Wow... We're Getting Married!

Yesterday, Matt and I met up in tiny Severy, Kan., to get our engagement pictures taken. Jeannie Conard, the photographer, had taken my brother's and sister's senior pictures and also had children that are Matt's age that went to school at West Elk, so Matt knew them and had played summer ball with them growing up. She takes great photos so we were excited to have her take ours... and just to get them taken in general!

It was suppose to be 50 degrees out, which I suppose it was. But when it's cloudy and gray out, it definitely feels alot colder! Most of the pictures that Jeannie takes are outside and what I was noticing as I got closer and closer to Severy was how much snow they had! Great... just my luck! I assumed that we would have to take alot more pictures inside because once I got in to the lovely town of Severy and got out of car, I realized it was all slush. And I had ballet flats on. Good thinking, Allyson.

The "Getting to..." portion of the trip was quite entertaining. We were to meet Jeannie at her studio at 2. She said it would be hard not to miss since Severy.... well Severy is barely a town! Lauren had given me directions earlier, saying that studio was in a big white building and right next to a really old wooden building. So, I get in to downtown as Matt is pulling into downtown. I jump in with him and we drive around for 10 minutes trying to find this place! I mean, how hard should it be to find a big white building next to an old wooden building in Severy?! We finally had to stop and ask someone and they pointed us in the right direction.

We pull up and Jeannie is waiting and I apologize over and over for being late, explaining to her that Lauren said her studio was big and white and near a wooden building. She points to a huge pile of wood and says, "Well, there's the building!" She said they tore it down about a month ago. So I guess Lauren was partially correct ... though she might be colorblind since her tin building was tan with a green roof. Whatev.

We hopped in the car with her and she took us out to this lake (that we had never seen before - rather large!) to a spot that she takes alot of pictures. I somehow manuevered my way around in flats (no socks, no tights) in the snow. (SIDENOTE: Target ballet flats stay unusually dry in a 1/2 inch of snow, in case you are wondering!). We got some great shots in the snow though... it was still really white and pretty! We spent about 30-45 minutes out at the lake, taking pics. Some were really funny... Matt and I just aren't serious people so when she asked us to not smile, it took all of me not to just fall over from a fit of laughter. Jeannie noted later that I sure like to laugh alot!

We headed back to her studio to take about 8-10 inside shots and that was it. Pretty quick and pretty painless. Matt dropped me off at my car, but not before reminding me how excited he is to marry me. He said that truthfully, he sometimes forgets that we're getting married since we don't see each other very often and have not talked about the wedding in detail in quite some time (due to my brutal work schedule). I completely agree with him though. I mean... I read theknot.com daily and keep in contact with vendors about the wedding. But in the end, that's noy what matters. What matters is that we're getting married... and this was one of those fun steps we took together to get to that goal!

Hopefully we get some good pics out of this, too. Hopefully she doesn't send us the 'closed-eyes' shot. God knows I was probably smiling in that one, too... :)

PS. The picture is of Lauren's so-called wooden building... THAT'S what we were looking for to find her studio. You now understand why we couldn't find it!