Trendy Not Spendy

So many wedding details, so little time. Words cannot explain how much work goes into planning a wedding. There are more details than one can imagine. When Eric and I first got engaged we told ourselves we’d skip engagement photos. Agh sigh of relief. No cheesy, corny, doe eyed pics. Well… that didn’t last long.

A year after being engaged we decided to pull the trigger after all. It probably would have been smart to come up with this conclusion during the Spring and Summer months. Nope, we waited untill Winter and got stuck with the coldest day NYC has had so far. It was my goal to think outside the box when it came for choosing engagement shoot locations. We went with one of our favorite restaurants, neighborhoods, and street art in LES and Nolita.

We were fortunate not only to have great shooting locations but to have an amazing photographer. We worked with our friend Lauren from Lauren Kara Photography. Lauren has an eye to see a photograph in her head before the shutter is pressed. This is a gift that is only self taught. Like I said in the beginning, we wanted to avoid corny and cheesy as much as possible. Lauren was wonderful at capturing the candids. She was a good sport too. At the beginning of the shoot Eric and I were bumping heads. Trust me there were no butterflies and sparkles here. But, Lauren made the process so natural and comfortable and put us at ease. If anything she got a good laugh from us bickering.

We started our morning shooting outside this adorable NYC restaurant Freemans. Lauren was able to snag some amazing pictures in front of my favorite blue door and the love wall painted in the alley. It was the perfect back drop for Stop 1.

Our next stop was The Cupcake Bake Shop in Nolita. As I mentioned it was freezing cold and jackets were a must. We did not mean to color coordinate our winter puffy jackets and take pics with them on, but Lauren was able to snag some super cute pics in our puffers. I must say, fabulous idea on her part. She took some of my favorite pictures in these jackets.

As much as we wanted to keep those jackets on it was time to take them off to take pictures on the side of The Cupcake Bake shop mural. I love this mural. The combination of bright colors and hearts were fun to shoot in front of. I highly recommend this mural for photoshoots.  

At this point we would barely feel our hands and still had one more stop for the shoot. A month ago I saw this man painting this geometric mural on the outside wall of Rag & Bone. I knew instantly I wanted to take pictures here.

This picture below is one of my favorite pictures Lauren capture. It was in the moment and candid. We just found out the shoot was over and we could finally grab a much deserved cocktail. Yah, no…those aren’t “I love You” smiles and giggles. Those are lets get a god damn drink now smiles.

Just as any couple Eric and I have a lot of similarites and some differences. Loving each other for our commonalities and unique hobbies is what makes us a strong couple. I’m a blogger and sometimes being an Instagram Husband isn’t always easy. Btw….if you haven’t seen that YouTube video please watch it. I wanted to get some funny pictures in so we took a couple shots mocking how he has to put up with my Basic Bitch and Insta obsessions. 

Hey now, let’s not let him off that easy. I have to put up with his obsessive love for sports. We had to take pictures at our favorite NYC sports bar of course. We owed it to the bar considering we where at Finnerty’s three damn days a week when the Warriors were in the playoffs. Arg…what can you do.

I have to give Lauren @ Lauren Kara Photography a huge THANK YOU! You were a gem to work with. Not to mention you are a ninja with the camera. Getting the pictures back was one of the most exciting moments. The color, clarity, exposure, and composition were incredible.

Looks like this sums up the engagement shoot. Now onto Save The Dates!