Shoot the Breeze: Our Seaside Engagement Shoot

Here are some pictures I have been planning on sharing for a while...a small selection (from 500+ ) of images from our engagement shoot!

I haven't got very weddingy all up-in-ya-face on the blog, because I figure if you are visiting for normal fashion ramblings you probably won't be that excited by all the 'big day' details. However I thought it would be nice to occasionally share some bits in association with the subject. 

Coming from a magazine background choosing a photographer was very important to me. Not only over the years have I worked with a fair few photographers, but I have a very strict idea of what I do and don't like. After hours of internet searching I came to the conclusion that the amazing photography stylings featured on all my favourite wedding blogs, such as Love My Dress and Rock 'n' Roll Bride, were something only dreams were made of. Most of these photographers were southernly based (we are getting married in the North West) and well out of our price range. I looked at a lot of images from traditional wedding photographers, and was left feeling nothing but disappointment at their lack of heart, fun, and style. 

I was beginning to fret, then I happened across the super-talented Steven Rooney at Natural Touch Photography. As soon as I saw his beautiful images, saw he was ideally located for our wedding, and realised he was within budget - I knew I had found our guy!

We had a really great meeting with Steve and not only is he booked for the wedding next year, but he also agreed to do an engagement shoot for us. As a purveyor of social media and the web, engagement shoots are no strange concept to me, yet they were to many of our friends and family. I explained to them that an engagement shoot would be great for several reasons;

1. To document our engagement and have some awesome photographs to look back on when we are old and grey 'Aw weren't we sweet before we were married, look you had all your hair...etc, etc'. Also - like many couples- we don't actually seem to have many, or any, good photographs that were not taken at arm's length

2. To give my lovely man, and myself, a chance to get used to being photographed together and a chance to work with Steve, so that on the big day we feel comfortable with him

3. A chance for our photographer to get to know us and what we like, this way on the wedding day, he will know, for example, that we are the kind of couple who are up for trying different things to get the best shot

This shoot was done in just one morning in July, we were incredibly lucky with the weather as it had rained most of the week before. Our first location was the beach and sand dunes, followed by a nearby meadow and woodland. We both had a quick outfit change (of course) before heading to the pier and arcade to finish up our shoot. We had so much fun during that morning - and we blown away by the photographs, of which my favourites change daily.

And as this is primarily a style blog, it only seems right to tell you what I wore:

Beach/woodland

High waisted denim shorts, New Look

White T-shirt, Primark

Tropical denim waistcoat, River Island

Pumps, Primark

'A' necklace, Urban Outfitters

Heart sunglasses, Vintage

Pier/Arcade

Red jeans, River Island

White shirt, Dorothy Perkins

American flag concealed platform shoes, Ebay

'Hello Sailor' necklace, Topshop

'Love' Brooch, Punky Pins

Black sunglasses, Vintage

Oh and I also styled James a bit, so we were wearing complementary outfits... (haha, he loved that!)

He wears:

Pastel striped T-shirt, H&M (beach/woodland)

White and navy striped T-shirt & pale denim shirt, H&M (pier/arcade)

Blue trousers, Next

Mint pumps, H&M

Watch, Ben Sherman

Sunglasses H&M

So what do you think of the above photos? If you are married, did you go for an engagement shoot? If you are not, would you?