Easy as A, B, C

It felt like our engagement shoot was a microcosm of how our wedding is going to be.  Of course, ever the student, there were a couple of lessons I learned on Sunday I hope to apply to our wedding day.  I am going to share them with you in hopes that you will remind me as I get closer to the wedding and start to lose my mind.

1. Prioritize:  Unfortunately we didn't make it to one of the places that I had on my list.  I would have loved to take pictures at several locations but we ran out of time.  Kramers Books (where we had our first date) was most important so we started there first and I couldn't be happier with the pictures.  Over the next couple of weeks Mr. Cucumber Sammie and I are going to brainstorm things that are most important to us for the wedding day.  Everything else will just be a delicious bonus.

 2.  Trust the Professionals: We gave Nicole a rough idea of what we wanted and where we wanted to shoot but left everything else up to her.  I was a little nervous about all the 'kissy' photographs because we are not a PDA couple but that Nicole knows what she is doing.  There is a reason we hired her and I need to remember that she is the professional.  How many weddings have I photographed (that answer is zero) and how many has she?  Exactly!

 3.  Let Go: I didn't have perfect skin on photo day even after a couple weeks of using the Clinique 3 Step system.  But I knew I had done everything I could to have nice skin so I had to let it go.  On the other hand, I did absolutely nothing to be more toned.  I didn't feel 100% comfortable or confident in front of the camera.  For me personally even if I don't lose weight I feel better about myself when I workout.  I know for the wedding I can't procrastinate and just hope that magically I will feel better about my body.  I have to put in some effort.

4. Learn to smile with my eyes open: Exhibit A.  That is just something the Mirror, Myself and Tyra Banks are going to have to work on.

*All photographs by the lovely Girl Photography

Did you learn anything during your engagement shoot?