say cheese!

As I mentioned in my earlier entry, one of my photographers came to my engagement dinner to shoot some pictures. He then texted me the next morning to let me know that the proofs were already on his website! How awesome is that?!

I don't know about the rest of you but I am not really used to photographers snapping away at me as if I'm a celebrity. I've never done modeling and I don't speak at conferences. I expected my wedding day to be my only moment in the sun. But due to the kindness of Papillio, I got to have one and a half moments (I say one and a half because Gianfranco had a little bit of my sun at the dinner)! And now I want to share with you the thoughts (and pictures!) from my experience...

First, when David, the photographer, arrived, I was quite aware of his camera. While it's not necessarily a BAD thing (I was also reminded that the camera would be on me the entire wedding day!), I realize now that it may have interrupted the candid shots he was trying to take as in the picture below. As the night wore on, however, I learned to loosen up and forget that he was even there. There were several times when I purposely posed for the camera, like when Gianfranco started singing some pretty terrible karaoke, but overall, I tried to stay as natural as I could. As a result, the candid shots came out terrific!

Next, I didn't realize how poor my posture was until I saw some of these photos! Granted, I tend to lean over a lot in pictures and Gianfranco always yells at me for that but I didn't realize how crooked I am all the time! I look awful slouching over and had it not been for these shots, I wouldn't have been aware of it until my WEDDING pictures came back. I would have been so upset had I felt my wedding pictures were ruined due to my terrible posture. I'm already upset that the cake picture features my slouching. Don't lie and say that I look fine because I don't. It's even more obvious because I'm standing next to Gianfranco, who looks nice and straight...

Now, I had wanted candid shots from the beginning and after seeing the ones from our party convinced me even more. They captured not only the people and the places but the EMOTIONS as well. These shots of me and Gianfranco tell you how embarrassed and amused I was by my sweetheart's awful rendition of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling." Can't you just HEAR me begging him to stop?!

Last, but not least, I learned how important posed photos are. I had researched photography with a snobby, "photojournalism-only" mindset. When meeting with photographers, I tended to skip over the traditional shots and look only at the candid ones. Now that I'm actually looking at the pictures, I realize just how important the traditional ones are. David took so many nice shots of our family that I decided to present them as gifts later on. I'm glad there's a picture of me and Gianfranco with our parents. Candid moments are great but twenty years from now, we'll want to remember how we looked from the frontside!

In the end, I'm so glad our photographers came. While we do have a private engagement session with them in the fall, having David snap photos in a party atmosphere taught me a lot of lessons I wouldn't have learned until my wedding day. Aside from all the points I mentioned above, I also got a chance to see him in action and I was really impressed how fast, unobtrusive and professional he was the entire evening. In the end, I think it was just as beneficial for him as well, since he got a chance to know us and our family before the big day. Plus, he got to catch a glimpse of how nutty Momzilla is!

So this entry ends with a question for you married ladies - do YOU have any advice for being photographed on your wedding day?! I'm sure there are lots of us who would appreciate your thoughts!