Wedding Anniversary Photo Shoot

As our 5 year wedding anniversary was approaching I started to come up

with ideas to make it a fun one to remember.

I asked Brandon if he wanted to renew our vows,

he quickly replied "No".   Well, hmmmm...okay, I

will think of something else then!

When we got married, I hired a fab photographer

and I adore our wedding photos...they captured the day

perfectly.  However, if I could change one thing on my wedding

day, I would've delegated more, so I could enjoy the day and be more

relaxed.  I am sure most brides would say that though.

I never took the time to have my wedding dress cleaned and/or have it

preserved, so it always just hung in the spare closet.  This gave

me the opportunity to try it on from time to time.

And that's where my big idea came to me.

I then decided I was gonna put my wedding dress on, where my hair down,

with fun jewelry and get some pictures that are

 relaxed and not so wedding-y.

I wanted to relax enough that I could even sit in a field of grass.

What bride does that in her wedding dress?

So, last week, I put on my dress....it didn't zip the last inch or

two..but Nealy {my fab photographer} told me not to worry...she

wouldn't be photographing the back.  I picked up an elastic belt

from "Heartbreakers" for $1.97 that had some fun, faux,

flowers with sparkles {of course}.

Next, I borrowed some kick-butt, bold, Stella & Dot jewelry from

a couple of my favorite friends that rep it.

My parents came to watch the kiddos and my

mom brought me some hydrangeas from her garden.....

they are one of my favorite flowers and for some reason

I couldn't have them in my wedding bouquet. 

I did my own hair, and wore it down and my Mom

applied some fake eyelashes I had bought from CVS, 10 minutes

before they arrived.

Brandon picked up a fedora hat and donned his seersucker

jacket. 

I am telling you all of these details, to let you know....

you can do this too!  Dust off your dress, do your own hair,

switch up the jewelry to something more funky and bold,

and grab your man and tell him what he's gonna do with you!

I will say, I have to give my husband mad props for doing

this, to obliging my crazy whim, because it was so much fun and

we will have these pics for a lifetime.

The shoot, took all of 25 minutes and it was much cooler

than the temps on our wedding day.  We laughed a lot

and I didn't have one bit of stress! 

And if you live in the Minnesota/Iowa area,

you should have PhotographyByNealy be your

photographer too!  All I really had to do was smile,

she made us feel at ease, told us how to look our best and even brought

some cool props.

As you can tell from the pictures, she is a true artist

with a great eye, and she does all types of photography.

Nealy, thanks for making me look fab, for capturing

our love for each other and for creating memories

that we can share with others.

Go visit her www.photographybynealy.com site, you will be glad you did!