Real Engagements: Alyssa Alley

How did your fiance (or you) propose?

* I was sitting on our bed. He came out of the other room with a strange but happy look on his face. I looked at him and he immediately knelt down in front of me and said a beautiful speech (although I admit I don't remember a word now, other than the fact that he used my full name) and asked me to be his wife. I, of course said yes, fell into his arms, and we were both laughing and crying and kissing. It was the absolute perfect proposal. I did not want a huge ordeal about it, because that's just not us. The way he did it made it such a surprise and was so perfectly us.

Did you know the proposal was coming?

*Oh yeah, we had been together on and off for 10 years at the time. We had been discussing marriage for many years. In the year or so leading up to the proposal, we had been talking about it very seriously. We had actually already chosen our venue and our photographer, though we didn't book them until after we were officially engaged!

How long is/was your engagement?

*He proposed on January 31, 2016. We got married on April 22, 2017. So we were engaged for a little over a year.

Where did you find inspiration for what to wear in your engagement photos?

*I tried Pinterest, but I have to admit I didn't have much luck there--all of them were too formal for me. For my first (and main) outfit I had kind of always known I wanted to do a leather jacket and a white shirt with a pop of color for my shoes. The second outfit, I honestly threw it together the day of, and I ended up hating it.

How did you end up deciding on your outfit(s)?

*For my second outfit, I literally just had to pick something or end up wearing only one outfit, so I just grabbed a shirt that had some lace detailing and a different pair of shoes. For his outfits, we did one where he matched me (but with a gray shirt) and then for the second outfit he was *supposed to* take the jacket off and switch to a button-down we brought. When it came down to it, we both totally forgot to have him take the jacket off...It was cold that day!

Did you get your hair and makeup done? If so, by whom?

*My sister, Rhiannon Lake, is also a hairstylist, so I had her curl my hair beforehand just so I wouldn't have to mess with it. I did my own makeup - I do wish I'd worn more, though.

Did you use the same photographer you plan to use for the wedding?

*Absolutely. We were both so in love with her style of photography!

Who was your photographer and do you recommend them? *Rhiannon Trask (yes, same name as my sister!) of Pop Wedding Photography did our engagement and wedding pictures. She was absolutely incredible and I HIGHLY recommend her! (She does travel to far-off wedding locations, too!)

How much did your engagement pictures cost? If they were included in the price of the wedding package, how much was the package?

*Our engagement pictures were included. Our package was between $1000-1500 range.

Were you or your partner nervous about getting the pictures taken?

*We were both pretty nervous, and honestly he was not in a good mood that day. I don't remember what was going on, but he had been in a bad mood all day - but Rhiannon is such a miracle worker, you'd never know by looking at our pictures!

Do you have any advice for those who haven’t had their engagement pictures taken yet? *I honestly have too much advice for this section, so I think I'll write an entire article about it instead! But to give you a small piece of advice -- plan your outfit carefully! But also, don't overthink it. Take Advil before you go and try to relax!

If you could go back and change anything about your pictures, what would you do differently?

*Absolutely I would change my second outfit. I wish I had done one outfit that was more dressy then the other. But the shirt I chose for my second outfit was picked out about an hour before the session and it ended up doing an optical illusion thing that made me look like I have love handles (and I'm tiny!)

About how many pictures did you get back from your photographer?

*I honestly don't even remember, but I know it was in the hundreds.

Which ONE picture would you say is your favorite?

What season did you have your pictures taken in? What was the weather like that day?

*We did our pictures in Spring...April I think. It was actually quite chilly that day (maybe 60 or 65 degrees) and it was overcast and somewhat rainy. The rain held off until after the pictures, but it did start sprinkling towards the end.