Can we just discuss how adorable this Bride-to-be is!? I mean, not only did Michaela Noelle Designs plan the cutest e-sesh EVER, but today we’re welcoming this sweet lil’ engaged lady to the SMP Blogger Bride family!! To kick things off she’s sharing her tips on finding the perfect look for your engagement session below and we’ve got the pretty that is her apartment on SMP Living! Want more? See it all via The Vault.
From Michaela… Hi Style Me Pretty readers! I’m Michaela and I’m an interior designer, author of my design blog, Michaela Noelle Designs, and co-founder of The Bloom Workshop. I’ve always had a passion for interior design, I’m told, as my mom used to find me building floor plans out of jenga blocks all over the floor of my bedroom. I also remember begging my parents to allow me to apply for Trading Spaces multiple times. It’s true! Design and creativity have always been a huge part of my life.
I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in interior design from Seattle Pacific University and my AA degree in interior design from the FIDM, and after working for a few designers, I started my own business fairly quickly in my home town of the Bay Area, California. I was perfectly content working and blogging, but on an unassuming trip to Michigan to visit my best friend, I was introduced to a handsome boy who became my boyfriend and 2 years later, we’re engaged! We’re getting married in September 2016 and I can hardly believe it. I’m honored to be here sharing our story and our wedding planning process with you– Style Me Pretty is my absolute favorite wedding blog on the block!
The story of how we met is not made up, though it may sound like it ;) As I mentioned, I went on a trip to Michigan in the fall of 2013 to visit my best friend after she had her first baby. She is a wedding photographer and since I’m a designer and stylist, she thought it would be fun to style an inspiration shoot together. Although I thought she was crazy for wanting to put a shoot together 3 weeks after she had a baby, I agreed! I took care of the design details and she gathered our models for the inspiration shoot.
On the day of the photo shoot, we were driving to the venue when Ashley nonchalantly mentioned “one of the groomsmen models I got to model for us is really cute and he is single. Maybe my ploy to get you to move to Michigan will finally work!” I laughed the comment off, as I figured there would be absolutely NO way that would happen, but when I saw this “cute model” arrive at the apple orchard location, I immediately got the butterflies. He sure WAS cute!
I proceeded to spend the rest of the day staying busy with design details and ignoring him, because I was nervous as could be to talk to him. In the only conversation we had that day, I told him I was from California and would be flying back the next afternoon. The shoot wrapped up and we all headed home, but to my surprise McCann was interested enough to get my number and give me a call that night. He asked if he could take me to lunch the next day before my flight left back to California. I was so excited, but also extremely reluctant. All my mind could think of was how in the world this would possibly work, since we lived across the country from one another?!
Needless to say, lunch went really well that day. We dated long distance for 7 months before I made the move to Michigan. About 2 years after we met in the apple orchard for the photoshoot, McCann proposed at the same orchard, making it the best day of my life. Fall and apple orchards officially have my heart. We are so, so excited for life together!
A few weeks ago while we were visiting my family in California for the holidays, we had a chance to take our engagement photos with my friend and amazing wedding photographer, Danielle Poff Photography. Knowing we would be using our engagement photos for our Save the Dates, I wanted to be sure we wore something that would set the tone for our wedding palette.
ONE | Think about how you want your Save the Dates to look. Do you want them to be traditional, casual, fun, romantic? Choose an outfit that reflects the desired style.
TWO | Set the tone for your wedding. Usually engagement pictures are the first thing people will see once you’re engaged. If you know your wedding colors, perhaps you’ll want to coordinate what colors you wear in the pictures with your palette like we did. If your wedding will be a traditional church ceremony with a formal reception, consider wearing a dress or something more formal to coordinate with that feeling. We chose a more natural location for our pictures, because of the romantic, rustic and eclectic vibe our wedding venue features. We also wore colors that would go well with our wedding palette (more on that in the coming weeks!)
THREE | Be comfortable and wear something you feel confident in! You want to love the way you both look in these photos and chances are if you feel good, you will look great! If you love dresses, wear a dress. If you’re not comfortable in one, then skip it and go for pants. (I am a total dress lover, but it was terribly cold the day of our shoot, so I decided to be comfortable in a dark wash pair of jeans with a lace sweater.)
FOUR | Think about the details! Remember to pair your outfit with accessories– statement jewelry, cute shoes to show off, a watch for your beau, etc. Also remember that your engagement picture day is a great day to get a makeup trial done for your wedding. If you can’t get a trial, do apply a little bit more makeup than usual so you get a polished, defined look.
FIVE | Coordinate with your significant other and think about contrast. To avoid the “matchy” look of the past, wear colors and prints that pair nicely, but perhaps are on different sides of the color wheel. To go bold, consider wearing complimentary colors, or to keep things neutral and subtle, wear different shades of neutrals. One thing I wanted in our photos was a little bit of contrast. I knew putting McCann in khaki pants and a darker chambray button up, paired with my darker jeans and lighter top would provide the contrast I wanted.
I hope these tips help you in choosing outfits for your own engagement shoot! Being a designer, there’s no doubt I’ve had a good idea of what look and style I wanted when it came to our wedding day. To be honest, I spent countless hours on SMP’s Pinterest page to get ideas even before we were engaged! I’m thrilled to be sharing my inspiration, decor ideas, design advice, style tips, favorite vendors and eventually share our big day with you right here. Thanks for reading!
Photography: Danielle Poff Photography | Ring Photography: Ashley Slater | Sweater: Anthropologie