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!

Photo Booths

Photos are a huge deal to me, growing up I had an entire wall in my bedroom covered in photos I had taken.  Before digital cameras I would save up my money to buy film and then to have the pictures developed, often opting for the more expensive option of an hours processing because I was too impatient to wait 24 hours.
I love taking pictures (especially with my new camera) and I love to be surrounded my pictures of people and places I love.

Picking our wedding photographer, as I'm sure you can imagine, was a major job for us.  Luckily Has and I were on the same page when it came how we wanted our wedding to be captured.  We are confident that the photographer we have chosen, Deborah Stott, will match if not beat our expectations.

We want to place disposable cameras on each of our dining tables for our guests to take their own candid shots of the day.  (There are a few taken on Suzie's wedding day that make me look naked!  Not intended I can assure you, let's hope they never make it on Facebook!)
Having spoken to friends who did this a lot of photos end up being either unusable (turn the flash on!) not printable (Who does that belong to!) or of very similar things (I believe Suzie has around 12 photos of the lamb shank we all ate for our main course!)  But some of them really do turn out good.  People pull funny faces or poses because they know they don't have to be on their best behaviour, it's not like when the professional photographer is shooting you, disposable cameras give you the licence to be silly.  That's what I want!

So how do you get good quality silly and fun photographs of your guests?  No. I don't mean plying them with alcohol, although I'm sure that helps!  I'm talking about a photo booth.

People "in the know" are predicting photo booths as the big trend of 2010 and I can see why.  A private space for your guests to leave you with a funny reminder of them on your day.  Most packages come with the option of your guests being able to print two sets.  One they can keep and another for them to stick in your guest book along with a note.  It's such a simple yet great idea!

Photo from Jasmine Star

Of course these don't come cheap, the cheapest quote I've found so far is around £500 for 3 hours. Yikes!  A definite on our "nice to have" list!

Of course there is always the do it yourself approach.  You'd need to ask your photographer or friend if they mind helping out but the results can be fabulous!

Photo from Ben Godkin

These photos from Emma Case prove my point.

Fantastic!!

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!

Jenny Sun

I've gone on before about my Google Reader (a few times) but it really does help me keep track of the hundreds of blogs I read.  I follow a mixed bag of blogs; weddings, home design, crafts and baking but one of my favourite types of blogs is a photographers blog.

One I love in particular is Jenny Sun  She's taking a little break at the moment but she has been posting pictures from her travels.  Her photos from New York are something else!  They capture everything I love about New York.

For more pictures and to read her blog posts about New York, click here and here

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!"

Friday's Photo

A little bit different this week, but I realised that I haven't really said enough about our photographer.  So for this week's Friday's Photo I'm showcasing the amazing work of Deborah Stott

Happy Weekend x

All photos are property of Deborah Stott

Posing in the Puddles

Getting married in November means our chance of a shower or two are quite high! Instead of panicking about something I can’t control I’m going to roll with it.

Some of the best photo’s I’ve seen are when it rains on a wedding day. They are full of drama and romance.


I plan on buying a pair of funky purple wellies to put on for some photos outside, and maybe a cute umbrella to match! Something like this

Top Left, Top Right
Bottom Left, Bottom Right

Nailcote Hall has fabulous gardens and I intend to make the most of them! So unless we have hurricane force winds with torrential rain I shall be out there posing in the puddles!

Say Cheese!! ... But no Macarena!

Photographer

After the venue our next priority was the photographer, we wanted to make sure every special second of our day was captured by someone who had an eye for detail. Both Has and I like the reportage style of photography, we want our photos to be natural and not too posed. We feel these types of pictures always come out best as people are more relaxed.

We saw a few people who we were almost happy with, none of the companies we saw seemed to offer the right package. We wanted two photographers, a CD with all of our high resolution photos, a pre-engagement shoot and all in at the right price!

I’d found a website of a lady in Staffordshire whose photos I adored. Her prices weren’t on her website so I sent off for a brochure. It came with a DVD of photos she had taken at a recent wedding. We were all really impressed and decided to arrange a meeting with Deborah Stott. Deborah is everything Has and I wanted in a photographer. On the day we will have reportage style photography by 2 photographers, who will both be there from the moment we start getting ready right up to the evening to capture the first dance. We will also get a CD with all of our high resolution pictures and a pre engagement wedding shoot. Her work can be found at her website www.stottweddings.com/ and I am constantly checking her blog for any new weddings she’s photographed! stottweddings.blogspot.com

Music

Another important element of our wedding was the entertainment. We’d always said we wanted a live band. The idea of a cheesy DJ blasting out inappropriate tunes like “Young Hearts Run Free” or songs with their own dances like the “Macarena”, sent shivers down our spine! Don’t get us wrong a little bit of cheese is a good thing, but we’re talking about classic cheese like “God gave Rock ‘n Roll to you” by Kiss!

The Subterraneans had played at various family and friends weddings and knew Has’ brother Mos quite well from the days he used to book them to play at the Slug and Lettuce. The Subterraneans are now regulars at Birmingham’s Jam House and have had rather impressive slots at Glastonbury, the Ashes and the LG Arena. We are super excited about having them perform at our wedding we know no one will be stuck to their seats once they start playing!