Congratulations Rennie and Dave!

Last week, my dear friend (and bridesmaid!) Rennie got engaged to one of the most wonderful guys I've ever met! 

A couple of years ago, I went to visit Rennie in Philadelphia (she had just moved back there, from California, which is where we met). We went out to The Great American Pub to meet up with a friend of hers. That friend brought a couple of other friends with him and one of those guys was Dave.

A very attractive photo from the night these two lovebirds met

Dave proposed on a Tuesday night, in the very same spot where they shared their first kiss. He even took her out to dinner at The Great American Pub beforehand, where they sat at the very same table that we all sat at the night they met!

My phone buzzed on my coffee table and I literally squealed when I opened a text from Rennie saying "Happy to announce... Dave and I are engaged!!! :) oh my goodness!" It included this stunning attachment:

I am so incredibly excited and happy for the two of them. Rennie is one of the greatest, most generous, sweetest, most fun people I know. Ever since we met Dave, I could see that he is a great guy and a perfect match for Ren. It has truly been a joy getting to know him and seeing the love he and Rennie share develop before my eyes. I know that they are going to continue to have a wonderful life together and make each other very happy. I also cannot wait to celebrate with them at their wedding!

Our fun, outdoorsy engagement session!

A couple of weekends ago Derek and I finally got to "sit" for our engagement session with the lovely and talented Kelly Cameron! I think most people have probably noticed that the days of posed portraits in front of a cloudy blue background in a studio are a thing of the past. Today's hottest photographers are taking a more artistic, storytelling approach when it comes to engagement photos. I worked with Kelly via email for a few weeks to come up with an original and personal plan for our session and I must say, I am pretty dang proud of us!

Earlier in the afternoon, I stopped in to visit Lauren of Hint of Shimmer to get my face camera ready. Lauren will be doing my makeup and my bridesmaids' for the wedding and I am so thrilled to be working with her! She is talented, super cool and oh-so-sweet. She did a beautiful job on my makeup and my sister Jeanine and I had a lovely time chatting with her throughout my appointment. I was also lucky enough to have her do my makeup a few weeks earlier when I modeled for Nettie's Cloth & Ink at an Austin Fashion Week event! It was so much fun!

Here's a good close-up of my makeup. Lauren did a wonderful job!

We then made the trek out to Kingsland, Texas to "The Slab," a really cool spot on the Llano River near Derek's grandparents' house. Derek pretty much grew up at this spot. Some of his favorite memories are from when he would swim, fish and play there as a boy.

I know that an engagement session is not exactly a guy's first choice of activity for a Friday night so I really wanted to incorporate some of the things he loves to make it as enjoyable as possible for both of us. I started out with a fly fishing theme and incorporated some good old Lone Star beer. We also brought along our sweet little Dachshund, Prince. Derek has been teaching me to fly fish for a few months now and I have to admit, it is really fun!

                          

Prince likes it too, but he prefers to watch from a drier spot.

I even planned out our outfits on Polyvore!

We were also able to get my ring reset just in time for the photos! I designed it based on a setting I found online but the pink sapphire side stones were my own personal touch. My cousin Rick took it to his friend in Dallas and he was able to bring my vision to life.

For our second scene we used the 1993 F-150 that we drove half way across the country when we moved from San Diego to San Antonio. Derek's dad has it now and he let us borrow it for the shoot! I just love the great green color and vintage-y look of it.

I tried my hand at a little styling with a quilt I found at Wal Mart and coordinating throw pillows from Ross (and one made specially for me and Derek by my cousin Lauren) to create a fun and cute tailgating scene.

Kelly also made me a beautiful country bouquet out of sunflowers, alstroemeria and wildflowers she picked on location.

The road that runs through the slab is really cool-looking so I definitely wanted to make sure we took some photos of us standing in the middle of it. I knew this would be tough though, since it is a main road with a 60 mph speed limit. Miraculously, we were able to get all of the shots we wanted before a single car drove through! This one is definitely one of our favorites.

I think this engagement session definitely captured our relationship beautifully. Derek loves the outdoors and has really made me learn to appreciate nature since we started dating two years ago. My mom also pointed out that the road scene was fitting for us considering all of the miles we've travelled together. I am so excited for the thousands of miles that are to come as we start our journey in marriage in just six months!

I also need to give a big thanks to my sister, Jeanine for tagging along and being such a great dog wrangler. Prince just loves his Aunt Jeanine. 

And an extra big thanks to Kelly for getting these done incredibly quickly so I was able to send out our save-the-dates on time!

To see some more check out Kelly's blog post about our shoot!

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- Kelly is the greatest! Her work is amazing and she is a truly wonderful, fun and friendly person. Since I met her in November it has been such a joy getting to know her. I always look forward to seeing her and I am so excited to shoot with her again when we do my bridal portraits in a couple of months! Best of all, my mom will be in town for that!

The celebration continues...

Every two or three years, my mom's extended family gets together at a lovely beach location for a family reunion. Last month we had our third reunion on Hilton Head Island, S.C. It was a fun and relaxing week of fun, family, surf and sand! It's always great to see the extended Hald family all in one place. We all trekked from Pennsylvania, New York and Texas.

In the middle of our week at the beach, my mom hosted an engagement party for me and Derek! I of course had to have a hand in the planning -- I just couldn't resist!

When you have a wedding guest list as big as ours, DIY projects aren't exactly easy to pull off. Since this party was only about 40 people, I was able to satisfy my crafting craving a little more easily. I created these champagne flutes with supplies from Party City and Michaels.

I bought a couple of packages of plastic flutes, these nifty little fake engagement rings and some twine. I tied the twine into bows with the rings secured inside of them and voila! We had cute little custom flutes for toasting (the kids got sparkling cider for that one).

Even though it was a smaller, low-key get together, I wanted to send out invitations for the party. Thanks to Vistaprint I was able to do that for under $20! I really loved the design we chose because I think it combined "beach" and "vintage" really well.

Derek and I definitely enjoyed ourselves and from what I heard, so did everyone else! I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

Me and my godmother Susie!

Derek and I with our gracious hostess

My mom and her sisters, Aunt Sue and Aunt Jeannie (she was the flower girl in both of their weddings!)

The teen girls

Some of our friends from North Carolina even made the trip down to help us celebrate!

(l to r) My sister (Jeanine), Derek, me, Rich (down from NC) and my brother (also named Rich)

The kids and their sparkling cider

That's one of the peach cupcakes I made from scratch! I got the recipe from Pinterest and they were scrumptious.

Cousin Matthew and his sweet girlfriend Macye (are they next?!)

Me and the brides I served under back in the day (missing two)

Derek with the corresponding grooms

These two are excited to be in-laws

My brother so lovingly pointed out I looked like a Stepford wife. I ordered this festive frock from LaceAffair.com

I'm so glad that Derek finally got to meet the rest of my mom's family and that we could celebrate with some of our wonderful cousins, aunts, uncles and friends. Thank you guys so much for coming and for all of the sweet and lovely gifts you gave us! Derek and I are so blessed to have you all in our lives and to have you as part of this exciting time in our lives. And a special thank you to my mom for the awesome vacation and fabulous party!