Jennifer and Greg are perfectly-adorable and the consummate beach couple! Because they spend so much of their time on the beach and in the water, it’s only natural that they would choose Honey Moon Island in Dunedin, FL for their engagement session. Their beach photos are so fun–and a great snapshot into their relaxed and playful sides.

And we love that Jennifer couldn’t choose just one Save the Date–but four! I can’t say I blame her–their photos are fab!

Enjoy.

Wedding Style: We are going for a rustic beach wedding look. I want all the dresses to be very flow-y–nothing stiff or heavy. {I feel so lucky to have Pinterest in my life!}

Colors: Coral, Tan and Light Aqua/Teal.

Ceremony, Cocktail hour & Reception:
Our ceremony will be toes in the sand followed by cocktail hour on the grass under a gazebo overlooking the beach. The reception will be in the ball room at the Tradewinds Resort on St. Pete Beach, FL.

Photographer: Alicia Danene Photo–on Facebook.
Alicia is a friend of the family and she photographed us at Honey Moon Island in Dunedin, FL.  We had so much fun doing the shoot! Greg and I live on Indian Rocks Beach, FL so it was appropriate to have the shoot at a beach. We are ALWAYS in the water, beach cruising, surfing or hanging out at a local beach bar.

Beach Save the Dates: MagnetStreet Weddings
“I loved using Magnet street! I played on it for hours … I went on several sites and yours was the most user friendly and had the most options. I couldn’t just choose one style!!

Thanks Jennifer & Greg–for sharing your fun, engagement photos. We look forward to seeing rustic beach wedding style realized. And we couldn’t agree more–thank goodness for Pinterest!

Jennifer & Greg personalized these Save the Date Magnet designs:

top left: Devoted top right: Snapshot Sweetness

bottom left: Simply in Love  bottom right: Western Charm

Remember Danielle and Eric’s real wedding and the hurricane that took them by storm? Well, we simply could not pass up sharing their engagement session too … this time taking New York City by storm. This mega metropolis impromptu location couldn’t have played out more perfectly for documenting Danielle and Eric’s love story. Lights, camera, action–so much excitement and  loads of visual interest. Here’s Danielle to tell us about their session in the city that never sleeps, their fearless photographer and the rest of their unforgettable weekend.

Locations: Times Square, New York City … Morgan Park in Glen Cove, NY … Long Island, NY.
Photographer: Zac Thomas

“Our engagement shoot was so amazing!! After almost two years of going back and forth with Zac Thomas {who I initially found via a Facebook ad} about how amazing his photographs were and how different his work was from traditional engagement shoots, Eric finally popped the question. Zac was one of the first people I contacted upon being proposed to. I knew, even years prior, that I wanted him to capture our day. The engagement shoot was included as part of his package, as he uses it as a way to get to know the couple prior to the big day and get a feel for the kind of photos they are looking for at their actual wedding. He flew into New York and decided to stay in the city for the weekend–this was his first time.

The original plan was just to find a park or a beach that we could go to and get some shots that Saturday for our engagement shoot, but Zac emailed me as he landed in NY, “What are you guys up to after work? Why don’t you come meet me in the city and we’ll get some city shots tonight and do the park stuff tomorrow?” Well, we raced out of our 9-5’s and met him by 7PM, casually dressed, no frills, just out to take some pics in the city and get a feel for Zac’s photography. Needless to say, we all became fast friends.

Zac was literally laying down in the middle of Times Square, stopping traffic, just to get the shots he wanted. There wasn’t a cab driver in the city that was a fan of Zac that night!

We expected to have traditional city shots in front of notable buildings, since Zac was a tourist of New York–but we wound up in random staircases of restaurants, outside parking garages, and in front of random candy trucks.  Zac made it a point to go past a few barriers in Rockefeller Center to get a couple shots he wanted to! I have a theater background, so we stopped to take a few pics in front of one of the theaters I had worked in and used the parking garage attached to it as a “theater space” for photos–which wound up coming out amazing- so amazing. I actually used a few of them as head shots, eventually.

We also took a few shots in a random subway hallway, which to this day, I recognize every time we pass it in the city- it was a little grimy and disgusting, but the shots came out gorgeous!

We went back to the parking garage and he decided to take a bunch of shots of Eric and I in the elevator, as it was closing and got an amazing stream of shots of the doors closing.

As we drove Zac back to his hotel, he decided to take a shot of my ring in the back of Eric’s car … going full speed down the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and it managed to come out like he did it in a perfectly still room!

The next day, we did our shoot as planned, going to Morgan Park in Glen Cove, NY–which was always a special place for me to take photos as it has so much variety–as far as backgrounds go.

We finished up in Long Beach, New York and Zac even managed to get us to “go a little crazy” getting soaking wet in the ocean for some amazing shots!! We finished up by taking a picture on the very bench that we shared our first date, and that Eric eventually proposed to me on …

It really was an amazing experience and I really can’t say enough about Zac Thomas’ work!

Amazing indeed! Courageous, audacious … we love every urban and beach-y detail of this weekend-long engagement session! Congratulations to you all three of you on your fun, adventurous session! Interested in learning more about Zac Thomas? Well by all means, learn more about his fearless photography style here…

Congratulations Danielle & Eric!

xo

Happy May Day!

Today we’re featuring Elyse and Weston’s urban engagement photos. Their sweet session was taken at a studio in downtown Minneapolis and also at the infamous Stone Arch Bridge–an historic railroad bridge that spans the mighty Mississippi River. The Stone Arch Bridge is a special location for Elyse and Weston … because it’s where Weston proposed!

We love city engagement sessions–and how they capture the personality of not only the couple, but the city too. We also love Elyse’s gorgeous smile and the way she lights up when Weston looks at her! Enjoy!

Wedding style: classic, romantic, outdoor garden
Colors: Berry Blue and White
Photographer: Tracy Walsh, Poser Design
Saving the Date {September 15th, 2012}: MagnetStreet Weddings

“Best part of day was the joy of celebrating our engagement” Elyse

Vendor Shout Outs

Poser Design: Tracy Walsh of Poser Design
Tracy of Poser Design did an amazing job! She is incredibly talented, and she made us feel relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera. I would recommend her to anyone who is looking for a wedding photographer. Her work is exceptional.

{You can see all of this darling engagement session on their blog, right here!}

MagnetStreet: We LOVED MagnetStreet! The designs to choose from were so creative, and we loved personalizing our Save the Dates! It was fun and a wonderful way to formally announce our wedding to friends and family!

Congratulations on your engagement Elyse and Weston! Thanks for sharing your photos with us and we look forward to seeing your wedding photos next!

xo

We’re thrilled to bring you Katie and Jeremy’s mountain engagement session today. Shot by Miranda Coe, this e-session is sweet and spectacular–just like Katie and Jeremy. Surrounded by the beauty of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina’s high country, Katie gives us a glimpse into their wedding style and playful demeanor. Enjoy.

Wedding colors: Shades of purples and grays
E-session locale: the historical Moses Cone House off the Blue Ridge Parkway
Photographer: Miranda Coe Photography
Saving the Date {November 10, 2012}: MagnetStreet Weddings

About your engagement session:

It honestly came to together very quickly for us. Miranda, our photographer, is one of Jeremy’s good friends from college and she took our photos off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Boone, NC one afternoon.  My fiance went to grad school at Appalachian State and fell in love with the history, scenery and the cold weather up in the NC mountains!

We took a lot of our pictures at the historical Moses Cone house off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was absolutely freezing and actually started to SNOW during our photo shoot. We also took pictures on top of Thunder Mountain. The picture with the sunset is at the top of Thunder Mountain.

How would you describe your wedding style?

We’re getting married in the Catholic Church and we are both Southerners so our style is pretty conservative and traditional. However, we do like to have fun and dance. There will be a lot of fun to be had at the reception!

I’m never sure how to accurately describe my wedding style. I usually send people to my pinterest inspiration board when I’m asked this question. Feel free to draw your own conclusions after looking.

You and Jeremy seem to be having a lot of fun here:

This was also the same day UNC was completely crushed by Florida State in basketball. I am a HUGE UNC basketball fan and Jeremy has been a fan of Florida State since he was little. Needless to say, we ended up yelling and screaming (in a playful way) at each other once we found out the score of the game. The pictures where I’m tackling Jeremy from behind is when he was teasing me about the game.

“After about 50 kissing shots …”

We had a few other funny moments during our shoot. Every time I got close to Jeremy he would lean in for a kiss. Miranda would go with it and take a picture. After about 50 kissing pictures Jeremy looked at me and said, “I think we have too many kissing pictures!” Miranda and I just started laughing hysterically at this point since he finally realized what he was doing. He said he just couldn’t help himself!

Ice on ice …

At one point during the shoot I was too cold to smile so I went and sat in the car for 20 minutes to defrost. Jeremy and Miranda took my engagement ring for a few pictures. It felt so weird not to be wearing my ring even for 20 minutes! I wear it everywhere–shower, bed, gym–I just can’t take it off!

What are you most looking forward to on your wedding day?

Walking out of the church and into our reception hand-in-hand with my wonderful husband. It’s that moment I’m looking forward to the most–the moment of actually becoming husband and wife. I keep imagining myself thinking, “finally” and smiling ear-to-ear knowing I have just married the best man in the world.

Any advice you’d like to offer other planning brides?

Give your fiance a few things to be COMPLETELY in charge of. It will relieve some of your stress and also give your fiance a chance to truly feel involved. My fiance is in charge of our cake and honeymoon and he is enjoying every second of it! We actually decided that the cake would be a complete surprise for me on our wedding day and I can’t wait to see what he picked!

Vendor Shout-outs!

Miranda Coe Photography
Thank you so much for capturing our love in photos. You made an otherwise stressful day into a carefree, fun experience that we will never forget.

MagnetStreet Weddings
After toying with multiple wedding websites, I kept coming back to MagnetStreet to play with our Save the Dates. Their personalization tool really made everything so much easier. I even asked for the font to be enlarged more than the editor would allow and the design team made it happen. The magnets turned out great. We are extremely pleased with the quality of the images, the magnet itself and the way everything was packaged.

{Katie & Jeremy personalized Enchanted Encounter- large Save the Date Magnet}

Jeremy and Katie–thank you so much for sharing your mountainous engagement-escape with all of us! And, we can’t wait to hear about the cake and honeymoon plans Jeremy is dreaming up! You two are amazing.

Best of everything to you both!

xo