the office to stuff all that stuff into! I still get stuck on commemorating our orange kitchen though.

Also, I would have to plan what to make! I like the idea of strawberry shortcake/ scones with strawberries, but strawberries in Calgary in October? It’s totally out of season, so the strawberries wouldn’t be as pretty. Chocolate chip cookies do involve the Kitchen Aid. Brownies are tasty. Cupcakes are adorable. I’ve got those cookie cutters with word stamps from Williams-Sonoma…. too many choices! And, for the record, I would not go out and purchase cupcakes to pretend like we made them, to take the stress off. I’m too hardcore.

Another location I had thought about was Rosedale Bluff, which is a nice grassy hill that gives a great view of the river, and downtown Calgary. I’d imagined that, maybe us sprawled on a nice quilt reading our books, with the city in the background. This would also involve buying a nice quilt, probably from Etsy. I’ve wanted one for a while, and don’t really want my maroon polar fleece blanket memorialized. Hmm, that’d have to come off the couch if we did the home shoot…

Nessa K

Another location option that Cinnamon Buns thought of was the Rundle Ruins. I’m not sure what they’re ruins of, to be honest, but they’re very cool looking and pretty close to our house.

Redfern photography

They’re something that I’ve always meant to investigate, but have never gotten around to.

Keep in mind that all these photos are of lovely summer sunshine, and even if we book our photographer in the next few days, and schedule the session within a week or two… we might have snow. I have my heart set on wearing a certain very pretty, short-sleeved dress in at least some of the photos. Although I do have an awesome pair of boots that I also want to wear (for a jeans look) that would look great in snow. As I said, that’s a whole other post.

Was it hard to pick locations for your photos?