Now Showing! Engagement Photos!

In case anyone is interested...our engagement photo session gallery has been completed and is ready for viewing!

Here is a taste...

Take a look at the complete gallery here: http://www.pictage.com/838628.

A spring day in Keeneland

Mary posted the first round of photos from our engagement photo shoot at Keeneland last night! I think they turned out super cute! Take a look at them here: http://www.marylashbrook.com/blog/.

Strike a Pose

In just a few days, Jacob and I will be heading over to Keeneland for our engagement photo session with Mary Lashbrook. So excited!

And it looks like we may get our wish...we really wanted a cloudy/rainy day for the session (love how days like that appear in pictures!) and it looks like rain for Monday. Just praying for a little warmer than what the forecast is predicting (a cool 59 degrees), but it is what it is.

This weekend, we will be figuring out our attire. I am wearing a mauve/pink color dress that is really silky and super cute. But I still need to figure out shoes (considering some cute strappy sandals)...and now maybe even a sweater to wear over it for a few pictures. As for Jacob...that will be the real project this weekend (wish me luck!).

I have scoured the Web looking for poses and ideas for our shoot. And I found some pretty cute ideas! Here are a few of my favorites:

Photo from Image Jolie:

Image from Jennifer Creed Photography:

Image from Melanie Mauer:

So that was just a sneak peek of what to look forward to in our engagement shoot. Stay posted for how it turns out!

The New First Look

Ever since I was a little girl, I imagined what walking down the aisle on my wedding day would be like. Especially that moment when the church doors open and the music begins...and your groom sees you for the first time. A very surreal moment I am sure.

The wedding "first look" has certainly evolved since those days. There are still plenty of brides out there who prefer to wait until the walk down the aisle to see their groom (I always thought I would be one of them), but more and more brides are doing what is called a "first look" that allows the bride and groom a few special moments together to connect before the festivities begin (captured by a photographer of course!).

Ideally, the "first look" would involve the groom waiting in a room or chapel with his back to the door. When the bride enters, the groom either turns around or he waits until the bride comes up behind him before turning around. Either way, I have heard it is a very sentimental moment.

Photo from http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to do a "first look" on our wedding day. Not only would it give us a chance to see each other before the wedding began, but it would tremendously cut down on the time needed post-ceremony for wedding photos. (Translation: the wedding party could leave immediately following the ceremony.)

I do not want a lot of photos taken at the church (despite the strong sentimental value of SCC, there is not much by way of curb appeal...inside or out...), and would rather have a bit of time post-ceremony to book it to the reception site/start taking photos at the golf course. There are so many cute ideas for wedding golf photos! See below:

Eat, drink and be merry

I don't think I have ever mentioned much about our caterer...or even our reception site, two of the largest aspects (and expenses) of our wedding. So today, I will fill you in on both!

Choosing the reception site was one of the most difficult things in the wedding process, for us anyway. We knew that we wanted to be married in the church we both grew up in (Southland Christian Church), but when it came to reception sites, we were at a complete loss. At one point early in the planning process, I had a list of 30-something potential reception sites, from hotels to clubhouses and golf courses to historic sites. It was un-real. And it seemed there was something wrong with every location; it was too big, too small, too expensive, the food/caterer was not good, etc. That was the case at every site until we happened upon Keene Run Golf Club, in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Keene Run is a relatively new private golf club, located on Harrodsburg Road, only .08 miles from SCC. It holds just the right amount of people, has an amazing caterer on site (DaRae and Friends out of Lexington), is absolutely gorgeous (lush greenery, rolling hills, very "Kentucky") and has the perfect feel to the kind of wedding we wanted (classy yet unrefined, not uptight). One of my absolutely favorite features is the wrap-around porch on three sides of the clubhouse; it has a very light and airy feeling and opens up to the expansive course. A fabulous view! Needless to say, we fell in love with this place right away.

Our plan is to have seating/tables both inside and out (on the patio). I especially love the idea of high top tables outside for people to gather. As the space is relatively new (inside decor is not outdated), there is really not a serious need for decorations inside the clubhouse. I am still bouncing around ideas (for centerpieces and reception site in general) and once those are more concrete, I will definitely share those plans.

As for food, DaRae and Friends will be catering our reception. If you have not had her food yet, you are in for a treat. It is delicious! At this point, our plan is heavy hors d'oeuvres and a carving station. A menu has not been set yet, but we have plenty of time to work this out. In fact, we will be taste testing her food in April, and our plan is to have a menu planned by mid-July. We are toying with the idea of having passed hors d'oeuvres while guests are waiting on the wedding party to arrive (love this idea) and having the full spread ready once we arrive.

Since Jacob and I are planning to see each other before the ceremony (a first look!), there will not be a need to stick around the church for additional photos. Instead, we can book it to the reception site to get photos in over there. In fact, it may even work out that we can get some photos at the golf club done before the ceremony...since it is so close to the church. We will have to play around with those times with our photographer.

As for the bar, we are not quite sure what the case will be on this front. There are several options, from setting a dollar limit (once this limit is hit, the bar will close or turn to a cash bar) to having an open bar for x number of hours (and cash bar to follow once that time limit is up). But we have not played around with numbers or anything yet.

I am super excited about our wedding reception! The food and location are absolutely perfect and will really pull the entire event together. And best of all, it truly sums up everything we wanted that day. Love it!