It’s no doubt that our engagement has been the highlight of 2020 for us. So to go along with our excitement we wanted our engagement pictures to encompass our love for each other + loads of creativity! Before I breakdown the concept of the shoot we honestly have to say a HUGE thank you to our photographer, Cory Dixon, and my future sister-in-law, Kiki The OG for all their help and making the vision come to life! David and I would also like to say we are so grateful for all of the love, comments, and reposts on our engagement pictures! Y’all really showed up and showed out! We have gotten so many questions about the inspiration behind the heat and how it all came about so quickly. Now let’s get straight into the concept!
CONCEPT
The theme behind our wedding is Black & White Modern/Chic. We wanted to make sure that was apparent in our engagement pictures because they will be used around our venue. Even though these are not the official wedding pictures we wanted to make sure we treated this shoot just as seriously since we will be using and looking at them for nearly a year leading up to our big day. We knew we would just have enough time booked for 3 looks so let’s breakdown each one and why we chose them.
LOOK I: PHIRST PHAM
So as many of you know David became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. in March of 2020 RIGHT before COVID! So this means we didn’t get to take any pictures together for a proper post nor celebrate like we wanted due to the lockdown. Because of all of the unfortunate events, we decided to just incorporate it into our “casual look.” We wanted a classic Greek Apparel that wasn’t doing too much and that we would be happy with years down the line. We of course just wore jeans and shoes we already had because with everything going on it makes no sense not to be resourceful!
Even though our shoot was towards the end of the summer, in Houston, and in the middle of the afternoon we decided to go with the classic Fashionably Greek Sweatshirts. We sacrificed and sweated our lives away in them, but we are so happy with the end result! Fashionably Greek was great to work with and kept me posted for months on the restock status since they were out of David’s size. They assured me that I would have it just in time for our engagement pictures (which obviously is in the midst of COVID) AND I DID! So for anyone in the Divine 9 make sure you check them out and support black business.
LOOK II: ALL BLACK EVERYTHANG
I know y’all are probably wondering why I entitled this “All Black Everything” and David definitely has on a white shirt. Let me quickly explain how upset I was when I saw him putting on that white shirt! We not only went together to get his entire all-black look, but it was also all ready to go on a hanger for him and took the shirt off and left it at home! Not to mention this look was HIS IDEA! He would say that is neither here nor there, but I am actually really happy with the way this look came out! I feel like if David would have worn the black shirt we would have blended in together and it wouldn’t have been what we originally envisioned. So the moral of the story is that everything literally happens for a reason but just wanted to throw that tip in there for you guys in case you ever think about an all-black look + have shots where you are both really close together.
Now I have gotten so many questions about this dress and it was literally something I just had in my closet! I planned to wear it to an AKA conference that obviously got canceled due to COVID so I decided to try it back on and just repurposed it for our engagement pictures. Y’all this dress was only $30! This literally feels like my biggest steal this year and a deal that I have recommended to everyone! My shoes are also from Prettylittlething, but unfortunately, they are no longer available (will try to link similar ones on my LTK that you can go to on the right-hand side now). Lastly, David’s entire outfit is from Suit Mart and we got his shirt from Amazon that he wore in both Look II & III.
LOOK III: BLACK & WHITE AFFAIR
Last, but certainly not least, the shot that has been seen around the world – LITERALLY! I don’t think anybody has even asked what it took to get this shot, but as you can see even with my heels on David had to bend down to my level. We had to take it over and over again so that we could try to get our eyes, noses, and lips perfectly in line with one another. As soon as we finally got it Cory showed us on his camera and it was perfect and my immediate favorite! We saw a similar concept on Instagram and we thought it would be perfect with us wearing black and white (like the Ying to my Yang type of vibe), but also having it represent two becoming one. Kiki and I found this door on Google and literally had to search Downtown Houston for it (lucky for us Kiki is a detective and found it). The contrast and vibe literally came together perfectly and obviously, you guys agree with us!
So the real BTS is that originally I had the idea of David and I wearing contrasting blazers – so David with the same exact fit, but I wanted to find a black blazer with the white trim. Y’all I couldn’t find it ANYWHERE! I googled for weeks and kept coming across this dress, so I decided to scrap the concept and switch things up and I am so happy I did. This dress has a built-in corset that will get you snatched and don’t even get started on the DRAMA! I could go on and on about the split and the train, but you ladies have to get one for yourselves!
Hope you guys enjoyed this little BTS along with the stories around our engagement pictures! I’m glad to have this platform to share some of the memories and moments behind such significant photos and can’t wait to share even more in the months to come.
