Epic questions

pockysquirrel

I talked to our photographer and FI and I are finally getting our engagement pictures done the first weekend of May! Woohoo! We booked our photographer in November and epics are included in the package, but we decided to wait for spring so we could shoot outdoors in warmer weather and with the trees green. I've been quite impatient, seeing everyone else's lovely pictures around the board! But now that we've got a date, I'm freaking out a little because I don't know what I'm doing, LOL. Photographer's asking where we'd like them done, and I have no ideas! How do you choose a location for your epics? Especially given that FI and I don't exactly have a lot of places that are important to us...our first date was at a Starbucks and he proposed at home. And furthermore...what the heck should I wear? Come to think of it, what should FI wear? He's the kind who'll wear things that don't match at all and walk around looking like he got dressed in the dark if you let him, so I'll probably have a hand in picking something out, LOL. Finally, if anyone just wants to share what their experience with getting epics done was like, that'd be helpful too. I don't really know what to expect and feel a little awkward about the prospect of standing around outside engaging in varying levels of mild PDA while some dude takes pictures of us.

brainybrunette

Don't worry, I had a e-pic freak out too!  We originally had out e-pics scheduled in August, but then Hurricaine Irene happened and that got canceled.  Due to our schedules and the photog's busy schedule, we had to reschedule for Nov 1st.  I was so mad b/c I had all of my clothes picked out and now I was going to have to come up with a whole different set of outfits appropriate for Nov!  I was also convinced there'd be no leaves left on the trees and that it would be freezing!

Well, Nov 1st came and it was a BEAUTIFUL day!  Sun was shining and temps were in the 60s!  And yes, there were still leaves left on the trees : )

I did my hair and makeup trial the morning of e-pics.  After my trial, she took my hair out of the 1/2 up 1/2 down and fixed it so that it was just loose waves.  So pretty!  

We scheduled e-pics for 3:00, timed to correspond with sunset time.  This is how you get the "butter light" in your pics.  Ask your photog what time you should start to get the butter light in May.

For clothes, we went with 1 casual outfit and 1 dressy outfit.  I stayed away from patterns b/c sometimes those photograph weird.  Also, FI and I tried to coordinate without being matchy matchy.  We also tried to pick outfits that were classic and not too trendy.

As for how we picked a spot, I just told the photog that we wanted to be in Saratoga (that's where our wedding is), but I didn't really care exactly where.  He suggested the grounds around the Hall of Springs (our venue) so that our e-pics and wedding pics would tie in nicely.  There were a few spots around the HOS that he didn't take too many pics in b/c he wanted to save those for our wedding.

I was nervous about all the PDA too!  I was especially concerned about FI b/c he's REALLY not into that!  But, FI surprised me and was totally into it for the pics : )  After the first few pics, I almost forgot that the photog was even there.  Most of the time he wasn't right on top of us (unless he was trying to get a close up shot).  

I think the personality of the photog really helps too!  Other than email and phone conversations, we hadn't met our photog.  But, by the end of the 2 hour e-shoot it felt like we were old friends.  FI and I had so much fun that we were laughing and smiling the whole time.  The photog also had a great sense of humor so that really helped too!

The biggest advice that I have is for you and your FI to just be yourselves, have fun, and enjoy being in love.  I think sometimes people try to pose like models (I've seen this in a lot of different blogs).  What ends up happening is that you look angry in your pics!  

Here's the link to our photo's blog where some of our pics are : )  http://www.joeelariophotography.com/nicole-chris-saratoga-engagement-session/

lenergyrlah

I just scheduled our e-pics for April 7.  We're starting at 5:00 PM because for us that's an hour before sunset.  Our photographer said that's the most beautiful time for pictures.

I was looking at a lot of parks, although I wanted "green, maybe flowers" as a background rather than "woods" which is what most of the state and county parks are out here.  We're getting married at a country club with a beautiful golf course, so we decided to have our engagement pictures taken there.  Are there any golf courses in your area that you could go for pictures?  They tend to be really green  I've seen some great e-pics that are taken on city streets though, so whatever you prefer.

As far as what to wear, I think the most important thing is that the pictures represent "you."  FI and I like to dress up all fancy, so we're going to dress up for our pictures.  I'm probably going to buy a pair of wedges, because if it's rained recently the ground will be soft and I don't want to wind up with heels covered in mud.  I'm hoping to get a dress that compliments FI's shirt (I don't want it to be too matchy matchy) and he'll either wear a shirt/tie and dress pants, or a full suit depending on how warm it is.

I want to put one of our pictures on a magnet for our STDs so I'm really impatient to get them done!

minionlover

Are there any nice parks that you guys like to go to? Or historical sites? I don't have much advice because we got ours done while on vacation in Jamaica. We had such a great time because we went to a wine tasting before the pics. FI drank about 4 bottles of wine and I drank about 2. Then we went to the bar and drank more. After that we hurried and changed and went down to the beach. Let's just say we went pretty drunk and had lots of fun!! I don't really recommend drinking all that before the pics lol.

mrshall1027

We have ours scheduled for the end of next month and I am super excited.  We both want to a loose a few more lbs before we take them or else they would have already been done!

As for location, the other ladies had some good suggestions.  We are getting married downtown, had our first date downtown, and got engaged downtown, so we that's where we are doing ours at.  Our photographer is super cool and there's no time or location limit.  We are starting off at a building called the Long Center and there's an area where you can see the whole city in the background, so that will make for some cool pictures.  Then there are a couple of cool murals and artistic walls we are going to.  One is thing blue mosaic wall that is so beautiful and the other is a mural that says "I love you so much".  Both places are pretty well known for e-pics.  Then we are going to end it at a park where there are peacocks running around, it's wooded, gorgeous landscaping and will be perfect for the sunset photos.

So, maybe you can drive around downtown and see if there are any cools spots that you could use or some pretty parks.  I also looked at other photographers websites at e-pics to get ideas of places in our area.  That's how I found out about the mural and mosiac wall.

As for attire, we are going to do one nicer cocktail attire type of outfit and then one more casual outfit.  We both like to dress up and look nice when we go out, so it suits us.  I really want to get a jewel toned solid color dress with some statement shoes (I'm a shoe whore ) and then a pretty blouse with jeans and either wedges or sandals.  He will probably wear a nicer pair of jeans with his cowboy boots and a button up and then for casual, maybe some shorts or jeans with a polo or nicer t-shirt.

poison+kisses

I chose location based on an area that would have a similar feel to where our wedding will be. Our wedding in another city and will be in the old part of the city near the waterfront. So for our e-pics we got them done in the city we live in and got them done at Historic Properties (an area downtown with lots of heritage buildings), so the location still had a similar feel. The historic part of our city is also on the harbour, so we had even had some nice pictures with the ocean in the background. I'm not terribly picky about things matching or having a theme, but my favourite part about where we're getting married is that it's within the city walls of Old Quebec, which is absolutely beautiful, so to get a similar feel by having them done in the historic section of Halifax was nice. 

It was cold out for ours, so there wasn't a lot of thought into clothes. We didn't do any formal shots, we aren't really formal people though either. He wore jeans, a long black pea coat with a hoodie underneath and black shoes. I wore jeans, brown riding boots, a short black pea coat with a colourful scarf. I had my hair down like I normally do, and did my make-up very natural (but lots of foundation to cover up any blushing haha). Basically casual but a little more polished than usual. We aren't terribly formal or proper, so it wouldn't feel natural if we got all gussied up for photos in fancy stuff and wouldn't really represent ourselves very well. So in order to be more comfortable and have it feel more 'us' we just went with a polished casual look.

I also thought I would be really uncomfortable, with someone telling us to kiss and then taking pictures and all the that. I kept giggling and blushing for the first couple poses, but soon got used it and it wasn't that weird anymore. FI got a little too into it near the end and got a hard on, which I still tease him about haha. The photographer we used was really nice and sweet and we got along with her well so that helped.  

Overall it was really nice getting the pictures done. I wasn't terribly specific with where I wanted the photos done, so we just wandered around Historic Properties and our photographer would see a shot she'd like and direct us. Before we started I gave her a couple photos I found on the internet that I liked the style of just to give her an idea of what we liked, and she went from there. 

ETA: When I read your title, I read it as 'EPIC' questions instead of e pic questions and thought to myself 'Oooo I wonder what's so epic about these questions? I am intrigued, they must be awesome' haha

pockysquirrel

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_october-2012-weddings_epic-questions?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:56b9bcef-1e34-456e-81f5-cfaa107456b2Discussion:8c2a446c-6d3e-46df-a578-aa11d3383543Post:7bba44a4-c44f-430e-bbd4-99e59d571fe0">Re: Epic questions</a>:
[QUOTE] ETA: When I read your title, I read it as 'EPIC' questions instead of e pic questions and thought to myself 'Oooo I wonder what's so epic about these questions? I am intrigued, they must be awesome' haha
Posted by poison+kisses[/QUOTE]

LMAO, you know I had the same thought. For some reason the new mobile version of TK doesn't show it when you type dashes, so e-pics became epics. And hopefully they will <em>be</em> epic.

So having read responses, do you think it's bad to not dress up for e-pics at all? I mean, FI and I are not really dressy people...it would really be more 'us' for me to be in jeans and a nice-ish top and him to be in jeans and a polo. I can't imagine trying to do the pictures in dresses and ties and being comfortable...we'll save that for the more formal pics at the wedding itself, I guess. I can't really imagine getting my hair and makeup that done up either. Will that look awful, though? I guess I can suffer for art, LOL.

mrshall1027

I don't think you need to dress up if you don't want to.  I would just go for a polished up version of your usual selves.  As for hair and makeup, I wouldn't mind doing it myself, but I figured if I am paying for a trial, I might as well do it on a day I want to look extra nice.  If you aren't doing a trial or just don't want to do it that day, I don't see it being an issue for you to do it yourself.  I would just read up on makeup that photographs best.  I've heard that mineral makeup doesn't photograph well so you may want to get something else if that's what you normally wear.

shoebie

We did 3 outfits, very formal dress and button up, less formal dress and polo, and a blue jean and foot ball jersey one. We did ours at a local state park heres a public link if you want to check them out 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150369739158214.348249.564368213&type=3&l=b4297aeb93

Good Luck !!

lehc723

It's not bad at all to not dress up. We did ours pretty casually; I was in a casual dress with tights and boots and a scarf (my fall uniform) and he was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans. We looked very "us". Do whatever makes you feel most comfortable!

Friends of mine who are also up in the capital region took their photos in downtown Albany, and they looked great! I'm not the one from the area (FI is) so I don't know it as well, but you could see the Egg and all sorts of stuff.