Photographer: CHECK!

We finally booked a photographer! Hallelujah! :o)

Her name: Shyla Dalirifar (that's her to the right) —>
She is awesome, plain and simple; someone you definitely wish you had as a close friend because you know you would have hilarious and monumental adventures together. She has an amazing spirit matched with an upbeat personality and an effortless sense of style and grace. She is truly talented--she has shot countless weddings world-wide and has been featured in a handful of wedding blogs and magazines! Shyla has a friendly demeanor and contagious smile instantly put us at ease around her, and seems to have creativity just ooze'ing from her ears.

Upon meeting Shyla at Atomic Cafe in Beverly last week, Adam and I were instantly captured by her energy, and being that we were both already entranced by her photography, it was easy to decide that we wanted Shyla to shoot our wedding this summer. She'll also be bringing along a friend/intern to shoot as a back-up photographer, to which we are quite pleased. We can't wait to have her be there on our wedding day capturing all the special moments! What makes us feel all the more fortunate is that she says she is honored to be chosen as our photographer, for she loves us as individuals, as a couple, and really likes the aesthetic we are going for. Bonus!

So, how stoked are we?? Pretty darn stoked! To finally have booked a photographer – and one that we just adore to boot – feels like a weight has been lifted from our shoulders. Photography is one of those BIG things that magazines and newlyweds tell you to search for and book early. Well, I believe we started the search just a a few weeks after getting engaged and it's taken this long to narrow down our possibilities. We searched and compared and contrasted, and met and talked with some via phone and e-mail.  Weeks passed, and the more time that passed, the more fretful I was!  I was beginning to worry that we'd never find a photographer that we both loved and could afford, not to mention one who had our wedding day available.

Adam's an amateur photographer with a very critical eye, which came as both a blessing and a curse with this whole shopping-around-for-a-wedding-photographer thing, he had a spreadsheet with the info of nearly 30 different photographers and perused blogs and websites for hours at a time daily! I'm not a photographer per se, but I consider myself to be a creative individual with a decent eye for photography – I took photo one year in high school, know and enjoy the rule of thirds, and take a ton of pictures each week! – so I had an idea of how I wanted our wedding pictures to be. We both agreed that being picky with the photographer was acceptable, as was spending a little more money than originally anticipated since we're saving in so many other areas. Skimping on photography was simply not acceptable; we had heard too many horror stories. And we have just enough narcissism to want breath-taking and frame-worthy pictures. Settling on an "okay" or "pretty good" photographer would not fly.

It is awesome to have found someone who makes us both happy and anxious to have our photos taken. And words cannot express the ease that I feel in just knowing that we have that major part of the wedding planning taken care of. I have no qualms regarding our wedding day photos – Shyla will not disappoint – and feeling that certain about something is an amazing thing. *smile*

Check out Shyla's work on her professional website and blog:
www.shylaphotography.com
www.shylasblog.com