The day of the photo shoot, signed us both up for the Coronado Navy Bridge run. Why? Because it’s an awesome 4 mile race with friends. I wasn’t going to sit at home and attempt to be pretty all day. A girl’s got to exercise too!

We scooted home after crossing the finish line and shortly thereafter I had my first experience getting my makeup done by a professional. Loli Romo is like that edgy cool chick I always wanted to be but didn’t have the guts to try. Or the cool older sister I always wanted.  She’s incredible, talented and has been doing NY fashion week and print makeup for years. I was so psyched to get her a recommendation and even more psyched that I liked her as a person.

So I hand over my face and am like, “Girl, you’re the real thing. Do your thing.” She proceeds to take out about fifty blending brushes and buckets of makeup and does her Bob Ross thing. “You want soft trees? Yes, let’s add soft trees to the mountains.” Other thoughts included, why does my face need so much blending? Is it that splotchy? Once complete, I turned and looked in the mirror thinking I might just see J-Lo staring back and instead I saw a shaded clown. “Don’t worry, it’s shocking when you first see it but it photographs like a dream.” Um, was she joking? Am I being punked right now? Remember Han, “YOU are a flexible bride” (insert air quotes motion with fingers here). She then sprayed something magical and slightly wet on my face and the colors settled into a gorgeous better version of my skin with eyes and lips standing out. Voila, freak out avoided! I AM A FLEXIBLE BRIDE!

Larry and I popped a bottle of orange champagne (an engagement gift from a friend) and toasted to a fun shoot. I also casually used the time as a way to be competitive with him and assert the fact that I was going to smoke the photo shoot with my casual cool nature. Here’s the thing with my fiancé, he never engages in competition with me and the joke is always on me. ALWAYS.  I had assumed he would be stiff and semi awkward at the shoot so it was my idea to get the bubbly flowing because I certainly didn’t need it but he did.

I was the one who felt awkward in the beginning and followed his lead flirting and leaning and laughing. I asked him if he had a modeling past he never told me about. This has been our relationship in a nutshell, I never give him credit doing stuff outside of working and he always blows me away with how he really is good at everything he puts his mind to.

We arrive at the San Diego Rowing club (location 1 of 2) and Sydney Prather of Crowded Elevator Photography and Alyssa from Alyssa Marie Films met us there. If Loli were that cool older sister I always wanted to have, Sydney was that YOLO younger sister I’d be jealous of. Both Sydney and Alyssa were cool and easy to work with and they let us get into a rhythm of flirting and joking until we forgot they were even there.

Okay, let’s talk about getting into that rhythm. I think Larry maybe was a model in his past and is just too humble to tell me about it. That man, falls right in on cue and is laughing and flirting and I’m intoxicated on way too much champagne and feeling dialed out of my body as opposed to occupying it. All of my talking crap and this is what I get. Karma. Thankfully, he set the tone and took the lead and I loosened up and we found a rhythm. A major difference between me and Larry: Anything he puts his mind to, he’s always good at. I struggle with the vision and awkwardly stumble through the execution but I will practice endlessly until I feel I’ve got a handle on something. We had fun changing in the car trying not to flash the crowd at Wind n Sea and joking about how rough it is to be a model. The true star of the shoot was Frankie. He ran across the sand digging for crabs and would come up with a snout full of sand and even more sass on his face. If I could’ve let Frankie stand in for me as bride to be, I would have. Afterwards, we went to a nice dinner reserved by a friend and she sent over a bottle of champagne! I was so touched by the kind gesture I started crying and then this bleary eyed picture was snapped.

What I loved about the experience was the unexpected joys I felt and the way in which we both got to exist in the moment. The day itself is like a secret between the three of us and I hope someday my babies look at the photos and daydream about who we were back when we were cool, in love, and without kids.

Action Steps:

1. Don’t talk crap about being better than your fiancé in a photo shoot. Or if you do, be prepared to lose.

2. Sometimes you gotta look like a clown to then look like a photo shoot diva!

3. You’ve prepped, you’ve planned, you’re there. Enjoy the person you’re with and the moments only you two get to experience: the sand beneath your toes and the love in your hearts.