Just Another American Engagement Shoot

Did you know that South Americans hate it when people from the US call themselves Americans? They love saying "America's a continent, not a country, #$(&@!!" I now find myself saying things like, "Hi! I'm United-States-ian!" You learn all sorts of interesting things about your home country when you move abroad.

This isn't a post about living abroad, though, because Mr. Bear Cub and I are going to have a real American engagement shoot! (in the sense we're used to thinking!)

In the months leading up to our move, I poked around a bit on the net to see what possibilities lay in actually getting married in Chile. This was really just a fleeting thought (my parents would be pissed if they had to fly down here for our wedding), but it led me to Kyle Hepp, an american girl (United-States-ian ;) ) who married her Chilean sweetheart in Chile, lives in Santiago, and is now a professional wedding photographer.

In addition to having some pretty hilarious insights into Chilean life on her personal blog, her professional work reminds me of some of her favorite wedding photographers, like Punam Bean and Elizabeth Messina.

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In preparation for our engagement shoot, I sent Kyle some examples of other engagement shoots that I liked.

This photo-shoot of Chris and Flora is so sweet! I love how it never has that "staged" feel to it.

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Then there's the biggie in awesomeness for engagement photography - Max Wanger. If you read Cup of Jo (and you should), you've probably heard about him - he did their engagement shoot.

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Max does a great job of including props in his engagement shoots. The result: quirky and fun! My kinda love!

warning: you're about to witness a lot of awesome engagement photos! (all of the following photos are credited to Max Wanger.)

















When I showed Kyle the photos from Max, she got really excited! She said this kind of photo shoot is the most fun! While props (like big hats, chairs, scarves, goofy sunglasses, balloons, bubble blowers) might seem a little circus-like in real life, the effect in photos can come out looking really cool.

Now I've got to find some awesome props to include for our engagement shoot! I'm so excited!

What kind of props would you include in a quirky and fun engagement shoot like this? Did you send your photographer example photos that you liked for inspiration? What are your favorite engagement photos?