Hi Everyone and Happy Tuesday!
Everyone thinks that just because it’s the winter season, that I’m in “slow season.” This could not be any further from the truth! This “off-season” is when all of the planning, vendor selection and design get done. Most days are spent either in my office working on design boards, researching and chatting with potential vendors or attending a meeting with my clients and vendors we’ve selected! It’s also a prime time for engagements and engagement photos! This week, I’m taking you behind the scenes and showing off one of my 2019 couples, Helen and Steve and their super cute at-home engagement session!
I started working with Helen and Steve back in November. Helen contacted me as they both are doctors (she started her own practice and Steve is in medical communications, hello #powercouple) and she realized that she just didn’t have enough hours in the day to plan their wedding while still enjoying her life and precious time off. I remember during our initial consultation she mentioned that she never considered hiring a wedding planner, but she then thought “I’m only going to do this once, why not hire a professional to make this process fun and enjoyable?!” We spent almost two hours together during our first meeting and I knew I wanted to work with them! Helen is relaxed, sweet and easy going while Steve is more outgoing and enjoys (lovingly) embarrassing her in public. He jokes that he plans to show up to their wedding in a bright blue tuxedo with a ruffled white shirt (don’t worry Helen, I promise to take him down if I see this happening!) I was over the moon when they signed their contract a couple days later for my Full Service Signature Planning package.
For those of you unfamiliar with full service wedding planning, it is exactly as it sounds, a complete and comprehensive planning package. They brought me on board before even selecting a date and a venue so we really started at the very beginning. I’ll save some of this for their wedding blog post later this year so I don’t want to give too much away as to our plans for their big day!
Essentially the planning process begins with me really getting to know them and their style. We talk about the logistics such as date and location preferences, guest count, and budgets. But then I also want to know about who THEY are so I get a true sense of their personalities, hobbies, favorite foods, their ideal weekend, etc. as this helps me to be able to craft their wedding design, match vendors that not only fit logistically but also who they will enjoy working with and help them stay true to what’s important to them as we move along in the process. It’s so easy to get carried away and find yourself lost in the rabbit hole that is Pinterest weddings and the gazillion wedding blogs out there that you end up drifting away from what is really important and then end up with 25 different design concepts and no idea how to make it all work together. Cue the full-service wedding planner who not only keeps your core values and wants in mind but also ensures you stick to your planning timeline, your original budget, tracks all your due dates and deadlines, manages your vendor communication and helps put together a cohesive design concept that reflects you as a couple! Sounds great, right?! Trust me, it is and I think Helen and Steve would both agree that the past few months have been so much fun!
Anyways, fast forward a few months later and we’re into February. At this point we have almost finished building their dream vendor team and we were coming up on our “Send out save-the-dates” deadline. We had discussed whether they wanted to do an engagement session (which I highly recommend!) and if they planned to use images of themselves on their save-the-dates (another thing I love!) We had recently booked our lovely and talented photographer, Abigail Jean, and we talked about their timetable for save-the-dates and she promised she would be able to get us their gallery in time!
As a team, we discussed the type of engagement session they wanted to have. They both love Sunday breakfast at Rebel Dog Coffee (this is quickly becoming one of my new favorite coffee shops as we tend to have all of our meetings here! Abigail, this is actually where we decided to officially bring you on-board as their photographer!), hiking and the outdoors, and Helen also loves to bake! Fun fact – when they first started dating, Helen warned Steve that she may very well give him diabetes with the amount of baked goods she makes! Luckily, Steve has a major sweet tooth and these goodies never go to waste!
Knowing all of this about them, we discussed doing an at-home engagement shoot involving, what else – baking a cake! We knew they wanted the shoot to feel natural and organic so having an activity felt like the best way to make this happen. Doing the shoot at home also allowed us to incorporate their two adorable rescue cats – Michelangelo and Donatello (yes, they are brothers named after Ninja Turtles!)
This shoot was so much fun to be a part of! I feel truly honored to be welcomed into my client’s homes as well as their lives while we work together on planning their dream day! I am beyond excited to continue working with these two beautiful people and can’t wait to see our months of hard work come to life this September!
Now, enjoy the rest of these amazing photos by Abigail Jean Photography (and check her out on Insta @abigailjeanphoto)
As Always, Happy Planning!
Love,
Alyssa