Happy February!
Whether you’re single, dating, engaged or married, every one of us is headed into the month of LOVE.
I think the month of Valentine’s Day is a great month to be kind and show our love and appreciation for each other, don’t you?
Small and random acts of kindess are always a good thing! Try cooking breakfast for your significant other or taking your dog on an extra long walk. Bring home flowers or call your parents to tell them you love them. Shoot a text to your closest gal pal and wish her a great day. It’s soooo easy to be nice and show that you care!
I wanted to kick things off in this love month with a fun post about how we chose to do our engagement photos. Now remember, I have warned you repeatedly that Anton and I are a bit silly and crazy LOL. So basically, what you see is a BIG reflection of our personalities and how we act. ALWAYS. And as you can see, he’s definitely crazier than I am!
Hahahaha.
BTW, you totally don’t have to be engaged to have an excuse for a photo op. Having your own photo shoot is totally fun! It’s an activity you can do to pamper yourself and glam up for the afternoon. Your photos can be simply of you, you and your significant other, a friend or two, or with your pets. It’s that easy and fun!
Now back to our silly photos. Notice anything in the pictures other than us and our yorkies? Well for starters, I’m in about 89327498 outfits! I just couldn’t seem to choose the right one lol. So after 2390234 changes in the car that drove Anton crazzzzy, I still wasn’t happy with things so we opted for two more additional photo sessions.
I know, you’d think it would be easy. Pick an outfit, grab the dogs and GO!
Not so much. My hair went limp in the first hour as you can see in some of the photos of our first shoot.
And in our second shoot, check out how freaking PUFFY my face is! OMG it was so awful I cannot believe I’m sharing this with you guys. I actually deleted most of the close up photos. Word from the wise: NEVER DRINK THE NIGHT BEFORE A PHOTO SHOOT. Just two skinny margaritas and puffiness sets in the next day for me!
I mean, I can’t even find my face bones :((((((.
And try getting two strong willed yorkies and one immature Russian man to pose and smile all at the same time?? Trust me, it’s nearly impossible!!!!!
But in the end, everything worked out. We seriously had a ton of fun and just a few meltdowns. (Well, I had a few meltdowns to be honest lol.)
And we got creative. SUPER CREATIVE. I mean that’s the point, right? To have fun and be as creative as possible to show people who you as a couple really are. At least for us that’s how we wanted our pictures to work. Our goal was to create images that we could use for our save the dates, thank you cards, and wedding website that showed everyone what we are like each and every day. All those perfectly posed pictures, who really needs those? It certainly isn’t real life!
SO here’s my list of tips and ways to get crazy and creative with your engagement photos. And if you need the proof, keep scrolling to see more silly craziness!
- CHANGE IT UP. Choose 2 or 3 or 5 locations to shoot photos that reflect where you like to go as a couple. For us, we love the beach and a hidden walking trail near our house where we take the pups on long walks. We also chose my school, USD for our last shoot because it’s gorgeous and special to me as the school I graduated college from.
- INCORPORATE PROPS. Yes, you heard me. Check out how Anton brought his climbing gear and ice picks. Mr. James Bond 007 also brought his fave book “Everything Men Know About Women.” Of course when you open it, it’s completely blank on the inside hahaha. And don’t forget the KGB sign he made for himself as a Russian spy. LOL he definitely surprised me with his creativity- it was really funny in the moment!
- COORDINATING OUTFITS. We really enjoy matching and coordinating our outfits. This doesn’t mean you have to both wear blue or both wear white. We actually did our last session with Anton in all white and me in all black to show everyone who the ocd devil in our relationship is :). Yes, it’s me lol. And who mr. nice guy is aka Anton!
- BE HEALTHY THE WEEK OF YOUR SHOOT! Don’t do what I did and have a drink or two the night before. Unless you’re blessed with never getting puffy. It’s so not worth it. Then you have to do another shoot which means more money and time! You want to look your best for these special photos!
- GET YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER TO PHOTOGRAPH SILLY, NON POSES. Our photographer Monique is amazing! She gets us to laugh and dance and be ourselves. She gets me to relax (almost impossible!) and Anton to get even crazier than he usually is lol. As you’ll see she caught images of me pulling him around being bossy (what’s new haha). It made the entire experience that much better and the end result, perfectly us!
I’m only trying to strangle him in one of these photos haha! As you can see, we definitely fit a lot in. To me, it’s not just about the final outcome, it’s about the entire experience. As a guy it probably wasn’t Anton’s favorite thing to do but he really was a good sport. (I think he secretly loved the attention as you can see in a few of these photos lol…)
Keep it classy yet sassy guys! And always be REAL by staying true to yourself and the things you love most in life. That way, the smiles and poses will come naturally and look amazing in your photographs, for all to see!
Now get out there and take some silly photos during this month of LOVE.
Off to eat breakfast in bed- Anton is starting the month off RIGHT for sure! 🙂
xx Shanna