Strike a Pose (and Stop Chatting)

NavyGuy and I have countless admirable skills. The list could go on for days. Taking nice photos however, - individually or together - would not make that list. I tend to either blink or produce attractive faces such as this:

NavyGuy, unless he's being poked in the side or tickled, reverts to a mixture of distaste, stoicism, or sheer irritation at the photography process a'la...

I'll spare you the painful photos of the two of us together; the long-standing joke between us is that we have no tangible evidence of our relationship because we have so few decent photos. With that background, you can understand my obsession with making sure we have a plethora of outstanding wedding photographs.

So, as part of our wedding photography package, we nabbed an engagement photo session. Not only was I thrilled to have more frame-worthy shots of us, but I was anxious to meet our photographer before the big day. After having witnessed firsthand the headaches that Sister went through with her photographers on the day of the wedding (which can only be blamed on their lack of listening to what she had requested), I wanted to make sure that NavyGuy and I "clicked" with our picture-taker (whoa, totally just caught the pun, luv it). Would we be comfortable enough in front of him to act lovey? Or would it be awkward and feel staged?

What a relief when approximately four snaps into our session, I knew my gut had been right about this guy. Dave Watkins, our photographer of Narella Studio, rocks. He's young, he's fun, he gives directions, but not too many, he lets you play in front of the camera and captures the moments between the couple without being intrusive, and the three of us hit it off. I feel 100% confident that our session is going to yield some beautiful photos of NavyGuy and I - beautiful because Dave chose only flattering lighting they'll show the real us and how happy we make each other.

We began our photos in the Capital building in downtown Madison, then ventured down some side streets to Monona Terrace. Dave claimed we were naturals in front of the camera! (And to think I doubted my modeling potential.) Apparently our only downfall is that we talk too much! (Shocking.) The photos should be up sometime by the end of January (Dave and his wife just had their first baby - a little girl - so he's a bit pressed for time), and I'll be sure to share once they're available. Mostly I'm just glad the day went smoothly and we enjoyed ourselves (and that I was able to cover up the enormous blemish under my right eye with superstrength concealer - don't get me started about that drama - god bless photoshop).

I also have to give a big shout out to NavyGuy. He hates getting his photograph taken, and didn't admit to me until the shoot was over that it had been the thing he was most nervous about while home for the holidays! You could have never known, based on how calm and cool he was during the photos. Makes me remember the lengths to which this guy will go to make me happy :)

Since I don't have our photos yet to share, I figured I better find some pretty pics for you all to look at! Check out this collection of the Best Wedding Photos of 2008 at JuneBug weddings, and stay tuned for more wedding appointment recaps from the holidays. (They're seriously taking longer to write than expected, but I know some of you out there are wedding-obsessed, so I WILL get to them.)