Wedding Update | Five Months Away

May we have a beautiful engagement session even if rain is a possibility in the forecast. May the afternoon and our session be fun and enjoyable and a way to remember where we are at in our lives. May we know how these images should be used and displayed in our lives.

As you can imagine, I have a love for photography. As a person who enjoys being behind the camera, I was so excited to get in front of the camera with Charles to document this season in our lives with an engagement session.

When I imagined our engagement session, I wanted it to capture the sweet and romantic and simple time in our lives that we are experiencing. One of the reasons we chose Catherine Guidry as our wedding photographer was the way she created beautiful and romantic images with her sessions. And that was exactly what she created with our session as well! 

Choosing a Location.

The first decisions we made for our engagement session were picking a date and choosing a location. When it came to picking a date, we expected our winter/spring to be pretty busy (think holidays and most of our days filled with Mardi Gras and final wedding decisions). So, we scheduled our engagement session in early November right before the holidays began.

Choosing the location for the session was the next decision. I spoke with Catherine about the type of location and session we pictured. Here is what we envisioned: an outside session with greenery and large oak trees. Our photographer sent over a few location spots to check out. One of the locations was Windrush Gardens in Baton Rouge. When I saw the options for scenery and the beauty of the space, I completely fell in love with the location. I checked with Charles to see what he thought about it. Once he was onboard, the decision was made.

Tips For Choosing Locations: Figure out what type of session you are picturing. Would you prefer indoors or outdoors? Would you prefer more flowers and greenery to the images (think more of a spring or summer session)? Would you prefer greenery or more of a city look (think a downtown location with buildings and streets in the images)? Think about creating a Pinterest board of engagement pictures that you love and look for commonalities among the pictures. If you are pinning a ton of outside images with similar colors/looks, it can help you narrow down what you love to see in your images.

Picking the Outfits. 

Just like choosing the right location, picking the right outfits can add to an image. Our photographer Catherine suggested we bring one dressy outfit and one casual outfit to the session. When I started shopping for outfits, my first thought was how to dress for the weather. If you know anything about Louisiana weather, it can be hold, cold, rainy, sunny, humid, all in one day. So, shopping for outfits to handle weather had its own challenges.

For the dressy outfit, I looked for a dress that was comfortable and flattering, nothing too busy (no crazy patterns or colors – that really isn’t my style), and a dress that I would wear again. Nordstrom is my go-to places these days to find dresses that I love. I ordered a few dresses online (around five dresses) and chose to keep two dresses once they had arrived.

The navy blue dress looked great against my pale skin tones, was such a comfortable dress to wear, and had a fun detail with the back zipper that I felt added a little something to the dress. In addition to that dress, I also brought a lace emerald green dress as an option as well. I felt the lace could bring texture to an image and the color complimented my eye and hair colors so well. I loved both dresses and left the decision up to Catherine as to what she thought would photograph best at our location. Since blue was a popular color in Charles’ closest as well, it was easy to pair the light blue button-down with khakis to match the navy dress.

Shopping for a casual outfit was more difficult that I imagined. From the beginning I wanted to incorporate the casual outfit with something different than jeans for me. I was not picturing another dress necessarily, but something different. I checked a few stores and had no such on finding something that I  loved. One afternoon about two weeks before the session I walked into Anthropologie and found what I was picturing.

I saw a pair of olive jeans with a patterned detail to the them. It was the perfect pair of different I imagined wearing. Along with those, I found a light pink pair of corduroys that I loved as well. I purchased both pairs o pants along with a sleeveless sweater, a white short-sleeved shirt, and a white long-sleeved shirt. I was prepared for any weather condition. I left the decision up to Catherine as to what she thought would photograph best at our location.

The olive green pants with a sleeveless sweater was the choice. Charles’ opted for one of his favorite shirts in a neutral color and comfortable jeans, which paired well together.

Tips for Choosing Outfit: Find something you and your significant other are comfortable wearing and love. I am personally of fan of neutral or soft colors, but if that isn’t your style go for something that you love!

We had a little bit of rain at the very end of our session, which led to some of my favorite images of that day. I love the images with us underneath the umbrella. Feel free to check out Catherine Guidry Photography here and a blog post about our session here.

The Recap. 

Accomplished Tasks:

– Pick a Florist. Done. I narrowed florist selections to two ladies that I scheduled meetings with to get to know and opted for the florist that matched the style of our wedding more.

– Meet with Bakery for Wedding/Groom Cakes. Done. An afternoon of cake tasting and dreaming up what we wanted to do for sweets was so much fun!

– Create the Wedding Registry. In progress.

Up Next:

– Pick and Order Wedding Invitations and Rehearsal Dinner Invitations.

– Bridal Shower Brainstorm.

XOXO – Ashley “AKA The Future Mrs. Hooker”

P.S. If you would love to read more of our wedding story, you can check out the post here, here, here, and here for more information! I love that you are following along with your story, and I am so excited you are here! THANK YOU for allowing me to share this with you!