So, We Have All These Pictures...

Now, what do we do with them?

Mr. Goodlaff and I had thousands of pictures to go through after the wedding.  With such beautiful photos, we had to find some way to display them all!

Mr. Goodlaff and I chose not to include an album in our photography package, knowing that we'd use some kind of online service to create our own album, post-wedding.  We made sure we got the digital rights to our photos, which meant we could basically do whatever we want with them.  Use Photoshop to draw mustaches on our guests? Check.  Poster-size prints? Check.  Self-made album? Check.

It turns out that being Costco members has advantages beyond gigantic jars of mayonnaise and pickles. We discovered that My Publisher partnered with Costco to provide a 20% discount to members, so without any real comparison shopping, we decided to create our wedding album through that company. At the time they were also running a buy one, get one free offer, which was a huge savings and a big enticement for us, seeing as we wanted to get albums for each set of parents.  Total quantity needed: four books.  Perfect!

May Day!: Photos Redux

Let me tell you, getting ready to look like a bride for the second day in a row wasn't as long of a process, but it sure was exhausting (maybe because I was so tired?).  I did my very best to apply my own makeup, amateur that I am, and still make it look good for pictures.  My hair, which was the day before an abundance of curls, had relaxed, and I decided to go with a half-up, messy, tousled curls look.  I carefully instructed Mr. Goodlaff on how to lace up my corset dress (that was fun), and after much ado, we both climbed into his car (me with some difficulty giving the poofiness of my dress), and drove to meet our photographer.

We chose the Empire Mine in Grass Valley as the location of our day-after photo session.  Early on in our engagement.  Mr. Goodlaff and I considered getting married at the mine, but given the uncertainty of the weather at the beginning of May and the cost, we ultimately decided against that location.  The grounds are fantastic: there's a beautiful stone cottage, plenty of greenery and foliage, a gorgeous garden, and many opportunities for posing with industrial structures.  We paid the fee for entrance, and basically ran amok for several hours on the grounds, taking photo opportunities anywhere that looked inspiring.

But enough talking.  Let's get to the pictures.

May Day!: Alcohol Plus Costumes, Equals...

Photobooth Fun!

Dancing wasn't our guests' only option for reception entertainment.  We had a Photobooth, and boy, was it entertaining....

Niki Ross Photography

Our Photobooth, provided by Jensen Photobooth of Sacramento, was fantastic.  The booth was huge, and sometimes more than six people were in there at once.  Our guests could choose to have their pictures taken in black and white or color, and we had a huge bucket of props for people to choose from. 
But the best part was that the booth printed two sets of pictures--one for our guests, and one for the Goodlaffs.  We also got a DVD of all the images taken that night, both of the strips, and of the individual pictures themselves.

Jensen Photobooth

All of our guests were encouraged to hop in the booth, take pictures, and then leave us a note in our guestbook.  They certainly lived up to the task!

May Day!: I Think We're Alone Now

After all the pictures with other people were taken, we had 25 minutes until our reception started, and instead of going inside and eating appetizers and drinking some wine, Mr. Goodlaff and I posed for even more pictures.  But this time, we were all alone.  Well, except for our photographer...

We took advantage of a lot of great locations around the Miners Foundry, and in Nevada City.

By the ivy-covered back wall...

By the neighboring winery doorway...

Behind the Foundry's back door...It's entirely possible that this is one of my favorite pictures of Mr. Goodlaff and I from our wedding day.  I love the colors, the background--everything!

May Day!: Family Photos

Inside the Miners Foundry, our guests and Bridal Party were enjoying our appetizers and free-flowing beer and wine, but we were outside, dutifully posing for pictures with our family.  Niki told us that we wouldn't be moving much during all of our formal shots, which turned out to be the case.  For most of our photos, we are in the same spot, in exactly the same pose.  It made it easy for us--we didn't have to move or change.  People were swapped in and out, and our family pictures went by just as quickly as our bridal party shots.

With Daddy, Mama, and Sister Goodlaff

Aunt Goodlaff and Sister Goodlaff's Boyfriend hopped in for this one

With the Goodlaff Grandparents

May Day!: A Recipe for Photos

Immediately following the ceremony, while our guests were enjoying the cocktail hour, our family and our bridal party had some modeling work to do. 

Niki's recipe for bridal party photos, started with just Mr. Goodlaff and I in the middle:

First up, add Bridesmaids.

May Day!: The First Look that Almost Wasn't

I fell in love with the idea of a first look very early on in the planning process.  For those of you not versed in wedding lingo, a first look is a chance for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding ceremony. As an avid Weddingbee reader, I saw so many awesome first looks, and with all the good reasons for having a first look (time alone before the wedding, a special moment, cool photos), I was completely sold.  But there was a problem: Mr. Goodlaff didn't really want to do one.  He wanted to see me for the very first time as I came down the aisle to become his wife. 

He gets bonus points for sweet sentimentality, but I have to be honest: when he wasn't really into the idea, I was crushed. I decided not to give up, so I kept bringing it up and bringing it up, in the hopes that Mr. Goodlaff would warm to the idea.  A few days before the wedding, he finally gave in.  It might have had something to do with all the craziness of family constantly surrounding us and the very little alone time we had, or maybe the photography timeline scared him into it, but either way, he came around and agreed that a first look maybe wasn't the worst thing in the world.

My inner Bridezilla was mollified by this turn of events, because I knew exactly how I wanted our first look to--well--look.  Less than two weeks before our wedding, I had fallen in love with the first look that Laura (of Wine and Cheese, Please) had done, and it was so sweet and perfect that I knew that if Mr. Goodlaff ever changed his mind, I could only hope to have a moment half as beautiful. 

The corner, the peeking, the awesomeness!

The peeking around the corner totally did me in, and that was that.  Of all the first looks I've seen, that one was the best; I just knew that the ivy-covered wall at the back of the Foundry would be a stunning background for our fist look.

But it wasn't to be.  The ivy-covered corner was bathed in sunlight and as such was unfit for pictures.  Minutes before our first look was to happen, we picked another spot right across the street from the Foundry, and used this obliging hedge instead:

May Day!: It's All About Me

There are so many cameras, so many pictures being taken, and so much pressure to look good, that your wedding day will become an exercise in vanity. When you finally look in the mirror and see yourself as a real bride, at first it will be hard not to be astonished at how awesome you look.  After a few minutes of gazing at yourself in wonder, reality sinks in and you think to yourself, "hot damn, I'm fabulous!"

Right after Sister Goodlaff finished my makeup and I was about to get my hair finished, I had my first "fabulous!" moment.

There were many, many more moments that the cameras captured that day, and I thought I'd share some of my favorites. I didn't really have a plan for how I wanted to look, so here's what we came up with:

May Day!: Sharp Dressed Men

There's nothing better than a man in a suit, and I have five to show you! After all those pictures of pretty girls, we need a little testosterone up in here.

Okay, maybe matching argyle socks aren't exactly super manly, but, well....you get my drift.

While my girls and I were resting, it was time for Mr. Goodlaff and his groomsmen to take a turn in the camera's spotlight.

May Day!: Girls, Girls, Girls

The first official order of picture business was to get me and my bridesmaids in front of the camera lens.

Before we even got to the Foundry, Niki had me and my bridesmaids take a few shots at the suite.  It just so happened that there was a window in the bathroom, and she took a few pictures through it, making for some really great, framed shots. 

You Got Blogged!

We are waiting for the CD of our wedding photos to come from our fabulous photographer, Niki Ross, but in the meantime, we've been blogged!  Niki has posted a few teaser pictures from our wedding on her blog, and all I can say is that I can't wait to get my hot little hands on them! 

Here's a few I snagged from her to whet your appetite for the Goodlaff wedding recaps:

All photos by Niki Ross Photography.

Want a little more?  Check out Niki's blog post, here!

Yay!

Ready For Our Closeup

A package came for us in the mail last week, and though the box was a nondescript cardboard, it's what was inside that counts.

Our engagement pictures are here!  Niki of Niki Ross Photography, sent us a few prints and a DVD of all our pictures taken (both edited images and unedited images) and we are thrilled to pieces to have them.  She sent us six prints of three different pictures on different kinds of photo paper: matte, metallic (loved it!), and regular photo paper, as well as a specially packaged DVD.  Look at that cover!  It's beyond awesome.  Our engagement photos have their own, personalized case that truly is a keepsake in and of itself. 

But the best part, of course, are the pictures, so without further ado, here are a few of my favorites: (Warning! Picture heavy!)

Say Cheese!

Way back in April of last year, when Mama Goodlaff, Sister Goodlaff, and I attended the Folsom bridal fair, I fell in love with this:

The much-vaunted photo booth!

I have quite a few strips of pictures from my younger days: four frames of as many goofy faces as could cram into the tiny booth, smiling, laughing, and trying not to fall out of the mirrored picture frame.  When I saw the photo booth vendor at the bridal fair, I was beyond excited.  The thought of having one at the Goodlaff wedding was so tantalizing, and I just had to learn more about it. 

Inspiration of E-pic Proportions

Okay, I know, I know.  Mr. Goodlaff and I were supposed to have our engagement pictures taken a while ago.  With under 100 days to go before the wedding, I admit, we are probably cutting it close.  BM Cosmo was teasing me last week that if we wait any longer to take our pictures, we will have to take them after the wedding. Ha. Ha. Very funny.

The road to engagement pictures was paved with good intentions.  The Goodlaffs planned on taking pictures in the Fall.  I love Fall--it's my favorite season, and I wanted nothing more than to have beautiful bold red, orange, and yellow leaves feature prominently in our photos.

So Pretty...

But, alas, it was not to be.  I work in elections.  We had an election in the fall.  There was no time for engagement pictures.  Boo.



After Fall came Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and before you knew it, we were rolling in to January.  Finally we set a date, and though it's dangerously close to being February, we are squeaking it in to the first month of this year. So, now that the date is set, how about a little bit of Engagement Session Inspiration?

Warning, lots of pictures ahead!