Wedding Wednesday | Unplugged Ceremony

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I know I've talked to all of my couples about this and had a whole hearted agreement from them that their ceremony will be unplugged and that I won't have any issues. From a photographers standpoint its just annoying, and then you have hurt feelings if you didn't get shot A or B because Aunt/Uncle Bob were using their flash while you walked down the aisle. Trust me, it sucks. 
Now I'm on the other side of the lens, literally and figuratively, and while I see the excitement in going to a wedding and wanting to hold onto that moment forever I would much rather you hold onto it through the trained and professional eyes of my photographer. 
 I don't want to have to go through my wedding ceremony and see that my family was too busy taking pictures with their iPhones to enjoy the fact that I was getting married! I definitely don't want the risk of losing shots because so-and-so decided to be a "professional" and shoot with flash. 
I don't want hurt feelings or a sad photographer, because I didn't scrape the bottom of the barrel with hiring her. I went through over 100 different photographers local and out of state before deciding on a who I would trust with this day. 
And that's why our ceremony will be unplugged and if I see my grandmas phone come out, I will walk down the aisle and confiscate it. Kidding, but seriously, I will cry ugly Kim Kardashian tears and you'll have to live with that for the rest of your life. 

Hello Snow | Engagement Session

A few months ago I met with Brandon + Maggie for a pre-wedding consultation and during our meeting I could tell that Maggie and myself were kindred spirits. Not only are we both bubbly, outgoing and totally hilarious (uh duh) but she's also from Arizona and we could relate on so many levels!

We talked for a few months about what kind of engagement session she was looking for and when we sat down to sign the contract she said "I WANT SNOW!" and, as luck would have it, it snowed the day before her session AND it wasn't windy. This is absolute insanity because ND is known for 2 things:

1. Cold

2. Wind

So to have perfect conditions for her dream engagement session was pretty much written in the stars! We had originally planned to shoot out in Hatton by an old red barn, but Maggie was able to talk to a local shop owner and had permission to use their cattle farm! I don't think anyone besides Eric and people who've been in the car with me knows how much I love cows. I moo at them, no matter how many times we've passed the same cow and when I got to pet one? OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! Eric said I looked like a 2 year old with a kitten. So to be able to shoot on a farm with cows, tractors, horses, trees and a mini pony? Oh my little kid heart was ecstatic! 

Plus Brandon had this genius idea below:

How funny, right? I'm glad that they wanted snowy engagement pictures! 

Please feel free to pin, share and of course follow my work on Facebook! 

Photography services available in: Grand Forks, Fargo and East Grand Forks areas. Available for travel. 

Wedding Wednesday | HELLO!

This is my first link-up for Wedding Wednesday, but definitely not my last! I should probably preface this with that I've been not-so-secretly planning my dream wedding on Pinterest for the last year. Let the crazy year of wedding planning begin! 

So this is a cute picture, I happen to do photography and happened to have conned this man into a kissing picture. #score. 

First things first I am a planner. I make lists, so I went out to find the perfect planner that didn't cost a fortune. Thankfully TJ Maxx has my back in this department and I found this gorgeous 2016 planner for a fraction of the cost a day designer would cost. Best part? It's got both Whitney English AND Emily Ley esc styles involved! 

I can't complain about the quote on the front either, 2016 is gonna be the bees knees! 

The Date: 10-8-16

Second thing we figured out was the date. In our small circle of family and friends there was one or two things we had to keep in mind for picking our date: 

1. Eric's mom's birthday 

2. Harvest

Unfortunately the first date I thought would work was his moms birthday and I immediately changed it.. Harvest is either going to be just beginning or getting ready to begin on our date and since its close to home for all our farming family I think we'll be okay! 

Last thing I figured out, aside from where was the colors. I used to be all about the summer wedding, and then I realized that fall/winter held so much more for me from the fact that it was fall when I met Eric, and technically fall when we started dating, and the color schemes work better for me too. So without much further ado, our colors! 

I can't wait to share more with you guys as the planning process continues. Next week will be a glimpse into ceremony/reception ideas and decor! 

Linking up with To Travel & Beyond

We're Engaged!

So I dropped a bombshell that we got engaged, I'm sure that most of you are dying to read how/when it happened and I don't want to disappoint so here are the major details: 
It was a Monday a week before our anniversary and I had no makeup on.
Seriously. I mean, sure Eric was nervous when I got home and had texted me earlier to find out where I was, I didn't think anything of it. I figured he was hiding my gift -I snoop, get over it- and he wanted to make sure everything was hidden when I got home. 
Instead when I walked through the door I said "where were you at?" because I knew he was buying my gift, and he asked if I wanted my gift then and to help him stop being so nervous, so I said yes! I am not one to turn down gifts when offered.. so he comes out of our room with a ring box and says "I went and got this ring, and I was wondering if you'd marry me?" 

SAY WHAAAAAA! 


I was incredibly shocked! I mean for real, I asked him "seriously?!" and he said yup! I said "yes, yes, of course!" and then he put the ring on my finger. There were happy tears and smiles, maybe a trip to target, and I got to run down the hall to my best friends apartment to tell her/show her the ring! 

the wonderful engagement gift from Shay :) 

Now we didn't announce it for almost 30-ish hours because we couldn't get ahold of my dad, but thankfully everyone was very happy and are excited to come party with us in North Dakota! 
So here's to planning a wedding and becoming a Reinhardt in 2016! 

Long time, no blog!

Hello, hello! 
I should probably start out this blog with an apology, but I won't. See I stopped blogging because my heart wasn't fully invested, my time was being spent camping with Eric and his family and spending boring Friday and Saturday nights watching way to much Super Natural AKA "soups-natch" and I enjoyed not being "here" in the online world. 
A lot has happened since July, can I just say I am sorry for leaving you hanging mid summer, is that cool? Sorry! Eric and I continued on adventuring, from more long weekend camping trips to "running" 5k's, turning 27, moving to a new apartment, starting a new job (me).. oh and we got engaged too! Crazy, right? Like a week before our anniversary we decided to kick our adventuring up a notch by jumping into the world of wedding planning! I'll share more of our engagement story in another post, but for now I just want to let you know that this past year was not only fully needed, but I'll give massive praise hands to God for it. I am incredibly blessed, not only because I have my best friend and now fiancé by my side, but cause He's helped grow my business and my friendships and really everything. 
It was good to step back and spend time with my loved ones and to throw myself into work in a good way. I'm so grateful that in 2013 I chose to move here not knowing the outcome and now I plan to live here for the foreseeable future, get married and maybe have some kids! Now stay tuned for wedding stories, planning and life in general. I hope to share some photography stuff too since that's been getting crazy busy too!
See you all soon!