We Found Our Photographer

[All images (c) Jessamyn Harris Photography]

I have to admit--I've been looking at wedding photographer sites/blogs for a very long time. Embarrassingly long for someone who was not engaged until this past winter. I can't even count how many wedding photographer portfolios I've looked through online. Sometimes I recognize that I've already been to someone's site based on the music that starts playing! {By the way, Punam Bean and Natalie Moser---love the music on your websites.}

I would try and justify it by telling myself that it was helpful to my work as a picture editor--not that I would ever need pictures from a wedding photographer, but hey--ya never know!
So in short, since this was the one time, and probably one of the only times, I would be researching and choosing a photographer for myself and not for a work-related project, I put a whole lot of thought into it far before the proposal. My eagerness spanned the world wide web and many sleepless nights of surfing.

After being thrilled with our engagement pictures, I'm happy to announce that we've decided to book Jessamyn Harris! I've been a long-time fan of Jessamyn's style, and I am so excited that she will be photographing such a special day for us. She's also super nice and laid back, which I think will be key for any stress/madness/insanity/baggage floating around on the big day. {Not to scare you, Jessamyn, if you are reading this.}

So, let's see...venue, check! Photographer, check!

It's starting to look a lot like a wedding.

Surprise!: Our Engagement Pictures

I alluded to a surprise a few weeks back, and here it is! Surprise! I won a contest for a free engagement session with Jessamyn Harris, so while I was in San Francisco we had a fun photo shoot in Chinatown. We weren't even considering engagement pictures because of the added cost, so I was super excited that Jessamyn gave us this opportunity. Thank you Jessamyn!

The contest called for photo shoot ideas, so I sent her an email about one of the first times the boy and I hung out at a really dirty hole-in-the-wall in Berkeley. They sadly gutted the shop and now it's a Tapioca Express, but I thought it'd be fun to relive the night by taking some pictures with food in a kitschy setting. And fun it was! We got to eat, get our pictures taken, and spend some time with the very talented Jessamyn.

{You might remember her work from these awesome weddings around the wedding world:
Alex and Rich in Napa Valley; Lauren and Derek in San Francisco}

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot!

[I love the light in this photo! There was a very high chance of rain, and it in fact poured after we finished taking pictures, so I am happy that we had some sunlight! These photos were taken at Yuet Lee, a restaurant recommendation from my sister who insisted that the place served classic dirty Chinese food.]

[Jessamyn was kind enough to buy us lunch since they were 'props'. Notice the empty bowl in front of the boy? Yeah, he ate his entire prop. I don't know what was funny, but apparently it was hilarious.]

[I think this might be my favorite. Which is funny because we're not posing. At all. We took a ton of photos in the street, so here I am basically grabbing the boy from danger. Don't worry. I got your back. You just keep smiling for the camera.]

[My favorite posed shot!]

[This is in front of another Chinatown classic, Eastern Bakery.]

[I'm laughing because the boy very clumsily tried to grab some pastries. Yup, we're big dorks.]

[Our shoes! I hadn't realized they matched until the day of.]

You can check out more pictures and read my email entry at Jessamyn's blog here.

All photos (c) Jessamyn Harris Photography