Newborn Photography

Today Zac and I took our little Zane on an outing to get newborn pictures taken. Before Zane's arrival we had decided that we were going to have our wedding photographer, Tess of Van's Studio of Photography, take Zane's newborn pictures.

We loved the work she did for our engagement photos:

Our wedding photos....

And our maternity pictures....

So it was no question that we would set up an appointment for her to take pictures of our little guy during his first week of life. Today we headed into the studio and were very excited to see what Tess had in store for us. We brought a few props, inlcuding some books, a stuffed animal, our wedding rings, and a few of his cloth diapers. Tess also had a bunch of props and we were happy to see her go to work.

Just sitting back and watching Tess position Zane, Zac and I could see that the pictures were going to turn out amazing! We're excited to see the images very soon. After our session was over we set up appointments for Zane's 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 1 year photoshoots. We can already tell that this year is going to go by way too fast. We'll be happy to have a document of his growth.

When we returned home from our appointment. we checked the mail and found that we had already received some of Zane's newborn photos. The photos were taken at our hospital about 17 hours after Zane was born. The photographer had caught me in a somewhat vunerable state. I mean, really! I had just given birth to this baby whom I was becoming obsessed with and now she was showing me pictures of his cute little face! I couldn't resist.

It was probably against our better judgment, but we purchased the disc of pictures. While we think that there are a few cute shots here we aren't in love with the photos. Perhaps it's because we just got back from being giddy over the photos that Tess had captured.

At any rate...here are little Zane's hospital pictures, taken before he was even 24 hours old. It's funny how he's changed already. We think he kind of looks like my dad in these pictures.

Our favorite one....

More newborn pictures to come!

Our Wedding Video

Hello to all of my readers out there...the ones that are still left! I haven't forgotten about you or this wonderful blog of mine that kept me sane throughout the whole wedding planning process. Things have been crazy these first three months of marriage and I have been moving non-stop. Don't worry, its's all been an exciting, good, crazy....nothing bad. There are some fun things happening in the Chapman household which I'll reveal a little later. (No, it's not a baby.)

In the meantime, I am excited to say that in addition to some beautfiul pictures captured by our amazing photographers over at Van's Studio of Photography (featured in a little sneak peek in this post), we have also received the highlights reel of our wedding day from our videographer, Ahwahnee Films!

You might remember from a previous post (here) that we were looking around for a videographer. Then last summer we discovered work from Ahwahnee Films (read in this post) and in November we decided to hire them to film our big day (read about it here).

From the first time Zac and I met Aaron at Starbuck's we became excited about our choice to hire a videographer. Aaron seemed laid back but professional. He was clearly passionate about his work and really wanted to get to know the two of us as a couple before showing up the venue on the our wedding day.

In addition to filming our wedding, Aaron and his filming partner Kevin were also able to capture our rehearsal at our venue, Wolf Lakes Park, and our fiesta themed rehearsal dinner at our home the night before the wedding.

The next day they arrived bright and early and filmed all the fun until Zac and I left the wedding reception late that night. They were with my girls and me as we rode to the venue in a gorgeous Jaguar Limo from Royal Coach Limousine (read in this post), spent the afternoon with Zac and his groomsmen at a local brewhouse and restaurant and of course caught all of the beautiful moments of our ceremony and fun times during our reception.

I have watched this highlights reel more times than I can count and I tear up every time. (Yes, there may have been an ugly cry here and there on days that I was extra emotional.) We couldn't be happier with this 10 minute and 48 second summary of the day that we became husband and wife.

I hope you all enjoy! (Be sure to buffer before watching!)


Cristina+Zac Highlights from Aaron Mendez (Ahwahnee Films) on Vimeo.

Our Vendors

In efforts of getting the majority of our wedding planning done as soon as possible (both to give us a sense of where our budget stands as well as to make things easier on us in the long run) Zac and I have been working to book all of our major vendors. For the last few weeks we have called several vendors, compared prices, and set up appointments. Attending the Premier Bridal Showplace Bridal Fair last Sunday was a great opportunity for us to meet vendors, see sample work, and get price listings. As of Friday, we now have all of our major vendors booked and can now focus on the smaller details of the wedding, like table decorations, ceremony programs, etc.

So here's a little roundup of the vendors we've booked. We're happy with our selections and we're excited to be working with all of these amazing people.

Venue: Wolf Lakes Park

Earlier this year Zac and I picked our date and chose a venue. Wolf Lakes Park is a beautiful venue with a view of the lake and well manicured landscaping. In addition to the atmosphere, the location also takes care of the set up and clean up, offers catering, and provides help with questions and planning as well as a coordinator the day of the event. After we reserved our date, Wolf Lakes provided us with a list of vendors that proved to be helpful in our planning process.

Photographer: Van's Photography

Before we selected a venue, we had decided on our photographer. Van's photography does amazing work, and having been in two weddings in which Van and Tess have taken photos, we felt comfortable with our decision to book them for our own big day. After seeing our engagement photos we're excited to see what images these two photographers will capture at our wedding.

 

DJ: Haro's Entertainment

As I mentioned just recently in this post, we hired Haro Entertainment to dj at our wedding. Adam Haro has great reviews and having worked with our venue on many occassions we are confident that he will help keep our wedding running smoothly and make the night a fun one for our guests. Planning the music for the evening has been fun and we look forward to dancing the night away after saying 'I do'.

Florist: Brown Bunny Flowers

Originally we weren't planning on having a florist take care of our flowers. For Sarah and Donnie's fall wedding we got sunflowers from the grocery store and created some beautiful bouquets with black ribbon and pearl pins. Since our wedding is in the spring we were sure that we could find some flowers in our color scheme and make bouquets for all the girls. My mom was less than enthusiastic about the idea. She was a little worried that we were leaving this detail to chance too close to the wedding and we wouldn't be able to find the right flowers in time. We started looking around for florists and Brown Bunny Flowers came highly recommended. After talking with the owner, Amy, we could see why. She is such a sweet lady. We emailed back and forth for a little while before meeting in person at the Premier Bride Showplace. After going over our color scheme, and our favorite flowers, Amy came up with a few different bouquets. I'm looking forward to see how they turn out.

Bakery: Barb's Cakery

 Zac and I really want to have variety for our guests when it comes to cake and dessert. We thought that the perfect way to have this would be to create a dessert table with several flavors of cupcakes, brownies, cookies, etc. We found a place that would be able to create a dessert table for our guests with the variety we were looking for but unfortunately not for the price we were hoping for. So, we're planning on creating the table ourselves with help from family and friends. In addition to the dessert buffet, we wanted to have a little something for the traditional cake cutting. At first we were thinking that we would pick up a 7" Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory and call it a day. We both love that cake, I get an employee discount, and our guests will have plenty of other dessert options with the table of treats. According to some people however, "a wedding cake is not a wedding cake unless it has more than one tier". So, Zac and I started looking for a bakery to get ourselves a "wedding cake". We didn't have to look far. Both Sarah and Donnie as well as Scott and Amy used Barb's Cakery for their weddings and we loved the way their cakes looked (Sarah and Donnie's cake is pictured on the left, Scott and Amy's on the right), and even more importantly how they tasted. I started looking at pictures of wedding cake designs with our color scheme and found something that I really liked. On Friday, my mom and I went to Barb's Cakery to talk details and put a deposit down on the cake.

Hair and Makeup: Hair and Makeup By Emily Johnson

The Premier Bridal Showplace was a great way of seeing what hair and makup artists are out there. Our vendor list from Wolf Lakes included a few hair and makeup artists on it's list, but nothing like what we saw on the vendor list for the bridal show. After walking around and picking up fliers here and there, we came across Emily Johnson's hair and makeup booth. After looking over her price listing and checking out photos of her work via her Facebook page, we booked Emily to do my hair and makeup the day of the wedding.

Transportation: Royal Coach Limos

Back in April, Zac and I went to check out a car to take us from the wedding to our hotel at the end of the night. We found a 1961 Jaguar at Royal Coach Limos that we loved. I'm planning on having a bridesmaid sleepover at my house the night before the wedding. In the morning, the car will come to pick me and my bridesmaids up and take us to the venue to begin setting up and get ready. At the end of the night the car will return and Zac and I will have a few pictures with the car before taking off to our hotel.

So there you have it! We are relieved to have our major vendors decided on and booked. It's nice to know that these details are taken care of and we can focus our attention on the smaller details. The next project will be working on our save the dates. I just received a reminder from Project Wedding (the host of our wedding website) saying that the save the dates should be going out by the beginning of October. I already have a design in mind for these announcements so hopefully it won't be too difficult to create. More details later...

Premier Bride Magazine

A few months back, one of my bridesmaids, Amy told me that she had heard from a friend of hers that Zac and I were going to be in the next issue of Premier Bride Magazine. (One of Scott and Amy's wedding photos was used as an advertisement for Van's Studio of Photography in the last edition of the magazine.) Zac and I were excited to see which photo was chosen. We also knew that there was a chance of last minute changes so it was possible that our picture might not have made the cut in the end. When the new magazine came out a few weeks ago we finally got to find out.

There we are on page 14! We both thought that it was pretty cool that our photographer, Tess, had submitted one of our photos from our photoshoot at Zac's grandparents' house, to be in the magazine. Needless to say, my mom was very excited and picked up more than her fair share of copies of the magazine. Zac and I picked up a few copies as well. (We thought perhaps that parents and grandparents would want a copy.)

We loved the picture that Tess chose. She does such fantastic work and we can't wait to see what amazing shots she captures at our wedding.

Engagement Photos

Zac and I absolutely love the way our engagement photos turned out. Tess, of Van's Studio of Photography, did such a great job back in May when she took the photos for us at Zac's grandparents home in Chowchilla. Just a few short days after our photoshoot Zac and I were able to check out the photos on the photo studio's website.

Unfortunately, we won't be getting a disc of the photos until next May when we also get the photos from the wedding. Until then we are able to choose our three favorite photos that will be given to us on a disc. Once we decide on these photos (we're having a hard time narrowing down our selections) we plan to blow these photos up and display them in our home as well as use them for wedding related projects.

Our families have been curious to see how the photos turned out so we have given our username and password to a few close friends and family members so that they could check them out on the photographer's website. We would love to show off these amazing photos to the rest of our friends and all of you blog readers but we don't think that it would be wise to give out this private information. (Sorry.)  

After we pick out our favorites I will definitely post our top three. Until then you can check out this sneak peek:

Zac and I looked on Van's website today and saw that our photo (this photo) has been added to their portfolio under the engagement photo section. This photo was one of our favorites and we were glad to see that our photographer is on the same page when it comes to what we like. We were excited to see that our photo is now one of the sixteen photos featured in this section on the website.

We can't wait to reveal the rest of the pictures from our engagement photoshoot.

Pictures and Catch Up

Today, Zac and I are headed to Chowchilla for our engagement photo session with Tess from Van's Studio of Photography! We're excited!....well, anxious and excited to be honest. The thought of someone following us around with a camera, snapping photos of us as we interact with one another seems....well....a little uncomfortable. But we are looking forward to seeing the images Tess captures and excited to have some photos to use for our save the date cards. After trying on both dresses from my Forever 21 shopping experience and standing next to Zac in his outfit of choice we determined that the yellow dress was definitely the dress to go with. Although the blue dress looked nice next to Zac's shirt, it was a little too blue, not matchy - matchy but enough to be that obnoxious couple that coordinates their clothes too closely. The yellow dress adds a nice punch of color next to Zac's blue shirt. It also has a little texture in the fabric that the blue dress lacked and that we think might photograph well (we hope). Also, since yellow is a part of our wedding color scheme any photo we choose should go nicely on a save the date card.  :)

In other news, I am SO happy that in just two short weeks my beautiful girls Sarah and Amanda will be in town.....with little Grayson! It has been killing me that I haven't been able to meet my handsome little nephew yet. Sersiously...look how handsome he is!

Sarah and Donnie were blessed with this beautiful boy on February 19th. Since then, I've been completely obsessed with looking at photos, watching videos of him and hearing his little whimpers and cries over the phone. By the time Zac and I get to meet him, he will already be 3 months old. It's so crazy how quickly time flies by.

Such a fashionable baby!

It's been even longer than that since I've seen my sister Sarah! Man I miss that girl. We've had some amazing adventures together. The kind of adventures you tell your children so that they don't make the same decisions....replacing your names (of course) with "When I was your age, I knew someone who...." as it's too embarrassing to admit that was you! :D

Some of these adventures also included my girls Amanda ...

...and Amy.

It will be so nice to finally have us all in the same place again. The last time that happened was at Sarah's baby shower back at the end of January. We are long overdue for a reunion!

Say Cheese

In choosing a photographer, Zac and I had little to think about. We knew immediately who we wanted to take our engagement photos and capture the special moments of our big day.

When Sarah and Donnie got married back in October of 2009 they hired Van't Studio of Photography to take their wedding photos. Tess' work was unbelievable. She captured some wonderful moments and created some amazing images. Here are some of the photos she took at Sarah and Donnie's wedding:

Sarah's wonderful MOH Amanda getting her all prepped and ready to walk down the aisle.

A true moment between father and daughter. I LOVE IT!

Me and my beautiful sis, the bride to be!

The boys had a Reservoir Dogs moment,

What a beautiful moment between mom and daughter :)

She's SO happy!

Finally husband and wife! :)

Look at that lighting.

This one is so beautiful.

Such a gorgeous bride!

When Scott and Amy got married this past September, they also hired Van's Photography to take their photos. Van and Tess took some amazing photographs of the event. They really do such an incredible job. Here are a few photos from Scott and Amy's wedding:

After being announced husband and wife.

Amy and her mama (aka my champagne buddy), Carol.

After saying "I do".

I just love this little moment.

They capture some amazing photos.

They were married in the English Garden site at Wolf Lakes Park.

This is one of my favorite shots from their wedding.

Van's Studio ended up using this photo for their advertisements.

Having worked with Tess for two other weddings and being so impressed with the work that she does, there was no doubt that we wanted to hire her to take our wedding photos. We are confident that we are going to love our photos and that she will be there to capture all the moments we won't want to forget.

Our engagement photos are going to be taken on May 3. That means we have just three short weeks until our photoshoot with Tess. I am both excited and nervous. Of course I am so stoked to take some photos with my love (we are in desperate need of some recent photos for our home). I am nervous however for vain reasons. Having a crazy busy fall semester and a lazy winter break, my workout schedule suffered tremendously and as a result I am no longer my cute summer self. In addition there is the need to find something to wear. I am sure that I will find something but my tendency to be picky and a bit of a control freak will leave me worried until I find the perfect outfit.

As I mentioned before our engagement session is going to take place at Zac's grandparents' place in Chowchilla. His Grandma Marlene has told us that their garden really blows up and is incredibly beautiful in May so we are excited to see how it will look in just a few weeks. In addition to the garden we will possibly be taking photos in the orchard. I look forward to seeing how our photos turn out. :)