Pre-Wedding Shoot

We've booked it!! On July 4th we'll be striking poses all over Nailcote Hall!

I contacted Deborah Stott this week to see how she was and to find out when we were due to speak with her next and she offered us a few dates to choose from for our engagement/pre-wedding shoot.

Excited much?!

Obviously now I have less time to think about what I'm going to wear, how I'm going to have my hair and what, if any props am I going to take?!

We started talking about it last night and I said I really want this shoot to be about us.  If Has wants to wear a Metallica T-shirt then he should, because that's him!  We laughed about how we should take our patch jackets or our American Football shirts for a few fun photos.

I still really want to have a bouquet of tulips and to take a blanket for us to have a few pictures on.

Source

I also thought it would be really cute for us to bake and decorate a few cupcakes, not only can they feature in our pictures but we can eat them afterwards! Yum!  With the blanket it could almost look like a picnic.

Source

Although the shoot is happening in what is supposed to be the height of summer you really can't trust the British weather, knowing our luck it'll be rainy and drizzly.  I thought it might be a good idea to get a large colourful umbrella just in case!  Plus it can make for some gorgeous pictures.

Source

Expect many "What do you think of this dress?" and "How should I have my hair" posts from me over the next few weeks!

Engagement Shoot Style

I've had a couple of ideas for our engagement shoot.

I'd love to be able to carry a small bouquet of tulips in some photos.  They are my favourite flower and seeing as I can't afford to include them in the wedding it would be nice to have a few shots of them.

Grey Likes Weddings

Jenny Sun

Green Wedding Shoes

My other thought was related to our "Thank You" cards.  We won't have the opportunity to write these out before we go on honeymoon, so I wanted to prepare as much as I could for when we get back.  We'll be away for 3 weeks and I don't want to leave people too long without a proper thank you.

I have been thinking about having a few photos taken during our shoot specifically for our "Thank You" cards  so I can make these us ready for us to write out when we get back.  I love the idea of having the words "Thank You" written out and held by us.  Something like this...

Kiss the Groom

It's really different and cute!  As chalkboards seem to be featuring quite heavily in our wedding, I had thought about using the boards we are having for our menus.

We can also have a lot of fun with other different messages

Polka Dot Bride

Ruffled

Ruffled

Cute!

Before I knew...

I love asking Has question about how he planned to propose, maybe it's because I'm a details person or just because I'm nosey but I seriously can not get enough of these stories.

From very early on in our relationship we had spoken about marriage and I'd always said I wanted Has to ask my parents for their permission.  It wasn't because we needed their approval, but it's one of the old fashioned traditions I really loved.  I also think my Dad would have been disappointed if he hadn't have been asked.  My parents knew that I wanted Has to ask them, and would often joke with Has how they would only agree if Has was wearing an Aston Villa Football shirt.  Has is an avid Birmingham City supporter.  (If you don't know about football, these teams are serious rivals!)  It's a good job Has and my parents get on so well else there may not have been a proposal!

Me and Has with my parents

He told me he remembers the exact moment he knew he wanted to propose.  Early July 2008 he went to see Morrissey with his brother, he told his brother, Taz, there that he was planning on doing it.  Later that month
my cousin got married. Whilst I was preoccupied helping Alison get ready, Has took my parents aside and said something along the lines of "I'm not wearing a Villa shirt, but....!"  Obviously my parents were shocked and over joyed!  I seriously do not know how they kept it a secret for 2 months!

My Mom and Has had figured out that my ring finger was the same size as my Mom's little finger.  Without my knowledge she had to go to a jewellers to get it measured and relay that information to Has!  Sneaky!  Has knew the type of styles I liked for an engagement ring but I have to say he did such an amazing job picking out my ring.  I couldn't be happier with it.

My "Oh I'm just posing, what's that you ask?  Just my ROCK!" pose

The day before we were due to fly to Las Vegas, we had to drive down to Heathrow as our flight left very early morning.  Before setting out on the journey we decided it would be a good idea to grab something to eat so I popped out to MacDonald's to pick us up some fast food.  Little did I know Has was showing my Mom the ring and making sure it fit her little finger!

I could listen to these tales again and again, I love knowing the details and how (practically) everyone knew and was in on the surprise before I was!
The day we got to Las Vegas I rang my parents to say we had arrived safely and rambled on about how gorgeous and hot it was... meanwhile 5235 miles away my parents and brother were huddled around the phone expecting me to shout "We're engaged!"   I saved that for 5am the next morning!

It was such an important few months in the run up to one of the most significant moments of my life and I almost resent not being part of it (My control freak side coming out!)  Saying that I'm glad it came as a surprise, and I wouldn't change a single part of it for anything.

Engagement Shoot

As part of our photography package with Deborah Stott we have an engagement shoot.  It's so Deborah can get to know us better and us her.  It's also to allow Has and I to feel more comfortable posing for the camera so we don't end up with awkward wedding day photos.

Quite a lot of photographers are now including this in the wedding day package and it was something that we really wanted to do.  Neither of us feel 100% comfortable in front of the camera, so it will be a nice way for us to relax into being the centre of attention before the big day.

from Shannon Nicole Smith

Where?
When we first spoke to Deborah she told us it was completely our decision.  Some couples choose to have their shoot at their venue and others pick a place that means a lot to them.
It would be nice to have it at Nailcote Hall, we could have a good wander around the grounds, they have quite a famous golf course, although I'm not sure how many photos we'd get away with before an angry golfer told us off!  It would be ideal as Deborah could become familiar with our venue and the grounds before the wedding.  On the other hand, we'll have plenty of photos of us at Nailcote from the wedding day, so I've been trying to think of an alternate place.  Other than flying us all out to New York for the weekend I can't really think of another place that is special to us both.

From Kyle Hale via Green Wedding Shoes

When?

I'm not entirely sure when or where our shoot will take place.   I would like our shoot to be towards the end of the summer, early autumn.  Our wedding day will be cold, so it would be nice if the engagement photographs looked a little warmer, plus I don't really want to be wearing a coat, hopefully I'll be wearing a cute summer dress and cardigan!  (Although these photos in the snow are so cute!)

From Rebekah Westover via Ruffled

Should we take props?

Some of the engagement shoots I've seen floating around blog land have the couples posing with a few props, such as balloons, picnics, old record players and food, like cupcakes!  I think this will probably depend on where we end up having the shoot, but I think it would be nice for us to take a few things along, I think props can help relax you into the photo shoot.  That was definitely true for me when I had photos taken for Suzie's hen party.  It was much easier to fool around with a sword or telescope than have to think about what to do.

From Shannon Nicole Smith via Rock 'n Roll Bride

More and more engagement shoots are cropping up in my Google Reader and I keep saving them so I'll have plenty of inspiration for when it's our turn.

In fact I'm going to admit to being really cheesy... Has and I have a large mirror above our dresser.  It's where I spend most of the evening, crafting or blogging, so whenever Has comes over to give me a cuddle or a kiss I look up in the mirror at our reflection and say "That would make a cute engagement shoot pose!"

Facebook and Google are Engaged!

Dave Morin (Senior Platform Manager at Facebook) proposed to Brittany Bohnet (Product Marketing Manager at Google) whilst on a 2 week holiday in the Maldives.

Taking her up in a sea plane, he surprised her with this message written out in coconuts!

Love it!

So romantic! 

Photos are from Dave Morin's Flickr, details from Green Wedding Shoes

Sweet Dreams

I've mentioned it before but our family and friends were super generous when we got engaged.  We were given a lot of gift vouchers and it was my intention to keep them until we moved into our house together.  However, we desperately needed a new duvet.

I didn't realise how bad it was until I spent 4 weeks sleeping in my old bed with my nice fluffy duvet only to come back and sleep under our waffer thin sheet!

I used our Marks and Spencer voucher today to buy us a 13.5 tog dreamy duvet.  Oh it's so comfy!

Tonight should be interesting, I already have enough trouble with Has hogging the covers what's he going to be like now we have a dreamy duvet!?

We've been engaged a year!!

This time last year we were in Las Vegas and Has was a bag of nerves!!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone! Only 408 days to go!!

Engagement Party

When we got back from Las Vegas the world of weddings hit me. I struggled to get my head around how we were going to plan a wedding. I barely knew where to start! It was a little overwhelming to say the least! We decided to throw an engagement party. We thought it would help us get into organisation mode and seeing as our wedding was still over 2 years away we thought it would be a nice way to introduce members of our families to each other.

So we searched for a small function hall that was available in November. My Nan and Grandad came up trumps with the hall at their British Legion. Obviously the décor was a little dated but we couldn’t afford a lot more. To save more money we planned to supply the food ourselves as well as the music.

Together with my Uncle Tony, Has worked out he could hook up his laptop to some speakers and light system and hey presto! Music sorted! Has spent about 2 months working on a playlist choosing music everyone would like and dance too without straying too far from the tunes we like.

The morning of the party me and Mom met Hayley in Asda for some last minute food shopping, we then raced over to the cake shop to pick up the icing decoration to sit on top of our cake. I left to have my hair done whilst Mom and Hayley headed over to my Nan’s house where we had an army of spreaders, cutters, sandwich fillers and cheese and pineapple stabbers!

Once the food had been sorted it was then a mad dash to get ready before heading over to the hall to lay out the food and set up the music. From then on in the night was a blur! I barely saw Has, I was running around all night making sure I had said hello to everyone, introduced family to people they didn’t know and before I knew it people were saying goodbye and my mom was clearing the food away… I hadn’t touched a bite!!

The night was so much fun, our friends and family were so generous and we received so many beautiful cards and presents! I am so glad we decided to have an engagement party, not only did it give everyone chance to get to know each other it’s also given me a heads up as to how the wedding will be. Has and I barely saw each other, in fact there is only 1 photo of us together and that was at the start of the evening before everyone had come!

Here are a few snaps from our party

The beginning

Has and I have been together now for almost 8 years, we met back in college and soon became best friends. We spent most of our college years in Starbucks, talking about everything and anything.

Despite seeing other people Has and I always seemed to have a connection. It wasn't until our second year of college that we both realised our friendship was growing into something more.

I was nervous about entering into a relationship, I was scared that if it didn't work out between us then I would lose my best friend. Has reassured me that no matter what happened between us we would always be best friends because we were meant to be together. So there on the 8th November 2001 our relationship took on a new meaning.

Fast forward 7 years Has and I took a trip to Las Vegas. I had no idea he was planning to propose and was actually incredibly difficult! He wanted to eat in a nice restaurant and me being the fussy eater I am couldn't make up my mind and suggested a fast food style restaurant! Oops! We finally settled on the Shanghai Lilly, a very posh Chinese restaurant at the Mandalay Bay Hotel where we were staying.

Dressed up to the nines, we ordered very strong long island iced teas, I couldn't drink all of mine so Has kept taking sips so not to waste it. When Has started to get out of his seat to get down on one knee, I thought he was drunk! I couldn't believe the man I loved was on his knee proposing to me! Of course I said yes, and we both tearfully rang our parents (it was 5am UK time!) my parents already knew because Has had asked them for their permission, which i know meant a lot to them.

Our room at the Mandalay Bay over looked the pool area which had a stage in the middle. That night they had a tribute act playing. We stood at our window whilst they played "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. I will never forget that moment, wrapped in the arms of the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, with a smile from ear to ear. I was happy. It was perfect