Morning Peeps,

Hope you're all having a good week.

We have the latest guest post from the gorgeous Rachel from Bride By The Beach wedding blog to share with you today and it's a gooden!

For those of you that may not be aware, Rachel has been guest posting for us since January, sharing her plans and ideas for her Ibiza beach wedding and giving us fortnightly doses of sun-kissed wedding inspiration.

This week she is sharing her engagement pictures which are HOT!

So without further ado, I will hand you over to our Bride By The Beach.....

Happy Thursday gorgeous gals and guys!

I am currently in the last 4 weeks before the big day and holy patooties, the days just flying by!!

Well today I'm talking about Engagement Pictures (think the title gave it away there didn't it?!) Have you had any taken? Are you thinking about having some taking? Still umming and ahhing over them?

When the Boy and I first got engaged, we talked about the merits of having some pretty pics taken. Points raised consisted of the following:

• What would we do with them afterwards?
• Aren't they a little cheesy? We definitely didn't want any sickly shots of us lovingly gazing into each eyes. #notus
• Are they a waste of money?

On the other hand:

• Surely they'll be a good practice run for the big day?
• It'd be quite nice to have a few photos of us not looking drunk.

So when researching our wedding photographers for Ibiza, we found that costs were eye watering. Like seriously costly. And as there aren't many wedding photographers on the beautiful white Isle, it didn't leave much room for negotiation. We even looked at flying a UK photographer out with us but that worked out just as much. So what could we do?

Then it hit us - we've got some extremely talented friends who take incredible photos. Of one, which is very good friend Manon who works as a street photographer with an eye for wedding photography. So after plying her with plenty of rum and asking very nicely she agreed to be one of our photographers in Ibiza. We bandied the idea of some engagement photos and she loved the idea. The Boy, bless his little cotton socks, is a little awkward in front of a camera. Gorgeous in real life but a little gawky in front of a lens. Remember that scene in Friends where Chandler and Monica had to get some photos taken for their wedding. Yup that's him.

We scoured Pinterest and put together some pics that we liked to get a feel for the style we wanted. I loved these shots for their simplicity and how they get across the couple's personality without it being too cheesy.

Image credit: Claudia Rose Carter

Image Credit: Marshal Gray Photography

Image Credit: CandytomySoul

Image Credit: Black Swan Dive

Gorgeous aren't they?

So we wanted something where we would look like us, doing the things we like. So we did. We went out on a double date with Manon and her boyfriend and did what we normally do. Went for drinks in sunny ol' Brighton. We took a walk though the Lanes, stopped off at the pub and then headed down to the seafront for a couple of ice cold beers. The sun was shining and people were smiling. Perfect.

The Boy felt comfortable with a beer in hand and as it was the first sunny day in ages, it was quite chilled out - which really shows in the pictures. What do you think?

Image Credits: Manon Pauffin

It really does help to have an awesome photographer who can put you at ease and find your best angle. We're pretty chuffed with the photos and they're being used in the wedding on certain "bits" so we know they're not going to waste.

So my advice is:

• Figure out what your style is - do you want something laid back? Egdy? Sweet? Unique? This will help you choose the right location for the photos.
• Make sure you're comfortable in your situation - if you're camera shy, walking around town with someone taking your pics only draws more attention to yourself - choose a quite park or beach perhaps?
• Think about what you're wearing and again make sure you're comfortable. Don't wear a dress if you don't usually wear one as you'll feel uncomfortable and it really will show.
• Find a good photographer! And then talk through your ideas - hopefully they should be able to get what you envisage.

If you want to see more of our engagement pics then swing by my blog for more here. And if you fancy booking our lovely photographer than contact her on email - [email protected]

Looking forward to seeing your engagement pics!

xxx