Misunderstanding can be a good thing!

If you recall (or don't, but that's okay), I exchanged the engagement session of our photography package with a boudoir session. You see, when I Wikipedia-ed "boudoir", the definition was "a lady's private bedroom, sitting room or dressing room." I thought it meant the photographers were coming in a lil early the day of the wedding to capture me getting ready because the package only included 8 hours. Perfect! I'd love to have pictures capturing the moments of putting on makeup, the girls/guys laughing with excitement, etc. Enter the increasing popularity of boudoir shoots on Weddingbee. Hrm... This is interesting. Girls taking pin up girl pictures in their lingerie or with the classy illusion of them being naked.

Uh oh.

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What did I sign up for?!

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So I went back to Wikipedia only to realize I failed to scroll down to where an explanation of what a boudoir is in relation to photography - "...create a set of sensual images for women in "boudoir style". This often takes the shape of partly clothed images or images in lingerie, and has become more than just a passing fad for brides to surprise their future husbands." *face palm*

Okay. Breathe Alice. Just. Breathe. Oh who am I kidding! I totally panicked. Sheltered, conservative me just signed up for a risque photoshoot with 2 GUY photographers. *gulp* Then, I saw the light as I was browsing through more boudoir photos. It doesn't have to be all sensual. They can be fun and light hearted.

Above two photos are from Stacy Reeve's Racy

Steeve's Portfolio

I could do this. This could be fun. I'll be out of my element, but I think this would be a great gift for the hubby and a great workout motivation for me. I quickly texted my MOH and seeked advice. She's likes to call herself, um, "fashion forward". I'll leave that up for your own interpretation. So she gave me some makeup pointers (since I wear none) and what type of lingerie, accessories, and shoes I should start shopping for.

The morning of the shoot, I showered, put my makeup on (false lashes and all! Aren't you impressed??) and attempted to curl my hair a la Kim Kardashian.

Love her curls!! I. Want.

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Only to give myself a nasty burn. on the neck. Awesome.

That's what mine looked like. Sigh.

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Just in case you forgot, it's a boudoir shoot. As in, I'm just wearing a bra and panties. Just. Great. On the brink of tears, I texted Jamie, one of the photographers, of my horrible predicament. To cheer me up, Jamie responded, "We'll utilize your long beautiful hair to cover up some, if possible. If not, that's what photoshop is for!" With my mind a little more at ease, I headed out to the Skirvin Hotel to get my sexy on.

With the bridal session the day before as a trial run with my photographers, I couldn't be more confident in them capturing the pictures that would be a gift to my future hubby on the day of our wedding. Was I still nervous? Heck yea I was, but I felt something come over me and I was ready to rock this shoot.

When the pictures were available for viewing, I was completely ecstatic about them. I loved them!! After it was all said and done, I felt the shoot was more for me than for the hubs, but don't tell him that! If anything, after we have a kid or two (in the future), I can grab these photos and reminisce about the awesome bod I once had, but will never have again. Sigh... Thanks future kids, not!

While I kept the shoot totally PG/PG-13, I'm not going to post pictures of me in just a bra and panties all over the web (although it's pretty much just like bikinis no?). With this post being rated G now, I'll give you a lil peek into my boudoir (headshot) session!

Anybody else as naive as I was and misunderstood what a boudoir shoot was? Would you do a boudoir shoot? If not, I would totally recommend it!



*All photos were taken by Colorband PhotoArtisan unless otherwise stated.

Being the Bride: Take One

And.... ACTION!

I previously mentioned while trying to find the perfect photographer, I fell in love with the backdrop of one my high school classmate's bridal portraits. After a quick email inquiry to Jamie at Colorband PhotoArtisans on the location and $50 donation later, the Guthrie Scottish Rite Masonic Temple was mine for the afternoon on August 9, 2010.

Since my hair and makeup artist was in Dallas, it meant I needed to be up by 3am to meet her up by 4:30am so that I could catch my 8am flight to OKC in order to make the hour drive from the airport to the temple to meet my photographers by 10:30am. Got the schedule down? Yea? Where were you to help me manage my stress when I wasn't sure if I was going to make the time breaks?!

Fortunately, my makeup artist was awesome and worked her magic (and super fast hands). We got done by 6:30am and I frantically defensively drove to the airport, parked, gathered all my bridal gear, briskly walked through the terminal and security to arrive at my departing gate by 7:30. Phew! And boy was I out of breath, beginning to perspire, and Aunt Flo decided to pay me a visit. Now. Oh no! As if I wasn't out of place enough with my full on up do and makeup at the airport on a Monday morning with business travelers, I was wildly fanning myself like a total diva trying to not ruin my makeup. What?! I paid a butt load of money for my makeup and up do, I don't want it messed up before a single photo is taken!

The above paragraph consisted of ridiculously long run on sentences! Yikes!

My mom, Aunt Kate, cousins Hong and Damon, and lil brother greeted me in OKC as the plane's tires gently screeched on the runway. With a quick pit stop at McDonald's to fuel everyone's system, we were on our way to Guthrie! As the building was vacated and is only open for guided tours, we had some difficulty identifying the front versus the back of the building in order to meet our photographers. And genius me didn't have their cell numbers. *face palm* Fortunately, after a few rounds of "ring around the Rosy temple", we located each other, hugged and introduced, then unloaded all the gear (photography equipment and bridal getup galor). Thank goodness for my family coming along. They make fabulous assistants and comedic relief when necessary.

While we checked in with the temple secretary, it became very apparent something extremely vital was missing. Air conditioning. It's the middle of August where the temperature was well in the upper 90's/lower 100's and the air conditioning was shut off. The temple was a scorching sauna with all windows closed and the building absorbing the August heat. I could already feel my makeup melting off my face and I've only been in the place for 5 minutes. *cringe*

With all of us putting on smiley faces despite the unfortunate predicament I was putting everyone in, we located a changing room and I stepped into my wedding gown. While I brought my camera, I wish I had captured the moment when my brother was lacing me up in my gown. While my brother and I aren't particularly close, that moment made my heart melt and I couldn't help, but smile ear to ear. Darn me for not capturing that moment!

While the photographers brought along a portable fan, the breeze of hot air was not comforting. I felt like I was in a movie in the middle of a desert filming a stake out in a high rise with no A/C. But the show must go on!! One of the great things the Masonic Temple has to offer - a wide variety of backdrops!

If you made it this far, I think it's only far to share with you my hot, sweaty mess bridal shots. Please be kind as oil blotting sheets were no match for the miserable heat!!

 

And one of my all time faves:



*All photos were taken by Colorband PhotoArtisans

What was your big face palm moment while wedding planning?

Finding friends in high places

With all the major component confirmed, I put wedding planning on cruise control. Programs, menus, wedding timeline, etc. could be worked on a little here and there. One thing that we decided not to do from the get-go was engagement pictures. Why? Because a) we weren't doing Save the Dates and b) I substituted out that part of our photography package for a boudoir session. Why? Because I rather have more pretty pictures of me than of us. Duh! Just kidding!! It's because our photographers are from OK and we reside in TX. With the shop needing our presence 7 days a week, both of us wouldn't be able to travel up to North at the same time to get them done. Plus, I'll already be in OK for my bridals so it seemed like the perfect solution.

Fast forward a few weeks, I was searching through the Classifieds section of Weddingbee for Clover colored items. I stumbled upon this thread

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Like any other curious Bee, I clicked on it. Duh! The text read

 

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Oh! This could be fun! Plus, with the increasing popularity (and me wanting to jump on the bandwagon) in the engagement photos guestbook, and it's free?? Even better! I quickly texted the now-hubby the deets and impatiently waited for his response. "Sure" was what lit up my phone. With the green light, I sent the poster a private message saying we were extremely interested in her ad. She responded she had an opening in 2 weeks and couldn't wait to meet us!

2 weeks was rapidly approaching and I was still fretting about what to wear and how to do my makeup since I'm a complete failure in both departments. The day finally came and I said eff it! I picked out two outfits and drove out to Las Colinas to meet up Veraya.

Being a newlywed themselves, we instantly clicked with them. By the end of the shoot, we were talking like we'd been friends all along and even made plans for future meet ups! Yay for friendors! Most importantly, she was able to edit a few pictures that evening and posted up quite a few teasers on her blog.

Here are few we are thinking about utilizing for our photo guestbook!

 

 

 

 

 


And there's so many more to choose from! We absolutely loved Veraya's work and her turnaround time was impeccable! Now the decision to which ones make the album...

Did any silver linings show up during your wedding planning or have vendors turn into friendors??



*All pictures were taken by Veraya Thavilyati of iSnap Studio