Brilliant Ideas for Photos

Reasons I love this idea:
1) It looks amazing as a backdrop.
2) We have a ton of loose sheet music left over from making paper flowers.
3) John and I are musicians so this would be a fun way to tie that in. :)

Spotted on Hi-Fi Weddings, Photography by Amanda Doublin. What a brilliant idea!

Engagement Photos

Anybody who is a friend on Google+ or Facebook has probably seen the engagement photos by now. They went live this morning on our fabulous photographer's website. Check out the whole set here.

Ken Clunk and Angela Clunk rock so hard. We had a blast shooting the engagement photos and the results are beyond amazing. We are so thrilled with them. John keeps saying "I've never been so excited about photos before." It's only going to get better with the wedding day fast approaching! I know Ken will document our day in a way that will make it totally on par with any of the stuff I see on all those wedding blogs!

All photos are of course located at http://www.toomuchawesomeness.com/danaandjohn and are © 2011 Kenneth Clunk.

I like this shot because it looks classy and vintage. Also, this was early in the shoot, so my makeup and hair look their best. :)

"Bow ties are cool." -Dr. Who

Such a classy shot where I'm supposedly "fixing" his bow tie, though I
think I actually made it messier...

Playing with a sweet lens Ken rented for our shoot. See how the one
half is blurry but our whole side is in focus? Love it.

Dana and John, sitting in a tree...
I like our poses in this one.

Friggin' beautiful black and white shot.

My only original fear in going with a digital-only photographer was
that I wouldn't get amazing black and white shots the way you do with
film. I don't miss the film now, that's for sure. Also, this is one of my
favorites in the whole set! 

Had to get a couple by Severance Hall. Love the tilted angle and how
he got the whole building in the shot. I love this one!

Love the coloring on this one, and John's laughter.

Perfection. For me, my personal favorite. I hoped beyond hope
we would get a good kiss shot, but this one manages to also
be so classy and vintagey (check out that foot pop) and the
colors are perfect and the framing of the shoot is perfection.

Such great sepia-goodness.

Such a beautiful and classic shot of us. I love how crisp the black and
white is; wearing white was a definite plus for these shots.

Perhaps the second favorite shot of the day. Something about the angle
of our legs and the colors and the way the shadows look at the edges
of the photo. The whole thing is awesome.

Slow dancing on the Severance lawn. Of all the
shots, this is one of the most popular with my
friends. Several have declared this the
best/favorite pic of the day.

The spot where it all began. See that front Stonehenge-thing? That's where
John first told me he loved me. Also, he proposed in this spot. Glad to
have a kiss picture here, where I'm on tip-toes because John is so tall.

The rock where the first "I love you" happened.

We brought a couple of records; I definitely wish we had done more
with this idea since it's so funny in practice. Perhaps we'll throw some
records in the car to bring to Mohican for pics before the wedding
rehearsal? There's just nothing like Coltrane staring down Stravinsky.

Like I said above, Ken is fabulous. The best investment of the wedding by far. We are so happy to be working with him and can't wait for the rest! I know he'll make our day look so incredible and capture everything brilliantly.

Sprinkler Engagement Session

Spotted on OnceWed, Photography by Nancy Neil.

So adorable! I hope my own engagement photos are as awesome and full of love.

Royal Wedding Fever

...do you have it? I admittedly do. I am so excited about the royal wedding, even if I don't get a chance to watch it live (we don't have tv).

Why? John thinks it's stupid to care about celebrities, and for the most part I agree. I suppose it's partially that my generation grew up hearing about Princess Diana's wedding, which was this huge, spectacular, televised event that so many people watched. I am looking forward to having our own, especially with a couple that seems so real and modern and relatable for royals.

It isn't really the whole princess aspect, though I find it really cool that a middle class woman will be in line to be queen. I think I'm just mostly looking forward to the wedding itself. We have celebrity blowout weddings all the time, but none that the entire country cares about and focuses on. It's a special thing in Britain to have royal weddings, and we don't have anything like it in the U.S.

I love these engagement photos. Aren't they gorgeous together?

I just can't wait to see the details: the dress, the flowers, the decorations. I think it will be really neat, and definitely a trend-setter for weddings for years to come.

Also on the royal wedding-watch list: the royal menu! This awesome article on epicurious speculates as to what might be served on the big day, which is almost more fun than guessing about Kate's dress. An interesting read with some fun recipes in case you want to make some snacks to go along with your viewing of the wedding!

Long Engagements

Weddings are ridiculous. I mean it.

But this doesn't mean I don't love them. I wouldn't be in a friggin' wedding string quartet if I didn't enjoy the vicarious thrill of watching other people get married, and contributing something to their happy day. I wouldn't look at so many wedding blogs and bask in the beautiful outcome of all the stress and planning. But as I begin to plan my own, I find many years' worth of buried ambivalence about the wedding industry and all of the conspicuous spending that goes into one's "big day."

I got engaged on June 6^th, 2009. I realize that’s over a year ago. Most girls would have had the wedding by now! After all, it will have been two years (perhaps more!) by the time we finally tie the knot. People ask you constantly about when you'll set the date, and you encounter scrutiny for holding off. It's as though there's something wrong with a long engagement, as though it reflects negatively on you as a couple and conceals some sort of dramatic relationship issues. Being engaged in our culture is something that is seen as ephemeral; running the gauntlet to get to the aisle.

I like to think of our engagement as an important process, a transitional phase that will prepare us for many other transitions throughout marriage. After all, in the midst of all the chaos of making a guest list and budget and booking one's vendors, I have to become a bride. I have to ready myself for a legally binding commitment to love for a lifetime. I have seen so many women who seem to forget themselves in the details; the ceremony floral arrangements, the paper aisle runner, the napkin rings. I see so many women wrapped up in throwing the lavish party where they get to play princess for a day.

I am not saying these women always approach marriage lightly (though that is also quite prevalent in our culture). However, I am saying that their preparations for the wedding day are largely based on the superficial aesthetics.

I wanted to take time to write and reflect on our vows and their enormity and weight. I wanted to use this transition to really think through the meaning of commitment and what that means for us. I want to use this time to think and to question and to examine tradition. I want to question Canon in D down the aisle, the pristine white David's Bridal strapless ballgown, 1 Corinthians 13, saving the top tier of your wedding cake for your first anniversary.

However, this doesn't make me a cynic. Seeing a groom get choked up will get me, every time. I love the vows-even the standard ones. I love how weddings bring together so much love and support. I love the party. I love the anticipation of the groom before his bride walks down the aisle. I have been lucky enough to witness these moments dozens of times. But it's a terrifying journey (particularly financially).

Walk with me?