Planning a wedding is stressful. It’s nice to take a day with your significant other during the planning and just relax. I was able to do this a couple of weeks ago when Tim and I had our engagement shoot with Sage of Crown Images. Yes, I said it right. It was relaxing. It’s always really important to work with vendors that you feel comfortable with. Sage happens to be a really good friend, so it was a lot of fun.

I got to go to Sugar and Spice to get my hair and makeup done prior to the engagement shoot, so I was really feeling pampered. It was nice to sit back and be the bride for once. Tune into the next A Wedding Planner’s Wedding for more about my experience with my hair and makeup trial!

It’s a great idea to have your trial when you do your engagement shoot.  It gives you a chance to see how the styles will work in the environment and how they will photograph.

Tim and I chose to have the shoot at Peterborg for a different look and feel from what our St. Thomas Beach Wedding Venue will be. We will be getting married at Lindquist Beach, so Peterborg was perfect with the rocky cliffs and cacti everywhere.

I chose a dress that would hopefully blow in the wind. Peterborg tends to be pretty windy most of the time, so that’s what I was going for. Thankfully, with St. Thomas Christmas winds and a joke from the Gods, it was EXTREMELY windy that day. We got a lot of fantastic photos, some really funny ones and some that Sage probably deleted as soon as she saw them.

We had a lot of fun during the engagement shoot. It was actually a really fun date. I joked with Sage about joining us and photographing on all of our dates. She doesn’t want to do that, so we’re looking for someone to take her position.

Here are some takeaways from the engagement shoot:

1. Do it. It’s a great idea to do an engagement shoot since it will give you an idea of how your hair and makeup will photograph. It also helps you to get comfortable in front of the camera prior to your big day!
2. Hair and Makeup. It’s a great time to try out your hair and makeup plans to see what you like, what you want to change and how it will photograph.
3. Try a couple of different outfits. I brought 2. One that I purchased for the occasion, and one that is Tim’s favorite.
4. Look up some poses that you want to do, but also depend on your photographer to pose you as well. There were some pictures that I thought I wanted, but since I’ve seen how the photos turned out, I’m happy that we didn’t do some of them. The ones we did do are perfect!
5. Choose a place that is different than that of your wedding venue. You want to have all kinds of different photos. If they’re all the same locale, it may become monotonous.
6. Have fun! Maybe plan a date day out of it. It was really fun.

So, all in all, the engagement shoot was a success! I’m excited to be with this man and to see what the future brings with him. I can tell from the photos that we totally love each other.