That, however, took some training.
After visiting my DREAM reception venue I was ready to book and Andrew asks me, “Shouldn’t we look at other places?” EXCUSE ME?? What? I don’t understand, what do you mean other places? There are no other places! Shortly after that “mini” episode he quickly recanted and agreed that it was the best place out there and the perfect choice for us! Good boy, you get a treat now ;)
I received some great advice, from my boss as odd as it may be, about wedding planning. He said “Nicole, you are only as stressed as you want to be. Don’t waste your time worrying, just enjoy it.” Thank you boss!! I have done just that! I think stressing over a wedding mostly comes in the form of caring about everyone but the two most important people, the bride and the groom. I don’t apologize for my next statement, but I really just don’t care about anyone else. There I said it! I don’t care about anyone other than myself and Andrew! We are having the wedding of OUR dreams, no one else’s :) . That said, we are both pretty fortunate to have great parents that believe that very thing, this is about us, not them. So I really couldn’t ask for a better beginning to what will be a wonderful future.
Andrew and I had a great experience with our photographer at Giraffe Photography. The day we were taking out engagement pictures started off with a crazy Midwest spring storm…figures. My hair does not, I repeat…DOES NOT do well in a wet atmosphere. It begins to frizz and curl and before you know it, I have my own personal atmosphere around my head…annoying. Regardless, I was going to cancel and then, as if Jesus himself were looking down on me, the clouds parted and “out came the sun and dried up all the rain."
I raced home to prepare for the pictures! I broke out the liquid eyeliner (yes ladies, I mean business) and began the process of becoming beautiful. As a side note, I love being a girl. It is the most amazing feeling to look in the mirror and borderline scare yourself with a reflection and then BOOM 20 minutes later a Goddess is looking back at you….oh make up…my one true love…besides Andrew that is! Ok, make up done. Now on to my hair!
I have discovered the wonders of the curling wand. It’s a little tricky to get used to, but oh. My. Gosh it is amazing. I recommend it to anyone and everyone because it just gives the most natural looking perfectly placed curls every!
Once my hair was done, it was onto my outfit selection. Naturally, I went with a dark jean that looks great on pretty much everyone! Then for the top…what to do? I want to look cute and modern, but I don’t want to look back at these pictures in 20 years and be like “Cripes, Nicole! What were you thinking?” I went with a basic green (because I love green and look awesome in it! Yes I am that vain) button up shirt and a pale yellow cami underneath. There was however, a secret weapon involved that I will share with everyone loud and clear…SPANX! OK, I am by no means “large”, at least I don’t think I am, but I will admit that my mid section could use some…let’s say “toning.” Well ladies, Spanx will do the trick. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t have a miscellaneous roll hanging out in any picture, so Spanx to the rescue!
I was done in only 75 short minutes. Andrew got ready in 5…..
We headed down to a beautiful area to take pictures and had an interesting 20 minutes of photo taking. I always watched America’s Next Top Model and thought to myself “please, I can do that.” Ummmm, NO! It was extremely awkward and fast paced. “Move your chin to the side.. no the other side. Put your arm around him…don’t squint…look at Andrew….don’t look at Andrew….. turn this way… put your foot under there.” Geeez the whole “look natural but I am posing you” thing was a lot to grasp. Sure enough however, 20 minutes came and went and we left thinking “well those are going to look weird.” While Andrew and I clearly looked amazing that day (just stroking my ego a little) we weren’t quite sure how all the pictures were going to turn out.
Two weeks later, we went to view our pictures. WOW!! A-Freaking-MAZING!! This guy knows what he is going! I pretty much loved every single picture and could not have asked for a better photographer. Everyone who has seen the pictures loves them and I just love everything about them!! I have attached a few for everyone to take a look!
