Our Wedding, Part 3: You and Me...and Me and You

One of the best parts of the wedding is that you take pictures with your spouse. Sounds a bit arrogant right? But think about it, taking professional quality photos are something adults rarely do in life. All those perfectly posed family and childhood pictures, but no quality adult keepsake photos!! Every picture I had of myself or the two of us was a quick snapshot. There's nothing wrong with snap shots -- in some ways they are better because they are cheaper, more realistic, possibly even candid shots.  But, occasionally it's nice to have someone who is an expert in photography take the best possible pictures involving good lighting, great angles, etc.

Luckily, when you get married, you are practically guaranteed to have a few good quality "couple pictures" (engagement or wedding photos!)  to frame around the house.  I have already replaced a few framed casual gameday or date night pictures with the professional ones.  Wedding pictures are important to document such a happy day, but the truth is few couples ever get professional pictures taken of just them past their weddings, so I hope Dave and I can remember to have a photographer snap a couple "US" pictures whenever we take professional family pictures.

Dave and I took a lot of our "couple" pictures the month before at our "pre wedding shoot" but we did take several pictures before the ceremony too.  I've included a few favorites :)

Praying for our new life together

Advice for "day of" couple photos and time together on your wedding day:

1. If at all possible, take pictures pre-ceremony. We took a few after the ceremony (ex: confetti shots) but most were before the ceremony so we quickly went to our reception. Also that meant we got to walk out of the ceremony, smile, hug and celebrate being MARRIED not immediately line up for pictures!

2. Smile, relax, enjoy posing with your spouse and be yourself (that's how the photographer catches those precious candid moments) - and if necessary, give the boy a beer to relax. Our post beer pics are better than our pre-beer pics.

3. Do what you want to do -- do you feel like chatting with hubby, squealing, praying, kissing, high fiving -- it's y'alls day so enjoy a few moments together. For me, it was very important that we pray together on our wedding day, so we did. I felt like - amid all the excitement and pictures and cake and dancing - I wanted to keep the day sacred. I loved having that moment with Dave...and I loved that our photographer captured it on film for us!

Right after the ceremony when we realized that we were MARRIED!!!