Engagement Shoot- Beverly Hills Photography

We booked a photographer for the wedding- Beverly Hills Photography!  They were on Disney's recommended vendor list and because they work so much with Disney, they actually have employee badges/passes for Disneyland!  They know the Disney wedding venues so well it made us feel confident they were the right photographers for us!
Lucky for us when we booked them they had a limited time deal where you get a complimentary engagement shoot after booking them for your wedding. We hadn't planned on getting a professional engagement shoot since we were happy with the photos we used for our Save the Dates but we weren't going to turn one down!  I'm really happy we were able to do one because it gave us a chance to get to know our photographer and a chance to see how their photos of us look!
I'm happy to report that we loved having them do our shoot and the pictures they took!  We picked Disneyland as our location for the shoot and although we had only a little more than an hour with them, we got many great photos!
Here are a few of my many favorites!

 

 

 

Dress Story- Part 2

I'm sorry it's taken so long to finish my dress story!  As the wedding gets closer, my schedule gets busier.
(To read the first part of the story, take a look at my previous post:  Dress Story- Part 1.)
After trying on dresses in California, I went to Texas to try some of my favorites with my family.  First we went to David's Bridal and I tried on some of the ones I liked there.  My family liked the same dresses I did but there wasn't one that everyone had a big reaction too.
The next day we went to Alfred Angelo after a trip to Build-A-Bear where my youngest sister got a new lamb.  The lamb went with us to shop for dresses!

At Alfred Angelo I was able to try on the Ariel and Snow White Disney dresses.  Ariel was a very beautiful dress with a lot of detail!  I liked it but it was a little too hard for me to walk in. I really liked the Snow White dress though and it became a fave.

Top- Ariel, Bottom- Snow White

I must add that at this Alfred Angelo I was paired with an awesome dress consultant.  She was so helpful and really went out of her way to make the whole dress shopping experience a special one!  She even played with my little sister's lamb and let my sister try on a big tiara!
After a couple more dresses I tried on my favorite dress from my previous visit to the California Alfred Angelo for my family to see. This was the one everyone seemed to love!  It is not a Disney dress but looks a lot like Belle's ballgown dress from Beauty and the Beast.  I tried on a few more dresses afterwards but everyone in my family seemed to agree that the Belle-like dress was the one.  I tried it on one more time and then we looked at veils and tiaras.  I ended up picking a tiara my youngest sister picked out.  I love the tiara even more because of that!
So my dress is picked out and that big decision is done! I'm not posting a picture of it because I want it to be a surprise for the wedding guests.  I'll be getting my dress in the mail in July.  I can't wait!

Dress Story- Part 1

So a couple weeks ago I finally ordered my dress!  It's sort of a long story but I will try to summarize it the best I can.
You can read about some issues I had with getting myself to dress shop here:
Where's the time gone and Wedding Dress Blues

What I ended up doing was I decided I would go to a few dress stores in California to get an idea on what I like and then I would go to Texas for a weekend to make my final choice with my family.  The few weeks went by quick but in the end I got my dress!

The first shop I went to was David's Bridal.  I was a little nervous that they would be pushy but luckily the dress consultant I was paired with was really nice and not pushy at all!  I took Jared with me because I really don't mind if he sees the dress beforehand.  He's always really helpful when we go shopping so I wanted him to be there.
I had Jared armed with both my phone and my camera for him to take photos.  He texted pictures of the dresses to my family as I tried them on.  The photos he took on my other camera I emailed to my family later that day.  It ended up working out pretty well!
The dress consultant was great- she let me try on every single dress on my list and gave me some space after I tried on each dress so that Jared could take pictures and I could get a feel for the dress.  It was a really nice experience!  There was even a dress I liked there.

Our next stop in California was an Alfred Angelo.  Here I was able to try a few of the Disney dresses- Belle and Cinderella.  I really liked these but the Cinderella dress was a bit too puffy for me and the Belle dress felt heavy.  They were beautiful dresses and so much fun to try on but they were not quite me.

This dress was beautiful but wasn't the one for me.

I did try on another dress that I really liked that actually reminded me of Belle even though it wasn't a Disney dress.  I thought it was the one but unfortunately the consultant I had was putting a little too much pressure on me to purchase it right away.  She got me to the counter to check out and place my order but I froze and told her I wanted to wait.  I'm very glad I did!
Those were the two places I went to in California.  The next two places I went to were in Texas.  I will tell this part of the story in my next post so stay tuned!