*SQUEE*

Our photographer has started uploading our engagement photos today. We haven’t sat down and looked at them all in detail, but we each skimmed through really quick while we were on the phone earlier. So what’s the verdict?

We love love LOVE them! They look so cool. I can’t wait to get the cd with the clean copies of the images next week. Once I have that, I’ll post some of our favorites, but here are a couple of teasers to get you through the holiday.

All images courtesy of Tammy Martines Photography.

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NEPA Groom and I were very excited to get our engagement pictures taken earlier this week! While we wait for our proofs to show up, I thought I’d compile some of the advice I collected before we went for the photos and some nuggets of wisdom we happened upon during our shoot in the hopes it helps you too.

1. Select places that fit your style. Some people thrive in the city, while others need wide open spaces. We don’t consider ourselves particularly urban. We’re not stereotypical ‘country’ either. We like big suburban back yards and camping trips that involve long hikes in the woods and lakes.
2. Bring ideas to the table. We sent our photographer, Tammy Martines, a handful of inspiration photos before the shoot. We also took a look at some of her other engagement shoots and told her what locations we liked the best. She’s the expert, and she did some incredible things with what we gave her, but she’s also not a mind reader. Throw some ideas out to your photographer. Even if they’re not totally concrete or polished, they can take that inspiration and make something great.
3. Be comfortable. Just because you look super hawt in 4 inch heels doesn’t mean you should wear them for your engagement shoot. If you’re a t-shirt and jeans kind of person, stick with what you know. If you don’t recognize yourself in the mirror before you leave the house, you’re not going to recognize yourself in your photos.
4. Dress for the weather. It was a bit chilly for our shoot, so we skipped the short sleeves and went for sweaters. Bring a jacket and an umbrella in case you need it. You never know what you’ll encounter on the day of!
5. Be open to new ideas. You might find good opportunities for pictures where you least expect them. If your photographer suggests some jumping shots, go for it! What’s the worst that happens? You hate ‘em? Don’t show them to anyone!
6. Laugh! You’re getting married. Be happy.
7. Be Yourself. What are you and your finance’s passions? Is he a guitar player? Do you paint? Don’t be afraid of bringing some props with you! You’ll end up with some fun pictures that will be uniquely you.

What kind of tips do you have for an engagement photo shoot? Has anyone else done one lately?

I know, I know. In my last post I was leaning towards not attending the NEPA Bridal Expo this past Sunday. And then I went anyway. Some of my bridesmaids strong-armed gently talked me into attending. Aaaand…… I didn’t really have the urge to set the building on fire. Woo hoo!

As you might expect, bridal expos in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area are not huge affairs. Since I didn’t need to visit the venue, photographer or florist booths, we managed to speak with everyone in about an hour. If you were just getting started, I imagine you could spend about 2 hours browsing. Bridesmaid L and I wandered around for an hour (and THANK YOU for going with me) and then hit Dunkin Donuts for a recap afterwards. I purposely went sans-mothers for sanity reasons, though I may take them to the next expo just to give them the experience.

On the plus side, none of the vendors were too pushy. I got the information I needed and signed up for more updates from those I was truly interested in. One ‘registry’ type vendor has been pushy after the fact though.. they called me twice on Monday! I haven’t even looked at their website yet! It might be worth it to put down fake phone numbers for all the vendors if you attend an expo.

On the negative side, the crowd got a little overwhelming at one point. The hot lights and the stereotypical “bridezillas” crowding around the photo booth in the back made me break out in a sweat, but that’s when we walked away and had a piece of cake.

On the ridiculous side, I saw a local DJ who is on air a lot, but also has a wedding business. He was walking in at the same time as me and the best way I can describe him is what I texted to BM E – he looked like a guy who is pushing 50, wearing a jacket straight out of Star Wars, and t-shirt that Ed Hardy personally threw up on. The cloud of his cologne wafted back and almost knocked me into the street! Yuck!

Once I check out some vendor sites I will gladly post my thoughts here. I just wanted to let everyone know how it went. Bridal expos are ok, I guess. If you haven’t gotten far in the planning, I think you will benefit a lot from the ideas you find there, so give it a shot! Did anyone else attend this weekend?

Dear readers, I’m torn. The 2009 Northeast PA Bridal Expo is taking place next Sunday. I missed the first round up in Scranton last month due to some illness, so this is my last chance to go. By this time next year we’ll all be singing The Final Countdown and the last thing I’ll want is to go look at bridal accessories that it’s too late for me to buy/make/lust over.

Here are my pros and cons on the show:

Pros

• The chance to win some free stuffs
• A bridal fashion show. I have yet to look at a single wedding dress in person
• I can check out vendors for some of the smaller things we might like, such as transportation, wedding party gifts, decoration

Cons

• There’s only one DJ there, which is the one biggie we really need
• NEPA Bride does not like a crowd. At all.
• We don’t need a baker, florist, reception venue or ceremony location.
• We don’t need crazy favors for everyone since we’ll have the candy buffet.
• It’s on Sunday. I need to be watching the football. Srsly.

So, what do you guys think? I know what way I’m leaning but I’d appreciate any more pros or cons you can add. Thanks!

*giggle*

I was out walking the Barnster yesterday and when he stopped for a rest, three neighborhood kids came over to pet him.

They started asking me all kinds of crazy questions:

“Where did you get your glasses?”

“I like your flipflops… oh what kind of nail polish is that?”

“Are you married? Do you have kids? Oh no, you just have a dog?”

“You’re getting married?!?!? Is that your ring? Can we see?”

“WOW. That’s nice. Oh man, you could sell that some day and get a lot of money!”

Um, thanks for the advice but I don’t think NEPA Groom will be very pleased.

I forgot to post about this last week, but I’m excited to announce that the NEPA Bride & NEPA Groom proposal story was featured over at A Blog Of Her Own. Shaba has been collecting proposal stories and sharing them on her blog. I love reading other proposal stories and getting a peek into the special moments between other couples. 

So thank you Shaba for sharing my story!! Go check it out guys!

I saw this today and I was really excited. Shaba at A Blog Of Her Own has decided to start organizing and sharing proposal stories from across the web. How cute is that?? I love reading the stories, just like I love telling my story. Isn’t that the first thing everyone asks when you get engaged: “How did he do it?”

I posted the day we got engaged, but I never really shared the whole story here. FH and I had been talking seriously about marriage for about 6 months. We had gone ring shopping a few times and I had picked out what I wanted. Then I waited for him to save up. We had some ups and downs in that time, cause I was impatient and so was he but he did a better job of dealing with it than me. We went and put the money down and then I waited some more. I spent every second primping just in case ‘today’s the day’.

He came over my house one night and I could tell he was really fired up about something. I was in the back yard playing with my dog when he came over, and as I hugged him hello I felt something in his coat… it turns out it was the ring box!

We came inside, and we were just hanging out, watching tv in my bedroom for a while. I’d been having some headaches and neck problems, so he was being a good boyfriend – giving me a neck rub. All of a sudden, he says – I’ll be right back, and goes out to the living room (I live with my parents) and I hear him talking with them, for a while. So yeah, I was thinking – OH SNAP THIS IS IT! He’s asking their blessing, IN THE NEXT ROOM! I knew he wanted to tell them before hand, but I thought he might, you know, do it when I wasn’t there, haha.

Sure enough, he came back in and got on one knee with the ring. I totally flipped out and started hugging him and crying on him before he could even say anything. He already knew my answer. It turns out he had picked up the ring that day, took it home and tried to think of how he wanted to give it to me. In the end, he was so excited he couldn’t wait and gave it to me as soon as he could. We’d waited so long that he couldn’t take it any longer!

So there you have it. Short and sweet. Now it’s time to share yours.

Ok, ok, I know – I said “tweeple”. But that’s what you call them on Twitter. I swear!

Twitter has been a great source of wedding info for me over the past couple of weeks – when it’s not being all fail whale

People tweet about contests and giveaways and I’m finding there’s a LOT more out there than I thought. I might have missed a lot of them if it wasn’t for their tweets. So without further ado, here are some of my favorite wedding peeps over on Twitter:

@wedshare – offers some good advice and links to some interesting articles. Stuff outside of the ‘how to make your own paper flower pomanders’ variety.

@MarthaStewart – mmm Martha. All things crafty and wonderful. You already know the deal.

@WeddingWire – they tweet a lot about special sales and promos when they hear about them. Important stuff for brides on a budget.

@WeddingPaprDiva – they make glorious invitations that will one day be mine. Yes, yes they will.

@themanregistry – cause you know we gotsta have a little sumthin for the boyz. Ye-eah.

@weddingbee – my obsession. I can’t deny the bee love. A lot of the current bee bloggers also have twitter accounts. Take a look at who Mrs. Penguin is following here and you’ll figure it out!

It’s been a rough time for FH’s family right now. His niece was born extremely premature and while she’s slowly getting stronger and healthier, the last few months have been tough. So tough, at one point we weren’t sure if we should get engaged right now. After thinking it through, we realized it would take a while to get to the actual wedding part of it and it’s likely his niece would be doing much better. We also realized it might be nice to have some good news to share for a change.

Since getting engaged a few weeks ago, we haven’t really done much planning. At first, I think it’s nice to just letting the whole thing sink in. We only get to be engaged once, and I’ve had a lot of fun telling all my friends and getting used to saying “my fiance”.

We broached the topic with FMIL last night, and she thought our time line for planning was a good one, and she offered to visit places with us if we wanted. While I’m ready to move forward on this with just FH if need be, it’s nice to know we have that support and that his mom is understanding even while things are tough. So now I just need to make a list of NEPA wedding venues to call!

Did anyone else ever have family health issues or drama delay their wedding planning?

I got a cute engagement gift last week from a girl at work. As she said, it’s totally useless but I love it anyway. It’s called the “2 carat cup” and I bet you can guess why:

She picked it up at Starbucks, but it looks like you can get it on Amazon, among other places. It’s a cute gift for brides to be and it beats the normal cliché wedding/engagement gifts.

Have you gotten any unexpected gifts after getting engaged?