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March 23rd, 2011 
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A Challenging Engagement Photo Session with Dogs
Not what I expected at all! The events leading up to the engagement session were so hectic that we were even considering canceling the session altogether.
When we left the house we were ready to kill each other, we were both pretty frustrated about not being able to find a dog sitter to watch the dogs after our picture session was over with them. The other alternative was to pack everyone up again and go to the other photo shoot location, which was far from home. To top things off, we were running so late that we literally just threw on the first thing we found when we got home. It wasn’t until I thought about how absolutely ridiculous we looked with two huge dogs trying to jump up on the front seat of our small, two-door civic as one of the little ones tried to jump onto the dashboard that I realized I had overemphasized this entire session completely. I let out a chuckle when one of the big dogs stuck his face between the two of ours and tried to casually have the rest of his body follow. This, I think, calmed Adrian down quite a bit from the stressful situation I had created. I realized that it didn’t matter how ridiculous we looked to other people, I’m sure the photographer even thought we were a bit nuts. But as long as I continued to have my partner in crime who agreed with me, we could always find a way to make, even the craziest idea, work.
I had scheduled back-to-back appointments to get my hair and makeup done because I hardly do either of both on a daily basis, so I knew I would be completely lost for a special occasion, but getting pampered was a lot more stressful than I had anticipated!
When I was getting my makeup done, everything hit me like a ton of bricks; I was suddenly picturing myself getting my makeup done on my wedding day. This was the first real “process” I had taken toward the wedding and it was so intimidating; I had to hold back tears. I started to panic about the engagement photos as questions ran through my mind: What if I hate the photos? What if we can’t get that one perfect shot for the save the dates? Should I have picked an outfit that went with our wedding colors? What if we can’t get the dogs in the pictures?…and so o
n.
Our first photo shoot location was at an old historic park with beautiful scenery. Since our photographer had not worked with dogs before, it took us a while to get the “family” shot. We took a couple of photos walking with the dogs and then kept them still by tying their leashes up to a tree branch for our intimate pictures, no big deal. Our next session however; was in the always busy, downtown area, which was a bit more challenging because of the dogs. We were hoping one of the three volunteer dog sitters would have been available by then but unfortunately they were all still held up at work.
So, off we went to the beautiful historic downtown area with two German shepherds and two Chihuahuas. Oh yeah, we adopted a second German Shepherd two weeks ago and our lives have been twice as hectic. But of course we love to overcomplicate life and did not feel we had enough stress with just three, plus he was scheduled to be euthanized that week so we had no choice!
The photographer found a few perfect locations where she was able to snag a couple of pictures while our dogs were literally a couple of feet away from us staring at our every move. It was quite a sight for any passersby.
Since the photo engagement session called for us to be all lovey dovey, it reminded us why we were there in the first place. With the first kiss we were instructed to give each other during the session, all was forgiven.
The photos look amazing, even with several distractions we were able to pull off some great shots! Kristen Swanson of Kristen Swanson Photography was kind enough to give us a few photos of the session, hope you guys like them as much as we do.
All things considered, it was an amazing experience and even with a few glitches, we were able to capture some great images. As usual, I’ve included a few pointers from my experience with our engagement photo session that might be helpful.
Engagement Photo Session Tips
- If you are taking live animals to any photo shoot, be sure to have an action plan when their shoot is over and yours begins.
- Be sure to have two outfits in mind at all times; in my case, I had ordered an outfit a week ago for the shoot and it did not arrive in time, so I was scrambling to find a cute outfit at the last minute.
- Be mindful of the clothes you wear for the shoot, a loose blouse can easily make engagement photos look like maternity photos…like in my case.
- Be prepared to do some acting during the shoot or if you’re like me and can’t act, pretend the camera and the photographer are not there. I am as stiff as a board and you could see that with a lot of our pictures. When I looked at other sessions the photographer had done I saw that a lot of people were either good actors or were really comfortable around the camera.
- Don’t take yourselves too seriously! The photos I loved the most were where you could see that we were genuinely laughing at each other.
- Be prepared to make out in front of a complete stranger. It may take a while for them to get the shot they are looking for.
- It might also be a good idea to take some practice shots with the outfits you plan to wear and see how you look on camera. It’s hard to judge what works when you can’t see yourself.
I’m glad the engagement photo session is over and now we have some amazing pictures to share with everyone. It’s been great sharing my wedding planning experience with you thus far. Thanks for reading…until next time!
-Adriana
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