Makin' Magical Memories

So I teased you guys with the inspiration  for our Disney World engagement shoot and our props and then I got a little distracted with other posts, but the time has come!  First, I'm going to need you to...

You can't say you weren't warned./Pic by me from memegenerator.

Please tell me I'm not the only one, but I got all fan-girl excited when we finally got to meet and work with the photographers. Like I mentioned, I was following Concept Photography's posts for a long time before the engagement, so it was kind of like meeting a celebrity. I'm ridiculous, I know, but I was totally geeking out on the inside when we met them at the Transportation and Ticket Center to catch the monorail around to the Magic Kingdom.  And they did not let me down!

A little review - Sara and Jason were awesome, down to earth, easy to talk to, and made us feel SO comfortable when taking pictures. They gave us enough direction to get us going for what looked good, but didn't try to overpose it.  I had saved some of my favorite locations and styles for Magic Kingdom photos and sent them to Sara on a Pinterest board the week of our shoot. We used that for ideas, but didn't stick to it too hard, I let them know we were open to being creative and whatever we came across that day.

Just a little "behind the scenes" look at our shoot by my sister.  Sara is giving us some posing direction on the left and fixing my ring on the right./personal photos

It was so fun to watch them scan an area, looking for good lighting or an interesting detail, and then getting posed over there. We ended up with a good mix of what I had picked out, and trying some new things! They were also so encouraging, making sure to be very vocal and tell us when we were doing something that looked good.  When we had some really good shots, they were just as excited as we were!  And they were just sweet and funny and an adorable couple, so it made the whole process that much easier.  Before the shoot, Sphinx - who doesn't love smiling and posing - asked me "Is this going to be awkward?" and I really wasn't sure.  There would be a lot of people around and we've never done anything like this.  Afterwards he and I were totally in agreement that it was not awkward because they were so easy to work with.  So a big, huge recommendation for these two! And they got us all of our edited pictures (250!) in one week! I was willing to wait for these amazing pictures...but I'm really glad I didn't have to wait too long!

So even though it was a hot, muggy morning, it wasn't too crowded and we powered through for about two hours, three rides, three "lands," and lots of kissing!

All remaining photos by Concept Photography.

First we started off playing around on a bench outside the park entrance, to let the park opening crowds disperse and get comfortable with the photographers.

Who doesn't love a good shoe shot? I'm a bit pigeon-toed and Sphinx (lovingly) makes fun of how I stand sometimes..so we were giggling about my feet placement during this one.

Sphinx requested a Flash Jump picture off the bench.  Well, we've got to let these grooms have their fun too, right?  After a small test jump off of the bench to make sure I wouldn't roll my ankle, we jumped for joy!

The first take, I was looking down, but look at that jump!

This one I like to call "The Flying Groom." This is all one jump. Sphinx has got some ups!

Once inside the park, we headed up to the train station to grab some pictures because there's usually no one up there, it has good views, and good lighting. We actually did have a little crowd up there for some reason, but you'd never know it looking at the pictures!

The current desktop background.

 Then we headed out to Main Street:

One of my requests: blurry crowd on Main Street

Fun fact: We chowed down at Casey's hot dogs immediately after the shoot.  After spending the summer dieting and working out, I busted up some corn dog nuggets, nacho cheese, fries, and a Coke!

I was super excited to grab a picture with the Dapper Dans! And color coordination, much?

 Pyramid engagement photo tip: when in doubt, TWIRL.

What good is a flowy dress without a little spin action?

And if you've been to the Magic Kingdom lately and seen "New Fantasyland," you may have noticed new walls and castle turrets which we used for backdrops too.

A little "Disney after Dark" going on. 

My goal was to get pictures on the Cinderella's Golden Carousel, Dumbo, and the Mad Tea Party - and we were able to get them all!

You know what's hard? Kissing on a carousel. Go ahead, you try it sometime. The horses were moving up and down in opposite directions, and we just had to lunge at each other to get the shot.  Nearly chipped our teeth. That's dedication.

 The attempts to kiss had me cracking up!

I call the bottom one "Mwahaha I got him to commit!"

 Did you know that the carousel in the Magic Kingdom was built in 1917? It was bought by Walt Disney in 1967, restored, and all of the horses are still used today!  Going to Disney World with me is like going to the Empire State Building with Ted Mosby. Fun or torture? You decide.

We were also able to incorporate those props:

Practicing our smizing.

 

We played by this water spout kids area, and Jason suggested a "trash the engagement shoot" because it was SO hot and we just wanted to run through that water!

We are a one-trick pony.

 While I was really tempted, I resisted running through the water because I knew there were a few more pictures we still wanted to get on our way out.  Oh, and because I didn't want to knock any kids over...but mostly waiting it out for the balloons on Main Street.

And I just call this photographic evidence that we're perfect for each other, since we both made these faces unprovoked: 

We're just a couple of goofy souls trying to make each other laugh all the time.

So yea, you could say that I'm obsessed with these and as you can tell, we had a BLAST taking them. Seriously, best time ever.  I'm a little sad that we won't be working with Jason and Sara again, since we decided to go with someone local for our wedding day (I'll share them soon!).  I love our wedding photographers and they are really amazing too, but I was just a little bummed since we had such a great experience with Concept.

I'm so glad that I got to make this long time Disney vision of mine come true.  Since working there, one of my favorite things to learn about are facts and stories about how and why things came to be.  Maybe it's the engineer in me, but the idea of the Disney parks is so much more than just characters and rides - it's the great, big result of creativity and ingenuity to make a place that's like no where else.  Dorky, yes, but it was part of the appeal of this idea for me.
It's also a big link to both of our pasts, we both had lots of family trips there growing up.  I remember being a kid going to Disney, and looking back on our pictures with the princesses and thinking how pretty they looked, in their dresses and heels and hair all done. And I was in shorts and Disney T-shirt.  Don't get me wrong, I was a cute little munchkin, but I wasn't dressed like a princess.  So this was my chance to be a princess for the day with my prince charming!

Speaking of our dress - you'll notice we didn't change and that was fine by me.  I meticulously shopped for and planned these outfits so that they worked for the whole shoot (and I had spent so much time on these that the idea of looking for a second outfit made me hyperventilate).  We did bring a change of clothes so we could stay in the park after and not look like weirdos.

Finally, bonus pics of the best helpers ever, my sister/MOH Curls and her boyfriend, Brado.

They were either attempting the Dirty Dancing jump or trying to mimic Rafiki and Simba.

They toted around our props, kept us supplied with water and napkins like champs (because we were sweating like crazy even if the pictures don't show it), and took photos on multiple cell phones so we could send them back to our parents.  Sara and Jason even commented that they don't normally like people following along, but that these two were welcome back anytime.  That's my sister, she stays on top of things and why she will make an excellent MOH.

Making sure my ears were ready to go.  So cute.

I know I talked about being unsure about engagement pictures, but obviously I'm a big supporter of them now.  I'd say it's worth it just to get comfortable with your photographers or, as in our case, being photographed in general.  And at the very least, you'll hopefully have a great time laughing and being smoochy with your spouse-to-be.

Is there really such thing as too many pictures?  I sure do hope not! Anybody else want to redo pictures (engagement or wedding) because they were just so FUN?