Engagement Picture Fiasco

Every email that shows up in my inbox today is giving me a heart attack.

Don’t the coupon people at Ann Taylor know that WE ARE SUPPOSED TO GET OUR ENGAGEMENT PICTURES BACK any day now and I need them to stop faking me out?!  I feel like I’m waiting for my semester grades in Calc- half of me is terrified of the potential horror, and the other half anxiously hopes for the best.  

See, our shoot was kind of a disaster. I was really pumped about engagement pictures, looking forward to them even before I had a ring. I had visions of us frolicking on the boardwalk, cotton candy in hand, yellow rays of sun sparkling across my ring. Like these:

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I booked the April shoot in January, and took the day off of work, for maximum nail, hair, and makeup pampering. For my hair, I wanted something polished but sexy, a blowout with volume and maybe some curls at the end. Like this:

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I wanted simple, pretty makeup, not wild, but I did want my eyes to stand out:

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My blowout looked a little too curly when I left the salon, but I reasoned it would fall a bit and be perfect. Instead, it fell so much that the makeup artist asked how I was going to do my hair when I got home. Unfortunately, I had no time to fix it, because  my makeup looked porn star awful and redoing that was the bigger priority. She actually used burgundy eyeshadow, and rimmed my eyes and lips in such thick liner that I had to hide behind my sunglasses as I slunk out of Nordstrom’s. Luckily, I’ve never hated the way I do my own makeup, so I washed it off, and crafted a quick navy smoky eye at home (while panicking to Mr. B, screaming at him to get me a shot of gin, so I could calm down and not look frazzled in pics. Wisely, he refused).  

My hair was still hateful, but my makeup salvaged and our outfits awesome. Plus, Mr. B had thoughtfully arranged some props on his own, including a bright bouquet of yellow roses and his guitar. It would be ok.

Yeah, it wasn't. The weather might have been sunny in my hometown, a half hour from the shore, but it was was gray and wet once we crossed the bridge to the beach. The boardwalk was smothered by a late afternoon fog so heavy we couldn’t even see the water. A steady mist floated through the air, covering the photographer’s camera in a thin layer of moisture that he kept wiping off.  Plus it was freezing, and our teeth chattered through every posed kiss.

But the worst part about the weather? THEY SHUT DOWN ALL THE RIDES AND AMUSEMENTS. All my must-have shots were things like, “Posing in front of the swings ride.”  “Sitting in front of the balloon game or spinning wheel.”  Like these:

Mr. B and I visit have often visited this boardwalk at odd times, like a Wednesday in the dead of December, and the game stands were open. They’re never closed. Like ever. Literally, our pics was the first time I'd ever seen them shuttered. We made do, with poses in the arcade and in front of beach houses, but we didn’t get any rides, games, or even water pictures – the only ones I really wanted.

On the plus side, I loved our photographer and feel confident in his ability. It’s not his fault I chose a terrible hairstylist or a rainy day for the shoot. But I am feeling kind of bummed out and nervous to see the results.  We are supposed to get them soon, so I will post as soon as I do. Until then, you’ll find me constantly hitting the email refresh button and reminding myself that people in the world have real problems.