Wedding Photo Preview w/ Rachel Tokarski Photography

Let me tell you about our amazing wedding photographer! As I have said before, choosing a photographer was an absolute no-brainer because one of my great friends from college and previous roommate is one of the most amazing photographers I have ever seen. We didn't look anywhere else, we immediately chose Rachel Tokarski Photography.

Me and Rach on the Big Day!

She did everything for us from engagement photos to bridal portraits and finally capturing our big day. This week, she posted on her photography blog some "teaser" photos from our wedding with the rest coming in mid-May. I was blown away by some of these and the emotion that she was able to capture.

She really captured the entire process of this wedding. The long road from start to finish towards one of the biggest days of our lives.

She captured our engagement photos through the streets of downtown Pittsburgh and the beautiful Omni William Penn Hotel Lobby. 

She captured my Bridal Portraits at a beautiful, white apartment space perfect for artistic photos.

 

 

and finally, she gave us a preview of the photos from our big day! She didn't just take cookie cutter photos, she captured the emotion of everyone in the room. I am so excited to be able to see the rest of the photos.

My niece and flower girl

My father seeing me for the first time on my wedding day

Dwayne and I just before the ceremony, not seeing each other but holding hands

I love how she managed to capture the excitement after we said "I do"

She was even able to take ideas that I saw on Pinterest and make them a reality!

She was creative, thinking of new angles, artistic shots and ways to capture our moments outside of the box.

You can see the rest of the preview photos on Rachels blog.



I cannot thank Rachel Tokarski enough for the effort and love she put into our wedding. If anyone is looking for a photographer. I highly recommend her for her passion, professionalism and investment in you.

You can contact her through her website or facebook page.

I can't wait to see the rest!



The Wedding Dresses I Didn't Choose

Hi All!

I am so happy that I can blog about these photos I have been holding onto for months! Be prepared to see a lot of posts in the next few weeks about the wedding setup, the BIG DAY and our honeymoon. I have so much to share! But first, let's start at the beginning.

When I was searching for a wedding dress I made the decision early on that I didn't want to look at more than 5 places. My thought was that if I didn't set a limit for myself, than I would always be wondering "well I wonder if the next place will have something I like better?" and I would never find anything. So, I set the limit at 3-5 visits and I found a lot of dresses to choose from. Some good. Some bad.

The first stop was with my bridesmaid Kat, friend Nicole and my now sister-in-laws to a bridal boutique in Uptown Charlotte called Hayden Olivia Boutique. I was a beautiful place that you needed an appointment to get into. I think every girl should have an opportunity to go to a place like this and get pampered every once in a while. Unfortunately, I realized that a lot of the dresses were out of my price range but that didn't stop me from trying them on! This boutique held one of a kind dresses but a lot of them were not for me.

We made a 2nd stop at David's Bridal but I did not like many of the things I found there at all! Not really even worth taking photos of.

The final place we visited was a place in Concord named Jillian's Bridal Loft. I loved it here. You were the only one in the store when you were trying on dresses and you had an individualized sales person who was lovely.

There were several beautiful dresses here but it wasn't until the final dress I tried on that I truly found my winner.

First the losers...

This is where I found the winner though! I was able to buy a Soterro and Midgley gown a few sizes to big but they helped me to work with their seamstresses to get it down to my size.

More to come later!!