Brooke and Peter's Portraits

Brooke and Peter hired us to follow them around for a day, because they had so many great location ideas. The results are fantastic. We began the day with Shakespeare, on the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Guthrie Theater. The couple followed in Puck's footsteps while we snapped some shots under the stage lights. Then we stopped at Pizza Luce for lunch and a beer to capture a few close ups. After an afternoon siesta, we followed Brooke and Peter to the Red Stag Block Party - it was important to this social couple to be photographed in an energetic setting with lots of people around. We had so much fun with this idea that we tagged along to a birthday party where these lucky ducks won the first round of a cake walk!

:: Bandit the Model Dog ::

After multiple times of scheduling around rain, Angela, Brian and I were finally able to finish their engagement photo session. I am so glad we waited. The images turned out great! They brought their dog Bandit and he totally stole the show.

:: The Engagement Story :: A bride by any other name...

We are seven weeks from the wedding and everything is starting to happen very fast. Invites have gone out (almost). This weekend was the bridal shower with Peter's side of the family. I feel very lucky; they were so generous with me. I've been spending a lot of time debating whether I should change my name to theirs. He's got a beautiful name that means "pilgrim" in Armenian. Mine means something close to "holy valley" in Norwegian. I can see the case both ways; changing my name is a way to honor him and his family, as well as having a common link with any children we may have. It is a kind of quaint, nice tradition. On the other hand, there is something so powerfully lateral about keeping my name. It is a symbolic way to keep my individuality.

Thankfully, no one, including Peter, is pressuring me to change it. Interestingly, I get the most pressure from those who want me to keep my name.

-Brooke

Brooke, a client of Lace/Hanky, shares her thoughts about what it is like to be engaged– the good and the bad.
Read more entries from The Engagement Story here.

Carolyn and Cory :: Ponca State Park, Nebraska

Carolyn and Cory gathered friends and family to celebrate their marriage among the high bluffs and forested steep hills of Ponca State Park. The ceremony took place on a hill overlooking the Missouri River. It was gorgeous. I love the juxtaposition of formal wear in a natural setting!

:: The Engagement Story :: Get a wedding planner! ::

I have come over to the dark side in this DIY culture. I am a believer in wedding planners.

This is not a testament to my decline into wedding madness - it is practical. I see now why that system works! Vendors (caterers, venue, cake, flowers etc) respond to negotiation and I, as the bride-to-be, am negotiating from the weakest position. Probably the weakest position in all the business kingdom. These vendors know that I have been set up by 30 years of expectations about what a wedding should look like and they hold all the cards in giving that to me. Plus, I need them to like me, so I receive the best service. I have no power in the process.

A wedding planner, on the other hand, is able to operate with cool precision, analyze vendors by the numbers, ask for deals, and has the knowledge and experience to know what to ask for. Vendors need the wedding planner to like them so that they continue to get referrals. The couple benefits from pre-existing relationships nurtured by their planner. It is an entire ecosystem unto itself.

Maybe I should have understood this sooner. Or maybe I'm wrong. (Or I might add, in the Midwest we're not taught to negotiated and ask for what we want.) Anyone have a different experience with their wedding planner?

-Brooke

Brooke, a client of Lace/Hanky, shares her thoughts about what it is like to be engaged– the good and the bad.
Read more entries from The Engagement Story here.