I have been DYING to share our engagement photos with you since we first got them from our photographer, as I am just absolutely smitten with them. And when I found out that Exquisite Weddings Magazine was going to feature them, I jumped out of my chair with excitement!!

Now that the post is live, I can finally gush over how amazing our photographer is. Fawn Christiansen of Sequins and Candy is a camera genius. I can't even tell you, I was genuinely shocked at how these photos came out. She was incredible at making us feel at ease, especially my camera-shy fiancé. Of all the photos we've taken over the last 6 years, I think I have a total of 5 photos of Kyle where he is not making some ridiculous face. Fawn literally quadrupled the number of nice photos I have of Kyle within the 2 hours she spent with us.

I must admit, though, that it's so funny to me to look at these photos because we felt SO awkward during the shoot. Kyle was giggling the whole time, which in turn made me giggley. This is the complete opposite of what I had always thought of engagement sessions. I always thought that you would just magically have the most romantic moment of your life and there was just a photographer there to capture it. Now I know that it's not quite that scenario, but looking at our photos, you'd have no idea. Or at least I've completely forgotten about any awkwardness and shyness we had!

Oh, and I absolutely have to thank Sasha Gold for my awesome hair and makeup (why can't I look like that every day?!). I was going to try to do it myself, but I am beauty challenged. I am SO GLAD that I trusted Sasha to fix me up. If you're taking your engagement photos somewhere other than where you're getting married, meaning you won't get to do your wedding hair and makeup trial on the day of your engagement photos, I highly recommend finding someone to take care of that task for you. Instead of having to rush out the door looking like normal, humdrum Kalista, I had a couple of hours to relax and chat with Sasha and her sweet rescue pup, Chica. It was just what I needed.

There's a number of photos that I love in the Exquisite Weddings Magazine feature, but here are a few of my favorites anyway! :)

I have no idea when Kyle turned into a J. Crew model, but my does he look fine! I'm a lucky girl.

It's so special to have these keepsake photos for the rest of our lives. Every time I look at them, I can't help but think about how much I love that man. I can't believe I get to marry him in just two and a half months!