Crossing the Aisle, Vol. XII

Lots to see this week. Let's get this party started.

Groom-Friendly Designs on the Bridal Blogs 

A couple's portrait that we can roll with ... via Green Wedding Shoes

MUSTANG SALLY
via Grey Likes Weddings
Somehow Groom Mark manages to convince his bride-to-be that their engagement session should take place in, on and around (and be primarily about) his Ford classic. And for that, Mark is our Groom of the Month.

"Dude, I think someone just tagged "MILF" on the front of your barn" ... via La Belle Bride

RHODE ISLAND WOODSY WEDDING
via Ruffled Blog
Wedding in the woods with a kick-ass menu, stellar graphics, specialty cocktails in honor of the B&G's grandparents, and rub-on tattoos at the reception. This one's worth checking out, men.

21st century groom style ... via Ever Ours

LOVE IN THE BACK OF A TRUCK
via Ever Ours
Yet another engagement session set in, on and around a beat-up old vehicle ... this time with the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic gas station.

Appropriate signage ... via Wedding Chicks

Check in next week - we'll be doing an improper hat initiation ("ugh, more with the hat?") + introducing a new source for groom/groomsmen gifts - with an exclusive discount. You heard me.

Get on that weekend, readers!

Engagement Shoot Emergency Kit ... For Men

On Tuesday, Wedding Chicks introduced an Engagement Shoot Emergency Kit for brides, complete with all of the beauty essentials that one might need while being photographed in a corn field in the middle of nowhere. It contains only the essentials: lip balm, concealer, comb, cuticle eraser, and so on. All of these must-haves would fit neatly in a mini make-up bag, which could easily be carried with you for 2 to 3 hours and not be a burden.

So we thought it was only appropriate that we introduce an Engagement Shoot Emergency Kit for the Groom, emergency-only items that are essential, practical and not at all cumbersome or unwieldy. Only the essentials.

And look - it all fits neatly into an oversized Costco shopping cart, which can easily be pushed through the sand and stored beneath the pier for the duration of the shoot.

[click to enlarge]

1. Nose hair trimmer. To get those pesky little hairs protruding from your face holes. 
2. Yo-Yo. In case you get bored during the shoot.
3. iPad. In case you get bored and you're not 8 years old. 
4. Clif bar. For that essential boost of energy mid-shoot.
5. Smelling salts. In case #4 isn't effective. 
6. Phone-A-Dude. A 3-minute conversation with a fellow male. "Dude, read me the sports page. Or just scream a bunch of obscenities at me. I've been smiling like an ass**** for two hours straight."
7. Traveling bar. Leather case, velvet interior, shaker, strainer, jigger, tongs, glasses, napkins and 2 mini, not at all cumbersome, very much essential bottles of liquor.
8. Ryan Reynolds. You're on-hand stand-in. Not only does he look exactly like you, but your lady surely won't mind.

- - -

Dynamic

2E's and I will soon be heading to New York to attend a friend's wedding (I'll be sure to take and share some behind-the-scenes pics) and scope out our own wedding venues. But our first item of business is our classic New York engagement shoot with wedding photojournalist Noah Devereaux.

A pirate theme would be our ideal option for the shoot. I'd love to rent a pirate ship for the afternoon, bobbing there on the west bank of Manhattan. 2E's would be the damsel in distress, and I would double as both the bad pirate and the good pirate with perhaps a twirling mustache to distinguish the two. At the end of the shoot, she and I would either (a) leap off of the plank into the Hudson, or (b) we would hire a few actors and reenact that scene from The Goonies. She could be that blonde chick. I could be late-teens Josh Brolin.

But the whole pirate ship concoction sunk when we realized we don't have a week of prep or a $3 million dollar budget. We're settling instead for a walk around Dumbo with two umbrellas and a costume change. And a scheduled stop at Starbucks. Hoo-rah.

Most important to me, I've realized, is not the big production value or the mustache (although facial hair is very me). What's more important is that the photos capture our dynamic. Aside from being my better half, 2E's has always been the sunshine behind my dark humor. At dinner with friends, she's the bubbly retort to my sly sarcasm. At home, she's the good intention behind my bad jokes. That's who we are now. That's what being engaged is all about: realizing that you're one half (even if it's the lesser half) of a very dynamic duo.

Inspiration #3

We Like Music...?

We're sitting in the Starbucks lounge at Barnes & Noble, working through another wedding planning session. Highlights include the lack of available electrical outlets and the fact that this particular B&N Starbucks' straws are about twice the size of their average sipper. Hot dog!

Our first assignment is to come up with a list of "things" that represent "us."

(No, I don't really know what that means.)

This all-too-magical list will help us decide on a theme for our engagement shoot as well as any props or costumes that we'd like to include in our session. I think it's going well.

FIANCEE WITH 2E's: So what do we like?
FIANCE WITH 1E: We like mocha frappuccinos.
2E's: Uh huh ... and what do we like?
1E: Um. We like music...?

One might think it's easy to produce on the spot a list of common interests. I could whip out a list of things that I like in a heartbeat -- validated parking, Huey Lewis tunes, the dentist scene in Little Shop of Horrors, I could go on -- but things that we SHARE? Stab me!

So far 2E's has concluded that she'd like to wear a pair of boots at some point during the shoot. I told her that was a fantastic idea. (Cue the Moral Support music).