Engagement Pictures Take 2

To add a few details about our engagement pictures, I figured I'd blog from my point of view.

To start off, deciding on what to wear for engagement pictures is by far one the most stressful decisions I have made thus far regarding our wedding. Of course I would wait until the day before we were heading to Austin to figure it all out. I had in my mind what I wanted, but only a few outfits came together in reality. I was missing pieces of each outfit. ...so the mission to find a creme colored sweater dress for our "UT outfit" was on. My mom of course came to the rescue. She's good at that. After I had spent the afternoon at the mall looking for one, I had no luck. Within a matter of 25 minutes at the mall at 8:35 at night the night before I was leaving, Sandy found the perfect dress...only it was in a medium. Here is where God likes to shine and show me it's all Him. We called the Memorial City mall on Friday and they had one extra small in the creme colored dress. Mom bought it and Grandma and Grandpa transported it to me at school. We were ready to go!

On Wednesday I had decided to surprise Tommy and stay at the AT&T Conference Center and Hotel right there on campus. It was the perfect treat to such a wonderful weekend and so convenient for us to have when we need to change during pictures. If you ever get the opportunity, stay there! It was great! Especially with our view of the UT Tower. Couldn't have gotten any better!

So now on to taking pictures. Just like Tommy said, it was pretty awkward at first taking pictures..and what better than to talk about Colt and the Heisman to ease our nerves. The funny thing is, is that never once did I really notice people around us. I had been praying for comfort and confidence when taking pictures because I was so nervous and that is exactly what God did for me! I never was embarrassed...and honestly never noticed those around us. I just can't tell you how much I enjoyed taking pictures. It was a different way for Tommy and I to connect and enjoy our time spent together...and to really show how much we love each other and how blessed we are through pictures. I think I probably kissed the guy more yesterday that in the last few months! I wasn't going to complain. :)

Each location had something different and special about it. At Laguna Gloria I loved the greenery and the lake view. I loved the earthiness of it. Taking pictures in front of the UT Tower gave us a fun spirit. It was great to remember how much we enjoyed going to school there and of course it being the place we met and had so many memories. I agree with Tommy when he said that our downtown photo shoot was his favorite. I think every part of it was perfect. The night life feel, our hip style of attire...just everything. I felt like we should be in New York going to eat at The Tavern on the Green and then going to a broadway show after. It was just great. Many many thanks to Giselle and Kristin with Hazel West Photography. They were amazing and always made us feel confident.

I give God all the credit to every part of our weekend. It was just splendid and magical.

Engagement Pictures

Angela and I spent today in Austin taking engagement pictures! Our wonderful photographers, Kristin and Giselle, turned the two of us into some pretty photogenic people! We started off at a nice spot called Laguna Gloria, which lies on Lake Austin just west of mopac on 35th street. When we started the photo shoot, I have to admit it was a little awkward. We were walking down a path with both photographers snapping behind us. They told us just to talk about something to relieve some tension, so naturally we discussed Colt's Heisman hopes. After we got the hang of it, we were posing and walking and smiling and being pensive all over the place. That shoot was a great start to the day. After that, we came back to campus to change at our hotel (the wonderful AT&T conference center across from A-Phi). We threw on some UT attire for our pictures in the six-pack/tower area. This was a great shoot, but BY FAR the most awkward. I'm sure the pictures will turn out fantastic, but spinning each other around on the south mall with finals-takers walking around and watching us made me feel a little bit self-conscious. We came back and changed one last time into outfit #3 for what was probably my favorite shoot. We drove down to 6th street and got some great pictures as the sun was setting and Austin's famed street started to liven up. All-in-all, Kristin and Giselle had amazing vision and creativity and we are so excited to see the end results (sadly we have to wait up to two weeks, but it is well worth it).

One would think that spending a day under the microscope of a camera lens while changing clothes and moving around would be rather stressful. However, Angela proved to me once again that she is definitely the one I was made for. At no point during the entire day did either of us become irritated, fed up, or overwhelmed, and I couldn't be more thankful for that. Today was just another wonderful example of a day that creates in me this amazing yearning to be married to her. We had a great spark today, and I'm sure that love will show through in our pictures. I can't wait for everyone to see the wonderful memories from today that I am struggling to put in words!

Tommy
12/13/09 2:00am