Photographers, Bridesmaid Dresses, and Registries, oh my!

It was a very productive weekend in the Hoey and Soon-to-be-Hoey Household. Our weekend kicked off with a great Friday night with Bridesmaid Tatum and her husband, Eric. Saturday morning we managed to crawl out of bed and head over to Cafe Intermezzo to meet with Caroline and Matt of One Six Photography. I loved them off the bat last week when I met them at the Bridal Expo, loved their work on displayed on their website, and loved them again this week. To me, they feel like people we'd completely hang out with; and I really like that comfort level with them. We talked about non-photography-related things for awhile then moved into the "business" of the day. But overall it was just a really easygoing meeting, I didn't feel like it was an awkward, formal interaction that you sometimes get with vendors when they just want to "sell, sell, sell". Their work is brilliant, but I think the main advantage is in their flexibility (and the price is pretty good too!).

You might be wondering what I mean in terms of flexibility. For one thing, there's no time restriction on the day of the wedding. Some photographers tell you they are with you for eight hours, some for six. These two would be with us all day - that's right both of them. So Matt would be hanging with Bryan throughout preparation and capturing the shots of the boys doing...well, shots and Caroline would be with me and the ladies. The engagement session is included in all of the packages they offer and, again, they demonstrated their flexibility by telling us they are willing to go to any location and however many we'd like. One thing that was nice is Caroline said, "You'll be tired of getting your picture taken before we get tired of taking pictures". They really love what they do and it's just awesome. We are, however, not officially booked with them yet as Bryan has "to think about it". It is interesting through this process learning how different Bryan and I approach things sometimes. I think going with One Six is a no-brainer. Bryan tends to not like to go with the first thing he's offered without entertaining other options. Fair enough.

Moving along, Maid-of-Honor Nicole and I ventured to David's Bridal for some Bridesmaid Dress shopping later Saturday afternoon. We were extremely successful to say the least. Nicole looked stunning in alot of dresses, so she made things really easy by reviewing things in terms of comfort, mobility, coverage, etc. The color of our dresses (Holly, which is Hunter Green at David's Bridal) is just absolutely perfect. Because I don't want to give too much away on dresses, I have to resist the urge to give anymore details :-)

Sunday morning Bryan and I began our first registry at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I didn't know exactly what to expect. I thought we would basically get the scanner from someone and get turned loose in the store. Instead, we were led around the store which had some advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage was that our guide, Amanda, was extremely knowledgeable about all the products we could have ever considered. The disadvantage was there were things we needed to discuss here and there. So Bryan's surprising revelation that "Stainless steel Calphalon pans are ugly" (Me: "Blasphemy!!!") caused a little bit of a ruckus between the two of us. Bryan's shocking voicing of opinions during selection of Fine China also made some waves, "I like the Waterford" (Me: "Why? I like the Lenox"). There were some battles that ended in compromise (crockpot, Calphalon set - the Unison series, both non-stick and stainless), some battles he won (cutting boards, Fine China flatware) and some I won (check out which China we went with!). Then there were things he didn't care about at all that I'd exclusively use (panini/griddle, Wusthof knives, Keurig Coffeemaker, tea kettle, and food processor, whoo whoo!!!) and things I didn't care enough about to make a fuss that I told him to pick whatever he wanted (decanter - okay that was the only thing I wasn't gonna make a fuss about).

Overall, I found the first go-round on the gift registry long and stressful. Once Bryan and I started getting texts and calls about the Ravens/Patriots game, it was over. Needless to say, we still have ALOT to do, probably across multiple stores (Macy's and Williams-Sonoma). Even Amanda was like, "You have lots of time, but you need to add alot to this registry due to the amount of invitees you'll be having". I don't even know where we'll find the time with all of the events in the next few months, so I have a feeling there are going to be multiple weeknight trips to the mall in the near future for us when I'm not working. My main concern is I can't get out of the "asking-for-expensive-things-seems-selfish" mindset. I know people do registries all the time, but everything that is on the registry at this point has been carefully thought about (maybe too carefully, poor Amanda had to stand there while we deliberated over MANY of our items).

In closing, I think we did a pretty good job. It'll be interesting to see if Bryan decides to seek out other photographers to compare with One Six or if he caves because he knows I don't even need to see anyone else. Speaking of which, feel free to check out their website: www.onesixphotography.com

I've gone on long enough since it was such a productive weekend. Back to the Save-the-Dates!!!