*SBW Note: We have all recently seen {or lived through personally} so many heartbreaking pictures of the Jersey Shore in the aftermath of the immense Hurricane Sandy that ripped through the north east only a few short days ago.  Today’s feature, as life would have it, takes place along the gorgeous Jersey Shore, at some of the more fun attractions, only a few months prior.  Let us, instead of feeling the pain now created from this force of nature, move to celebrate the wonder of the shore at its best, and what it will be once again.

If you dont think a color can be the basis of a theme for an engagement session you clearly have not met Adrienne Duda!  One of the perks I enjoy most with having Storyboard is that I get the opportunity to feature my friends & family as life takes them down this road!  This summer shore time engagement session is just that case!  Adrienne Duda & Paul Kalinauskas are two very good friends of mine & I am more proud to say that I connected them with their photographer, the amazing Cengiz of Adagion Studio!

Adrienne & Paul will be getting married next June 2013 along the Jersey Shore, though to be completely fair, not THE Jersey Shore.  We’ll leave the fist pumping & orange glow to the experts!  When it came time for A&P to come up with a theme & location for the shoot, using the amazingly colorful shore line of Asbury Park was an easy decision.  Adrienne has a deep, deeeep love of pink, I kid you not, she throws a PINK Party every summer, so over time her love of Pink has crept into Paul’s wardrobe!

Having Pink as a basis for the shoot, toss in some completely fun inducing settings, et voilà! A&P really shine as the light hearted, joyful couple that they are!  This delicious treat of an engagement session is a truly sweet reflection of who they are as a couple really capturing the essence of their love!  I decided to get a bit more in depth for this feature, volleying up some questions to each with one….simple….rule, No Sharing!  Thats right, A&P were not allowed to let each other in on their respective questions OR answers!  They too are seeing each other’s comments for the first time…right now!

 

Whose idea was it to throw popcorn in your face{Paul}?

Paul: “The original plan was to try and catch one kernel thrown at me, but that was tough to catch on camera.  I’m not sure if Cengiz suggested it first or Adrienne decided on her own to take a handful of popcorn and just wing it at me, but the resulting photo ended up being great.”

Funniest moment while shooting?

Adrienne: “Standing on the bar throwing popcorn at Paul. The wind was a challenge that day for sure, and Cengiz just kept telling me to throw handfuls of popcorn for Paul to catch in his mouth, but for the most part it just blew all over the place. By the way – no one at the bar even gave us a second look as we laughed and looked ridiculous.”

What was the thought behind a ‘Pink’ theme?

Adrienne: “Ha! There was no thought behind our pink theme…it just was! Anyone that knows me knows that I absolutely adore pink. Luckily, Paul was a big fan himself, and after the first year of hosting my annual Pink Party together as a couple, I think he was officially sold. Starting with what we would wear, pink was a no brainer, and then we just naturally gravitated to pink props…why choose another color if pink was available?! It’s happy, it’s youthful, it’s playful, and it just makes you smile. Exactly how I’d want someone to describe us.”

Why was Asbury Park your ideal spot for the engagement photos?

Paul: “We thought Asbury Park would be a great place for the shoot because it offered many different types of backgrounds, all within 1 mile of each other.  It has the beach, a boardwalk with shops and food stands, some historic architectural landmarks, a waterpark, a mini golf course, and many new art pieces and construction from the regentrification of the downtown area.  It gave us an opportunity to use many different backdrops and we ran out of time before we could use them all.”

Favorite photo from the shoot?

Adrienne: “My favorite picture is probably not the most obvious, but it feels the most “real” to me – the “blowing bubbles” photo. When we were blowing, or attempting, to blow bubbles at each other, the wind was blowing and they kept popping. We were laughing hysterically and focused on each other, and I think it really captured our personality.”

3 Words that best describe the engagement shoot to you…

Adrienne: “Personal, Cute, “Us”… I think the last word is the most important. From the moment we got engaged and began planning, we knew that we didn’t want to do anything just because that’s the way it’s normally done, or because that’s what you’re supposed to do. We wanted everything to be about our favorite things, our favorite places, and what makes us happy and smiley.”

Paul: “Fun, Exhausting, Memorable… It was a fun day, but with all the changing of outfits and locations within a limited time frame in the hot weather we were exhausted by the end of it.  We were happy to sit down for some happy hour drinks by the water when it was over.  It’s a day I will never forget.”

Did you & Adrienne throw down an epic game of Mini Golf?  Who won?

Paul: “Not that day.  We wanted to hit as many of our location ideas as possible.  But we did play 2 rounds last weekend, and I won both rounds, which means I’m finally starting to catch up to her in overall wins in our head-to-head mini golf battles.”

What moment during the shoot sticks out the most to you?

Paul: “Inside the photo booth.  It was a hot day and even hotter when we were inside the photo booth together.  Cengiz was taking photos of us from outside the photo booth, so he could only see us from the knees down, and we couldn’t see him at all.  We had no idea what he was capturing.  So the combination of the hotness in the booth and the unknown of how long we were going to be in there stick out.”

 

If there was one thing you could say to Adrienne/Paul right now, what would it be?

Paul: “Thanks for being there for me, I know I you will always be there for me, and I can count on you to put a smile on my face each and every day.”

Adrienne: “Be serious! He’s such a smarty pants that I’m sure he’s thinking about how to twist any serious question and serve up a funny sarcastic comment instead of showing the world his feelings!”

The strong man game, did you give it a go?  How did you fair!?

Adrienne: “Oh I did try match Paul’s skills on the strong man game, and while I did it with style, I don’t think I moved the bar even an inch (I could barely lift the hammer up and over my shoulder!)”

What was the moment you realized Adrienne/Paul was the one you wanted to marry?

Paul: “Looking back at it, I probably realized I wanted to marry Adrienne after our trip to Ireland.  It was a trip with my family, and when I didn’t think twice to ask her to join us on a vacation across the Atlantic; I knew that this girl must be very special to me.  We stayed at some unusual bed & breakfasts and we were literally squeezed into one car driving across the Irish countryside, and despite all that, Adrienne was smiling the entire time.”

Adrienne: “Not sure if there was one exact “moment”, but I knew right from the start that we were just meant to find each other, and there was nothing in this world that was ever going to let me give that up. Oh, and after meeting Paul’s family and falling in love with them…I knew he needed to be mine forever (even if he didn’t know it yet!) – they’re awesome!”

I must say, the photo with the watering can & you leaping is kinda flawless, how pumped were you when you saw the final product?!

Adrienne: “Its so fun! Was kind of a surprise to see the entirety of it too, because I couldn’t see Paul while I was dancing around and being silly, and he couldn’t see me. Acting like the little kid that I seem to think I am paid off!”

What is the best thing you have learned as a result of being with Adrienne/Paul?

Adrienne: “Without any hesitation, I can say he makes me a better person. I’ve never met someone so incredibly thoughtful. Everything he does, that he touches, that he experiences, is to the fullest and with everyone else in mind first. I love this about him, and I think I’ve tried to embody this admirable trait.”

Paul: “That she will always be there for me.  Whenever I have a weak or insecure moment, I can count on her being there to give me a boost.  Even if she is not physically there beside me, I know in my heart that she is there with me, and this has helped make me a better person.”

Favorite photo from the shoot?

Paul: “That’s a tough question.  I like so many.  If I had to choose just one, I guess I would go with the picture with the two of us standing in the window sill with the ocean in the background.  The window creates a great frame around us and the combination of the colors and the ocean in the background makes it look so relaxing and peaceful.”

 

Any parting words for newly engaged couple’s yet to do their engagement photos?

Paul: “Be yourselves and have fun.  I’ve seen plenty of beautiful, sultry, sexy engagement shoots and Adrienne and I could have tried to do something similar… but our personality is much more playful, and that’s what we aimed to capture on our shoot.   And after seeing the results, our personality really comes to life in the photos.  Many of our favorite photos were the ones where we were just being our playful selves and having fun.”

Adrienne: “I think the best advice I can give is to just be yourself…if you are a very serious romantic couple, pick a setting and a style that embody that, if you are super social and playful like we are, have fun with it. You don’t want to feel like your being forced to do something that’s not you; you won’t enjoy it, and it will be reflected in your photos.”

*All Photographs by Adagion Studio

 

Pretty much the moment you get engaged the people around you in your life feel the need to impart on you their opinions & wisdom about what to do and what not to do at your wedding.  Some of it will be common sense (you’d think), some things will be beyond your control, some completely outlandish & while others will indeed be geniune pearls that really ought to be listened to.  An important thing to realize when people are throwing these gems your way, is the reason they feel a certain way is because of the experiences they themselves have had in the past, meaning, someone did or didnt, get it quite right.  Think about it.  You yourself have attended a wedding or two and I am sure there are things that left an impact on your, good or bad.  Things to learn from.

Whilst creating killer decor elements, picking out just the right floral arrangements, choosing the perfect cake design and so on might feel like the most important things to you, there is something more important to concern yourself with, I feel.  There is a sense of entitlement that surrounds the couple that I vehemently disagree with. Yes, the day in about you, your love & yes you want to be a pretty princess BUT take out the marriage part, and what are you left with?  A party, an affair, an event.  Something that to truly pull off with success requires forethought beyond that of yourself and what makes you happy.  To throw a truly great event  there are things that need to be considered and executed to ensure that your guest, who possibly travel from a far, taken time out of their lives, and so on, to celebrate you, actually have the best time that they can.  It IS important, please understand that.  There are some small things that can be done to ensure the best time for everyone, not just the bride & groom.  Let’s have a look.

Drink Me

Sounds simple enough right?  Sure my dear caterer, please throw a few carafes of water on a table before the ceremony incase anyone by chance wants some.  Hum, wrong, trust me they will.  Sorry to be the one to tell you, and your caterer should know better, but unless your having a very small wedding, that simply wont cut it.  Straight out, it wont be enough.  I can not tell you the number of weddings I have been to with exactly this set up.  The water goes in about 5 mins and unless the staff around is superb, most often it is NOT refilled well enough.  *Summer time weddings, this is exponentially more important!

Having beverages upon your guests arrival is crucial.  I can not begin to express this enough.  Think about it, when someone comes to visit at your house, what is one of the first things you do?  Offer them a beverage.  Same good hostess rules apply here, not just in being a good host, but in keeping your guest hydrated & happy.  Believe me, liquids equal happy, sounds silly, but its very true.  I suggest, and I myself used, beverage dispensers.  It not only do they provide you with a large enough amount of liquids to keep your guests happy, its another area you get to play with decor!  Double win!

Eat Me

With the exception of my own wedding, I have yet to be to a wedding that has given me anything to even nibble on, until long after I have arrived prior to the ceremony, stood around until  the ceremony happened, sat through the ceremony, waited for the couple and bridal party to head out, and then waited around for the caterering staff to work through the now truly starved entire guest list.  Unless your that crafty lady that sits in the back, throws elbows to get in line first, OR stands right where the passed orderves are coming out, you can factor more time into the food in belly equation.  Its unfortunate but true, but guests do not arrive with full bellies, it simply doesnt work that way & as such, people get hungry, fast!  Eating is also an activity, something moves the event along.  Putting guest in a situation where they become famished for food is not a good experience and something that is easily avoidable.

For our own wedding, we decided to impart our love of popcorn on everyone.  Before our guest even arrived, a vintage popcorn machine was filled to the brim with freshly popped popcorn complete with adorable paper bags for our guests to fill.  There isnt a need to go over board, but having something, even a small nibble for your guests, keeps the hungry at bay, & in their minds, they arent racing through the wedding to the parts where they get feed.  The pace slows down for them and they are more apt to be a happier part of your day, enjoying each step right there along with you.  Not instead stalking a server for the 5th time to figure out when on earth they will see the first signs of food.

Heat Me, Cool Me

No matter the time of year that your having your wedding, something else to consider is the general comfort of your guests at all phases of your day.  If your wedding is during a particularly hot time of year, consider the shade factor, possibly adding some fans, giving your guests areas of relief.  Umbrella tables are a wonderful source of additional shade as well as some super creative ideas I have seen on Pinterest with floating fabric lifted up by balloons…looove these!   *Make sure these shaded areas are proportionate to number of guest you will be having.  One umbrella table probably isnt going to cut it, if you get my drift.  Something else to play with are your ceremony programs.  Most people are likely going to use them as ways to fan themselves off anyway, so why not make them into actual fans!      PS- Hot also equals thirsty guests, so this reinforces the importance of what I was saying above!

Likewise, having a wedding in a cooler time of year?  Make sure that your guests will be warm enough.  I love when I see weddings with baskets of wraps for the ladies.  I mean, lets be honest, it is the ladies that are always chilly right?!  But in all seriousness, this is an extra step that your guests will really appreciate & remember.  Worried about the additional cost of wraps?  There are plenty of places online, as well as all  kinds of discount shops around that one can truly find the right ones, at the right price.  Remember, its a one night covering, it doesnt need to be cashmere ladies!

I hope these simple 3 things help you create the most perfect wedding day…for everyone. It really is important to consider simple things like having plenty of beverages handy, food to nibble on, and ensure your guests temperature, to make sure that things go as beautifully as you deserve.  I really hope you heed my word on the food & drink pre-ceremony especially.  I can not stress enough how big of a game changer this will be to your guests.  Practically every one of our guests made a point to thank us (some repeatedly) for considering those simple things for them & how much it enhanced their enjoyment of the day.  Take this as a gentle lesson in how to make your day….awesome!  I also really hope to hear from you guys about your thoughts on these 3 things as well as some possible other terrific things to do.  Throw some love this way!  Can’t wait to hear what you guys think!  Xo-Jess

Photo Credits:

Top 3 Photos by Sarah DiCicco Photography

Last Photo by Maggie Harkov