PHOTOMINGLE!

From the get go, Mr. Hess and I wanted to have some kind of photo booth at our wedding reception.  At first, we were going to hire a standard photo booth that allowed both the guest and the Bride & Groom to keep a copy of each picture and create a guest book that guests could write messages to us in.  This would be a great keepsake for both us, as well as our guests, since we opted against having wedding favors.  We were searching and searching for what company to work with, when BAM...when we least expected it - here comes... PHOTOMINGLE!!!!

Me and my wonderful parents!

What the heck am I talking about?! You've probably seen the picture of this before in Wedding Hint #9, but just keep you on my page here check out this video:

We actually heard this new "must have" from a Shannon at Big City Catering.  We met with her when we were choosing a caterer and immediately when she saw our contemporary and fun style she said "you're going to hate me for showing you this...but you HAVE to have it at your wedding!"  And...of course, the second she explained what it was and showed us their pamphlet we both fell in love.

Photomingle is basically an iPad version of a photo booth:  You take the picture (as many as you want) and see right away what it looks like, write a message on it and print it out.  Also, the background is set to your wedding colors and you pick what message shows up on the bottom of every photo.  The package we chose included printed out photos for guests to take home as well as an instant upload to Facebook!  It might sound a little complicated, but to get this automatic upload all I had to do was click a link from my e-mail inbox and sign into Facebook to accept the photo album the day before.  Towards the end of the wedding planning process, the budget was NOT forgiving, but we decided this was a MUST HAVE and worked our way around getting it there!

Pose, Shoot, Write, Print & Upload!!! HOW FUN!!!

Throughout the night, we had so many people come up to us and tell us how fun the photo booth was. To us, that was the greatest affirmation we could have heard on deciding against the favors and for this instead.  I'm SO glad we decided to do it!

Compared to a regular photo booth, the price was considerably higher...but if you ask me, it was well worth it.  No one had really seen it before, the look of it couldn't have complimented our venue better & everyone had so much fun with it.

 
And the best part?!  All of these photos were instantly uploaded to my facebook photo album page.  If someone wanted another copy of their photo or wanted it to be online, it was as easy as clicking on my profile page.  Something I really enjoyed doing the morning after the wedding was browsing through all of the photos - and some of our guests got reallllllly creative!

Oh, brother & sister relationships...

This is pretty good...

My beautiful (& hysterical) Bridesmaids!

There were SO many good ones & funny ones, but those are some I wanted to give some props to! :)

It's pretty clear this is one of the things Mr. Hess and I are SO GLAD we booked for our big day.  Even though the decision to book them was pretty last minute, their staff was completely accommodating and helpful every step of the way.  We would recommend Photomingle to anyone and everyone getting married, or even just having an event that calls for any kind of photo documentation ;)

Alright you twisted my arm....here's a few more:

Just in case you were worried...

Nice HBSH Monogram! :)

Silly bridesmaids.

Don't be surprised if this gem shows up at something else of ours down the road...

A night we'll always remember! <3

Until next time,

Mrs. Presh

More than just FLOWERS...

Today we met with our wonderful, creative, cheerful & simply amazing florist to go over all of the details of our flowers for the wedding.  I say he is our "florist", but what when it comes down to it, I really should say that he is our "wedding atmosphere & floral genius".  Lee Forrest of Lee Forrest Designs is not only the perfect florist for our wedding, but he made the process of picking the flowers we will see on our big day...a complete BREEZE!!!

I never thought that something like FLORAL would be such an easy category to check off for our wedding day.  I mean, c'mon - flowers are something little girls dream about when they try to picture their big day decades before the actual day gets there.  There are so many different choices and looks and shades and sizes to choose from, one could easily get overwhelmed when it's time to sit down and actually pull THE flowers you will be using for your wedding day.  So, needless to say...on our first consult with Lee, I was a bit nervous and anxious to say the least.

First, let me explain where the anxiety came from...

Before we met with Lee, we set up a consultation with another florist who we met at a bridal shower back in October.  He seemed to be a good florist and was great at coming up with unique ideas.  What I DIDN'T like about the first guy (which I won't list the name) is that we had to sit down and pick out every single little flower for every single little bouquet and centerpiece and boutonniere right then and there...on our FIRST consult!! What I thought would be an hour meeting turned into 2 and a half hours of tedious details I was NOT ready for whatsoever!!!  Mr. Hess and I both left the shop feeling drained, confused & overwhelmed.  And, the kicker is...he was charging a pretty hefty fee for all of "his" ideas!  

*Tip number one for any florist out there: DON'T DO THAT!!! 

So, you can imagine why I had the anxiety I did when going to meet florist number 2.  Luckily, just walking into his shop and meeting him quickly turned into a breath of fresh air.  Lee Forrest has such a cool, calm and collected approach to everything that makes me relax and enjoy the process of putting our dream wedding together!  What I thought would be another few hours of wanting to pull my hair out and re-using the phrase "I just don't know" a hundred times turned into an hour of excitement and pictures and talk about what our wedding was going to look like.  I didn't pick this flower and that flower, but instead we put together the "look" we were going for & I knew right away that we were in good hands.

Back in January, he even invited us to come see the set-up of a wedding at our venue that he was hired for.  He said the theme and look to their wedding was similar AND it was at our exact reception spot...so why the heck not?! I was excited to actually get to go see what a true wedding with his flowers looks like, in person & I was SO pleased.  What impressed me the most was how much he's willing to do for you.  Not only providing flowers, but an entire wedding theme...what a great day that was to see a wedding come together in the same very spot that our reception will be at! :)

Not exactly what our centerpieces would look like, but loved this creation of his!

Of course, there are a few staple flowers we HAVE to have in our wedding - and I'm sure you could have guessed one would be this one, if you know anything about what our colors are.  It's a very popular flower these days, but I have always loved orchids...ESPECIALLY in lime green & pink!!!

So, there you go...one flower you will for sure see at our wedding.  There are a few more must haves added to our list, but beyond a few we were totally open to whatever our florist decides to do!  After seeing his work and reading positive testimonial after positive testimonial, I feel 110% comfortable with what our wedding day flowers will be...and to be honest, I'm not even exactly sure WHAT they are! Isn't that crazy?!  We went over details of different centerpieces (which, I guess I'm telling you there will be some different ones) and chose some over others...but I can honestly say I really don't know what they will look like.  I didn't necessarily see a sketch of them, BUT I didn't ask for one either.  I seriously can't believe how much control I am giving up here....but I'm loving it.

As soon as I we got home tonight I had to sit down and share that for once, something about planning our wedding was just EASY!  After meeting with Lee today, I know our wedding will be filled with tons of beautiful flowers, pieces & ...artwork! It's a true miracle that I'm not worried about it one bit.  THANK YOU Lee Forrest for letting a bride-to-be breathe a month before the wedding day!!!!!!!

As you can see, I would highly recommend our florist for anyone looking for one.  Weddings, parties, private dinners or whatever...he can truly turn flowers into talking pieces & he is probably one of the easiest go-with-the-flow vendors I've met yet! You can find more info about Lee Forrest at his website: http://www.leeforrestdesign.com/

I absolutely CAN NOT WAIT to see how everything turns out!  

But I guess we'll ALL have to....

37 days and counting...WOW...

Presh

HBSH Wedding Invitations!

Today we got our first RSVPs back, so you know what that means...

our invitations have officially made it to their new homes!!! 

First, let me just throw out there that I think our wedding invitations turned out absolutely PERFECT!!!! I'm not trying to toot my own horn here - by any means, but I am very excited to say they turned out EXACTLY how we wanted them!!!!! What Mr. Hess and I were thinking of what our perfect wedding invitation would be has actually transferred from inside our heads, now onto paper and into our guests hands!  Achieving EXACTLY what you wanted in your wedding invitation is not something everyone can say actually happens, and I am SO beyond excited that after all of the man hours of talking about them, editing them, messaging our invitations girl back and forth, & arguing with Mr. Hess (hehe) finally paid off.

So without further adieu, and trying to strategically cover up the details not everyone in cyberspace should know...

here are our official HBSH Wedding Invitations:

I wish I could put the actual invitation up on here, but I just can't! Don't want any crazies running around crashing our wedding...ya know?! lol.  But, to give you an idea of what's on them here's a rundown...

For the main wedding invitation, we used a modern approach of run-on paragraph writing to give the details of the ceremony.  Our lovely invitation lady, which I will list all of her information down below, came up with this suggestion for us when we told her about our fun & contemporary wedding style.  We chose to announce ourselves, rather than having our parents announce our marriage for the same reason.  I LOVED the wording at the top which reads "We invite you to share in the celebration of our marriage"....below that was the monogram she created with our names that turned out absolutely perfect! Here is a snapshot of what it looks like, except on the real one it also lists our last names in a script font:

Over and under the names there is a line of outlined, lime green & black circles.  They were randomly colored in and there was a touch of bling to the each of the 3 lines on the page by adding a crysal rhinestone.  The bottom listed the reception to follow in a pink script font, followed by the name of the reception venue.  It's hard to do the invitations justice on here, because in person the colors are PERFECT!!!! The pink is a bright & shiny pink and the green is the exact lime green color used in our wedding.  Kudos Angela (that's her name) for special ordering that shade and making that happen!

In front of the main invitation card, you will see the CELEBRATE card & the RSVP Postcard.  We decided to do one enclosure card with the reception information, as well as a listing of our wedding website.  We decided it would be easier to give guests directions at the end of the ceremony rather than take up all of that space on the invitation cards, so we simply put the venue information & included the website so they can answer most of their questions by going to it.

Here is a snapshot (but again, not doing it justice) look at the top of our celebrate card:

Lastly, we decided to do an RSVP postcard rather than the traditional mail-in envelope back to us.  We wanted this for two reasons: 1) being a little more fun (& maybe something people haven't seen before) and 2) stamps for this were 29 cents each rather than 44! So, once again...great suggestion Angela!  Here's a look at what we're talking about:

Just fill it out & you're good to go!

Oh, and how could I almost forget to tell you we had our logo put on the return address of the envelope and finished it off with our customized stamp?!

When the design work was done I was confident that they would turn out great, but I had no idea how OBSESSED I would become with them when I saw them finished and in my hands.  I am so happy with how everything turned out and I know Mr. Hess and I both got exactly what we were hoping for!

As promised and to give her the HUGE amount of credit that she deserves, here is the information on who we used to get our wonderful invites:

The company is called Paper Charm Custom Design, and the owner's name is Angela Palacio.  She is an absolute delight to work with and wants nothing more than to give you exactly what you're looking for in your wedding invitations, as well as many other customizable objects.  We just met with her today about our ceremony programs and other little things you will see here and there on our wedding day and YUP - they're all going to be done by her!  We branded our wedding ceremony and reception with the same theme and colors, and she has done a great job keeping that consistent throughout anything we create together.

You can contact her & see more of her work here:  http://www.papercharmcustomdesign.blogspot.com/

I can't wait to see how the rest turns out!!! Thanks, Angela for helping us create our perfect wedding invitation!!!!  As you can see, I'm pretty excited that those are done and getting the first of our RSVPs back today made our wedding day feel SO REAL!!!! It's here..it's happening and it's almost a month away now!!! I'm starting to run around like a crazy woman, but I know it will all be worth it in the end.  For now, this is what keeps the great big smile on my face...

Stay tuned for more updates, stories & photos of how wedding planning is going now that we're getting "down to the wire!"

42 days and counting...
Presh

All about the Ceremony

With just about 2 months to go, it's finally that time where we are getting down to the details.  Our venues and vendors are booked, our cake is picked out and we know what our centerpieces will look like.  Mr. Hess and I have spent the last several months focusing on the reception and the main decorations of our BIG DAY, but today it hit us...we haven't spent more than a few minutes talking about the wedding ceremony.

If you were to ask either one of us, we would both tell you the wedding ceremony IS the most important part of this entire day!  Although most of our focus has been on the wedding reception, events leading up to the day, and details having to do with everything that will happen AFTER the nuptials, we have yet to accessorize the chapel and go through the ceremony that we will share vows at.  So, it's time to start crackin'...

We have seen a few different approaches to how brides in the past have decorated the space of our chapel, and we have the general idea of what we do and what we don't want to use.  Before I go any further, you should know that we really, really wanted to get married in a church.  I have had dreams of what an outdoor garden wedding would be like, or even a ceremony on the beach, and I loved the idea of both of those.  BUT, we just couldn't shake wanting the one traditional aspect of the wedding day to be sharing wedding vows at an actual altar, in a chapel, at a church.  I knew this was one of the more important things that both of our families would appreciate, and to be completely honest I am just as excited about the ceremony as I am the reception!

Our actual chapel...without giving TOO much away!

With all of that said, the choice to have our ceremony inside of our church's chapel was a very simple one.  For one, being in mid-July I couldn't image standing anywhere outside for any length of time in central Florida even attempting not to sweat, and for another, our church just so happens to have a wedding chapel used for this purpose alone...so when we saw the space we both thought THIS was the place to do it!

 In the very beginning of our relationship, I started joining Scott at his church, First Baptist Church of Orlando.  I thought the church was HUGE, but loved the senior pastor, the people and the community the church had to offer.  Even though the main congregation can hold thousands, I have always felt like I've gotten to know a decent amount of people and have felt connected as part of a church family there.  This church has gotten us through some hard times, some happy times, and has allowed me to personally grow spiritually more and more every year.  It was a treat to go to service last Sunday, because I usually work on the weekends, and as we were leaving the church I stopped for a second and just gazed up at Henry Chapel.  I had the biggest smile on my face and turned to Mr. Hess saying, "we are going to get married RIGHT THERE!"... Every time I pass this chapel, I keep picturing what the day will look like and it's finally starting to come together.

The view we first saw of the chapel & never knew this building was just for weddings!

I'm going to leave a lot of what I WANT to put in this post out of it, because there are some things I really want to be saved for the BIG DAY only.  What I can tell you is that the chapel is beautiful, and is obviously designed by a woman!  LOL, I say this because there is a great prep room for the bridal party complete with couches and coffee tables, a full length mirror, a bathroom suite with mirrors and bright stage lights, TONS of outlets, an ironing board, fans & a full length closet!  The groom's suite is a similar version of the bridal suite, but just a little smaller and not as many outlets (see why I think a WOMAN designed this one?!) Brilliant.  I'm looking forward to spending the last hour or two with my bridal party in that room and getting ready for the biggest day of my life!

Although we want the traditional aspect of having a ceremony IN a church, that doesn't mean everything about it has to be traditional.  We are certainly going to have bible readings, prayer, vows, singers, and rings, but we are going to try to add in a few things here and there that people haven't seen before.  For one, we are figuring out the unity candle...traditionally, the bride and groom each light a candle and then use their flames together to light one big one in the middle to symbolize joining their lives in marriage.  Some people use sand ceremonies as an alternative - blending two colors of sand together, or even use flowers - like a rose from each mother's bouquet.  We like all of these ideas, but have a few more I want to save in case we end up using one in OUR unity!

I've been getting more and more excited as Mr. Hess and I talk about each part of the ceremony and decide what we want to do.  I am SO SO SO happy that our senior Pastor David will be conducting our ceremony, and I know that what he is going to share with our guests and to us that day will be absolutely beautiful.  Almost every sermon I listen to and certainly every service I attend, I end up tearing up at one point or another because I get such a great feeling being in that church.  Pastor Dave has a way of really inspiring you, and you totally get what he's trying to preach.  When I found out we were officially having our ceremony IN our chapel at church and Pastor Dave was officiating us, I was estatic!  I couldn't imagine it happening any other way, which is really one of the main reasons we decided to have the wedding here in Orlando.  Believe me, there are times Mr. Hess and I swear we should have eloped.  BUT, when I think about how much this ceremony is going to mean to us I calm down, take a few breaths, and remember the feeling I get every time I pass by the chapel.  It's going to be OKAY, it's going to be perfect, and it's going to be US.

As time is flying by, I am getting very anxious and ready for the day to get here already!!! There is still so much to do, so many more decisions to make, and still a few people to hire.  At times, it can get very overwhelming, but I am at a state now with two months left where I am at peace.  As long as we get the ceremony in place and set, the rest will happen...eventually.  Nobody is going to know if something did or didn't happen but us, and when it comes down to it the ceremony IS the most important part of it all.  I can't wait to share it all with you after the wedding...

63 days until the "I DO"s,

Presh

Finding the perfect Tux!

TUXES have been something Mr. Hess and I have been trying to get done for a looooong time.  You would think that it doesn't take that long to go into a tux store, get the groom measured and pick out what the guys in the bridal party will be wearing for your wedding....but lo and behold here we were trying to make something simple more difficult than it has to be...for months!   
Big surprise, right?!

After months of searching online, going into tux stores and finally making some decisions - we found the tuxes the guys will be wearing! (Can I take a second to say a Hallelujah?!)...YAY! 

Closing the notebooks because the decision is MADE!

The search began a few months ago when Mr. Hess and I decided we wanted the guys to be in gray.  Although we have used some black and white in our decor, we thought the gray would be a better summery look, as well as more contemporary and casual which is what our wedding is alllll about.  So, the search began online and we searched high and low under the "contemporary gray suit" category.  You wouldn't believe what kind of crazy stuff showed up, but finally we found a picture we both LOVED and went off of it for inspiration to dress our guys.

The first stop was Men's Warehouse.  This is a great place to rent or buy a tux, and the service was very good, but they just didn't have the selection we were looking for.  Bummed, Mr. Hess and I went back home to look online again at what stores would have the kind of tux we were looking for.  We loved this picture we found SO much, Mr. Hess actually contacted the photographer who took it and it turns out the wedding was from a few years back and the guys actually bought half of it from Target online and rented the rest from a tux store.  How crazy is that?!  Sounds very practical, if you ask me...I'm all about being able to find stuff for everyone that they can re-use, but at the same time that also sounds like a unnecessary headache.  Locating 9 (10 including the Groom, & 11 including the Ring Bearer) pants and jackets in the same style, all in the right sizes and altering them just didn't sound like something we wanted to deal with...so the search continued...

Searching and searching for THE ONE!

FINALLY, shortly after we decided to give up on the finding pieces for everyone adventure, we decided to hop back on the computer and pray to find something in a store close by similar to what we wanted.  What's this? Jos. A BANK contemporary gray tuxes?  AHHH! HERE YOU ARE!  I can't believe it was right in front of us the entire time!  I guess the reason I didn't think to use this store was because my friend Britt used them for her wedding back in November, and said some of the tuxes ended up coming in in the wrong sizes and that's just something nobody has time to deal with.  BUT, Jos A. BANK was the store that had THE TUX we were looking for....so what do you do right?  We decided to risk it, and went to the closest Jos. A BANK store next to us, which happened to be RIGHT NEXT TO the shop I got my bridal gown at - DUH!!! I seriously can't believe it was literally right under our noses this entire time, but the important thing is we found it! :)

Once we got there, we instantly found the tux we were looking at and signed that baby up under our names.  DONE!  Or so you might think...? Of course, Mr. Hess and I were not content with the idea of just picking out a tie from their store, and the reason for this is because they just didn't have the color we were looking for. 

Bow ties?! Probably not...but I wanted a picture of them! Where's OUR color combo?

You know our colors by now: Pink & Lime Green!  That color combo is not something you see everyday, especially in the shades we're working with, and especially not at a traditional tux store!  SO....after the tux store we made a trip to the good 'ol outlet malls.  We had already been looking at the Millenia Mall as well as online, but I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything we were missing out on at the outlets for design ideas, or for price.  And I am happy to report we found some great options, in fact, too many options!  Mr. Hess ended up buying one tie, but we still love 2 others from the same store and it's going to take trying to find enough of these guys online to make the decision for us of which one to go with.  But...I think I've given you enough details and Mr. Hess is probably going to say I've given away TOO many...so I'll just leave the rest up to your imaginations!

Happy Camper...lol.  Just imagine what the inseem measurement was like! ;)

So there you have it - the saga of finding our perfect tuxes!  It seemed to be a long, kind of confusing, and somewhat frustrating road, but we HAVE THEM!  And I have to say, seeing Mr. Hess try a similar jacket on to what we picked instantly gave me goosebumps.  I pictured what it would be like to see him in THE tux on THE wedding day, and I got a little teary eyed.  I really, really, really can't wait.

Now if we could just get him to shave that beard!!! ;)

78 days until it's TUX TIME!

Presh

Catering Tasting, YUMMM....

I've been waiting for THIS DAY for quite some time now...

TODAY we had our official CATERING TASTING & SELECTED OUR RECEPTION MENU for our Wedding! I can't tell you how good it feels to type those words, considering choosing and booking a caterer was one longest things on our "TO DO" list of things we've had to do so far.

We began our search for the perfect caterer at the beginning of February and met with 4 companies.  All were good and we knew all would do a great job at catering our event.  When it came down to price, we had it narrowed down to 2 companies: Millenia Catering & Big City Catering.  I've posted about these two companies before and to be completely honest Mr. Hess and I teetered on who to choose between the two by going back and forth every day for about a week.  It finally came down to a deadline to choose and BAM on the day we needed to make one comes an offer to throw in an additional few menu items, beverages, and $1,000 discount = SOLD!

MILLENIA CATERING was the company for us! I have mentioned them before, but you can find more information about them and visit their website at: http://www.milleniacatering.com/

Excited to respond to this offer, Mr. Hess and I contacted Chef Lo right away to let him know we had finally made a decision.  We got on the books to do an official tasting and boy oh boy let me just say, after today we are 200% POSITIVE we made the right choice!  The food was incredible, Chef Lo went above and beyond to provide unique and personalized choices, and everything we chose is EXACTLY what we were hoping for.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about Millenia Catering and I know the food at our reception will be simply amazing!

Our personalized Tasting Menu - how cool is that?!

I was thinking about the food we were going to experience the entire day at work today and couldn't wait to preview what will make up the menu at our reception.  We were finally on our way to the appointment for a tasting and I was extra excited that for the first time in a long time we got to include my dad in the planning!  Well, he had plenty of time to get acquainted with Chef Lo, because a detour on the way there set me, Mr. Hess and my mom back 30 mins. and we were late!  Figures....right?!  After calling and apologizing for the detour, we finally arrive hungry and ready to pick out our favorites!

My parents, ready to test out the dinner menu!

The entire time, Chef Lo and his assistant Rhonda were SO nice and accommodating.  Right away, I was greeted with a glass of wine, and the table was set up so cute with place settings and fresh flowers.  They really went out of their way to make us feel like we were special, and that was such a great feeling knowing we will feel exactly the same on our SPECIAL day!  So, we started with a fruit & cheese tray, pretty standard you might say, right?  I thought so, but then when it was all said and done even Mr. Hess and I decided to jazz THAT up a little.  I can't wait to see how the final touches will be added to make everything made for US.  I'm not going to give you much more details than that, but let's just say our menu for the wedding reception is one like I've never seen before...It is very out-of-the-ordinary and anything but the traditional "Beef or Chicken?" plated dinner...(Not traditional? Us? SHOCKER, I know.)

Ready to pick out a fabulous dinner menu, and...this is just a "taste" of the fruit tray! :)

What started with a few Hors d'oeurves and dinner options turned into what felt like an 18 course meal.  We covered all ends of the spectrum with from different meats, seafood, and appetizer bites to veggie options, pastas and wines to make sure we have a variety of everything we wanted for our guests.  We were very impressed with the amount of samples Chef Lo provided for us to try and it was truly a treat to get to experience such a private dining experience, just for us. 

Today was one of the first days I could truly begin to picture what the experience at our reception will be like.  I've always said that flowers and photography are my biggest "has to be perfect"categories for our BIG DAY, and I've always said that I will be happy as long as our catering is "good."  It wasn't a priority of ours that we serve filet mignon & sea bass, but instead to provide our guests with a food experience that is one they will surely walk away from remembering something about.  You'll see what I'm talking about once the BIG DAY finally gets here, but until then I can only leave you with one hint...Check out our choice of salad - BOTH were amazing...but the set up is what we fell in love with!

YUMMY....which one to choose?!

Needless to say, by the end of the night all 4 of us were completely STUFFED!!!! I could barely finish the last few things on the menu, and for those who know me well know that in itself is an accomplishment.  Thank you Chef Lo for an amazing tasting experience and I am SO EXCITED to see everything come together at our reception.

Yup, this was the point where we started feeling the food comas coming on...

98 days until the REAL tasting begins! 

Can you BELIEVE we are under the 100 day mark?! WHOOO!

Presh

Engagement Photos are HERE!

Finally!!! After 4 months of anxiously awaiting our Engagement Photos we have the glorious CD with rights...IN HAND!

I did a post with a preview to our photos back in February, and you have probably seen our Official Save the Date Photo post as well, but I couldn't be MORE EXCITED to show you more of our photoshoot we did back in January!

When Mr. Hess and I were looking for our Wedding Day photographer, we knew we wanted someone who could do a great mix of romantic, contemporary, and journalisitc photos.  We searched for a while online for Orlando photographers, asked friends who have gotten married, and even read tons of wedding blogs and reviews to find who and what company would represent our style the best.  After seeing how our Engagement Photoshoot or "E-session" turned out, I know we are in great hands for the BIG DAY!

Showing some EI love & photo credit to all photos below go to Elegant Imagery.

The company we hired is called Elegant Imagery, and our photographer's name is Victoria.  We saw them at a Bridal Show last October, and fell in love with the bright and artistic type of photos displayed at their booth.  So we talked to a few different companies, and kept going back to EI and a few weeks later, we hired them! The day of the shoot, Victoria's dad even showed up to help get different angles of photos, as well as help brainstorm to get exactly what we wanted! This was a pleasant surprise, and both were such a joy to work with that day.  So far, I would recommend them to any bride and you can click below to find their website & blog:

http://www.elegantimagery.com/
http://www.elegantimageryphoto.blogspot.com/

So without further aideu, here are the highlights of our Engagement Photoshoot!  There were a total of 68 pictures, but these are most of my favorites.  We started off the day in the private area of one of our favorite restaurants, Civeche in downtown Orlando.  I loved how these turned out and especially loved the eye and vision our photographer had here!  After the resaurant, we moved to the rail road tracks at Church Street Station and I loved how these turned out as well!

This one was actually shot from a reflection in a mirror!

After this, Mr. Hess found an amazing grafitti wall that he said changes almost weekly from local artists or grafitti goers, if you will.  The work is actually pretty detailed and everytime we drive by we are very surprised on how often it changes!  It just so happens that during this time we found a perfect spot that also displayed something to represent the Orlando Magic - an organization that means a lot to us!

Now, I said the Orlando Magic was important to us right?!  Well one might say the sports team and organization plays a HUGE role in our lives... because that's how we met!  So you probably won't be surprised to find out our final two locations for the day: the rooftop of the Amway Center and then on the actual Magic Court!  10,000 brownie points to Mr. Hess for getting us VIP access to these areas...love you buddy! :)



AND...THERE THEY ARE!!!! I am SO happy with how they turned out and I think our photographer hit the nail on the head with capturing our fun and contemporary style.  We are planning to incorporate these into our BIG DAY, so keep a look out! :)

103 days until our next SHOOT! <3

Until Next Time,

Presh