Photographer Friday

Today is exactly four weeks from my wedding.

OMG.

We had our e-shoot today, but I won't blog about it till I get the photos. I am exhausted though, but it was totally fun! It was so great to have a preparation for the Big Day (I've never had professional photos taken before) and it was fab to be able to do all sorts of kissy-kissy stuff with Mr Ruby Slippers (who, on the way home, said "I don't kiss you on the neck enough." Awwww.)

Anyway, since it's Friday, here are some pictures by the wonderful Adeline & Grace:

Photo of the Day

In honour of our engagement shoot, which is at the crack of dawn tomorrow, here is a theatre-shoot collage by Meg Baisden.

I'm really nervous and really excited. I hope these pictures turn out well.

And can I just take a moment to say: "IT's OCTOBER! I'm getting married THIS MONTH!"

Photo of the Day

I think this is just the most beautiful setting for a ceremony I have ever seen! By Boutwell Studio.

I'm heartily sick of...

Now you know that I stalk a LOT of photography blogs. A frikkin ton of them, actually. I've stopped using the blogroll on this page, actually, and just use dear old Google Reader - this poor list just wasn't cutting it anymore. I have over 300 blogs in my stalking, er, reading list, so I get through a lot every day. And there is this one thing, this one phrase, that keeps jumping out at me and making me...I don't know...feel all uncomfortable and icky inside. And that is the phrase "magazine-worthy", as applied to someone's wedding.

Image Source
What does that even mean? It's worthy of being in a magazine? Obviously, but... WHY? What makes one wedding more worthy than another? Is it the cost? The details? The venue? And who decides that, anyway? What they're basically saying is that most weddings are not ones that people would ever want to look at again, and only a select few are worthy. Wow, thanks for that. I'm so glad to know that my wedding, the celebration of my love and commitment to my husband, the day that it took hundreds of hours and more organisational skills than I knew I possessed to plan and create, is just...well, not quite good enough. I might as well just throw in the towel and elope.

The thing is I don't even WANT my wedding featured in a magazine. I mean, sure, if some prestigious wedding magazine editor called me up and begged me for permission to feature my nuptuals (and paid me for it) it's pretty unlikely I'd say no. But it's not exactly something I aspire to. That said, it still bloody hurts if your beautiful, special day is labelled as "average", which, let's face it, is what NOT calling it "magazine-worthy" amounts to.

So could we stop all this madness of labelling some weddings as "better" than others? There is no "better"! There's just "yours", "mine" and "theirs". Oh sure, tons of money and an idyllic location and the best photographer and floral designers help, but I've seen the most beautiful budget weddings featured on blogs like A Practical Wedding and 2000 Dollar Budget Wedding, and they couldn't be more special, awesome and unique. But are they "magazine-worthy"?

Right there I was about to say "Why do they have to be?" but that's not my point at all! This isn't about rebelling against tradition, and having a (gasp) NON-Magazine-Worthy wedding, so that people will point and say, "Wow, look how avant-garde she is! Her wedding's not magazine-worthy in the least!" NO. It's about the fact that there shouldn't even BE such a phrase. No one's wedding should be judged like that, ranked alongside all the others. Seriously, people? Bigger Picture here. If you loved it and your guests loved it, that makes it worthy of anything in my book. So there.

Rant Over.

Photo of the Day

Ah, veil shots and flare...I'm so predictable. This one is by Denise Bovee.

Eight things I learnt about my dress

I have my dress alteration appointment on the 4th of October, so a few days ago my mother brought my dress over from her house, where it has been safely residing away from prying Mr Ruby Slippers eyes and evil kitty-claws. I tried it on while she was here, ostensibly so she could help me choose a necklace, but mostly I just wanted to play with it! Then we packed it away in the spare-room cupboard. Tonight Mr RS went out roleplaying, and I couldn't resist sneaking it out and trying it on again (why this should feel sneaky, since it's MINE, I don't know, but it did).

What I learnt tonight about my dress:

1) I can totally get it on and off by myself! Go me!
2) I think, with careful holding, that I can go to the bathroom in it without needing embarrassed assistants.
3) Boy, do I need to suck my tummy in. Can I do that for eight-plus hours?
4) I have a teensy bit more armpit cleavage than I thought I did.
5) No matter how high I hoist my arms and jump up and down and stretch, my boobies do not pop out. This is excellent news, because it means I can go braless, which I wanted to do since all my strapless bras are uncomfortable as frick.
6) This dress is HOT. And by that I mean I was sweating after two minutes, not that I looked like a supermodel in it. Well, I might, but it's not for me to say :-)
7) If I was wearing heels I wouldn't need alterations done. As it is, I'm wearing ballet flats and paying for my dress to be made shorter, and hoping like heck that they don't balls up the embroidery round the bottom.
8) I can't decide if I would prefer the skirt to be less full than it is, or not, but since the netting that makes it poofy is sewn in, I don't really have a choice without destroying the dress to find out.
9) However full the skirt is, I still LOVE IT. Love, love, love it. There are times when I wish I were wearing a more 1940's screen goddess bias-cut gown and a birdcage veil, but this dress is too sweet and pretty to carry that look off. (Possibly why I'm doing the old Hollywood glamour thing for my e-shoot). Anyway, I absolutely love it and can't wait to wear it in THIRTY-FOUR days!

Oh man, you want to see pictures? I honestly can't decide if I want to post them now or wait for the photos of The Day! Part of me wants to make sure it, and I, look our best. On the other hand, if I was on Weddingbee I'd pretty much have to post it, not to mention that all the October Brides on Brides.com have already seen it! So....here goes:



If only someone had thought to fix the train in this pic...however, I like the photo because you can see the back of the dress in the mirror, and I like the way it falls in front at the angle I'm standing. See what I mean about the style? It's soft and pretty and somewhat Jane Austen-esque with the split-front overlay and train (which you can't see). And I love it, but it's so not old Hollywood! Ah well, we can't have it all.

Photographer Friday

Today's photographer is Greg Bumatay of Bumatay Studio. I love his work! And I especially love that he can do any type of image - bright colour, soft or luminous sepia, crisp black & white or soft, romantic black & white, you name it - and make it gorgeous.