Last Minute Costume: Pinata

Happy HalloWEEK!

We will be sharing a different last minute costume every day this week. Each of these costumes takes less than an hour to put together and costs less than $20!

First off, we have the pinata. It’s cute and ridiculously easy to put together. I took a plain red dress I already own (super cheap from Old Navy) and used black painter’s tape to attach fringed crepe paper in several different colors. Then, I added two multi-colored party hats, red tights and a fun little pinata stick.

Huge thanks to Ashlee Brooke Photography for her help with the pictures! If you end up using this idea, tag your costume with #TwinTestedCostume so we can see it!

Happy Halloweening

Wedding Dress Dilemma

Now that I have officially been married for 3 weeks (yay!) I wanted to post a wedding photo. But before I share the photo I wanted to share my WEDDING DRESS DILEMMA story! My wedding day was truly the best day of my life and everything went perfectly… my dress was the only major hiccup along the way.
So to begin the story, a couple of weeks before Parker and I got engaged I was able to snag a gorgeous Reem Acra gown that had just gone on sale and had the exact bodice and skirt that I was looking for. Thanks to Pinterest I had an idea of what I wanted the top to be built up to look like. I found a seamstress and handed the dress over with pictures and instructions of what I wanted. Here is a picture for the top of the dress from Pinterest that I gave her: STUNNING, right? All of my wildest fashion designer dreams were about to come true! (And no I never wanted to wear pants, just that top!)

I went to some fittings for the dress and nothing really changed with the dress over time. Then one day I arrived for my appointment and the top of the dress had been cut off and replaced with a flimsy thin fabric. What the heck? That is when I realized this dress making thing was getting a little fishy. However, I still wanted to give the seamstress the benefit of the doubt so I scheduled another appointment for the next week. As I arrived for my final fitting 3 days before my bridal pictures I walked into the room and saw the top of the dress in shreds. Some {tacky} ribbons had been haphazardly pinned onto the flimsy top and the edges were frayed with no sleeves in sight. This is the moment that I began to panic and hope that some kind of fairy godmother would show up. I immediately went home and showed Britt this picture I had taken during the appointment:

Thankfully she kept me calm and successfully convinced that I would be able to find another dress in 2 days! Little did I know she was also freaking out inside (how could you not be?!?). We were finally able to track the seamstress down after being blown off countless times. Planned out a little tag team approach and left with some cash, but NO DRESS.

This is the point when my fairy godmother/BFF Bailey came to the rescue! She told me she had a friend who bought a few extra wedding gowns for her big day and she thought I might like one of them. So… long story short I went over to the girl’s house to try on the dress and it fit like a glove. It was meant to be and I am so glad! I loved the dress I got to wear and now could not imagine things going any other way. Crazy how things always work out, right?

Here is a sneak peek my photographer Travis J sent me of our wedding day photos of the dress in all it’s poofy glory!

Bridal Photos

Now that we have officially been married for 2 weeks I wanted to share some of our bridal/groomal photos. I know a lot of people go to the state capitol for pictures but I couldn’t resist – it is just so darn pretty! The lighting, the columns, the tile work… I just love it all. Thanks again to Travis from Travis J Photography for the pictures. Now I am counting down the days until we get pictures back from the big day! Tomorrow I will be posting the crazy story about my DRESS DILEMMA. But for now here are some of my favorites. I sure love my groom!

We just happened to be at the capitol when a large tour bus dropped off dozens of Asians who decided they wanted to take pictures of the bride and groom, it definitely made us laugh.

Bridal Inspiration Shoot

I’m Beautiful Salon invited us to be part of their bridal inspiration shoot for the upcoming issue of Salt Lake Bride & Groom. It was so much fun and we loved getting a peek at what is popular in the bridal world right now.

{the floral detail on this dress was gorgeous} {Brooke basically wanted to wear this flower crown for two weeks straight, it was gorgeous. She got airbrush makeup done and was shocked at how well it stayed on her face. She is definitely doing it again on her big day}

{the stylist put us in two trends that will continue through 2015… the ruffled mermaid dress and the sparkling belt}

{bowties are back! and so are colored shoelaces for guys… I already bought Sam some red ones just like these!}

{how can you not love a guy in leopard print socks?!}{the stylist put us in two trends that will continue through 2015… the ruffled mermaid dress and the sparkling belt}

{this was our overall favorite look of the day on Jessica. Her braided bun was flawless and her dress was so feminine and beautiful}

You can check out all of the fun from the shoot in the upcoming issue of Salt Lake Bride & Groom.

Thanks to everyone who collaborated on the shoot, we had so much fun!

PHOTO SHOOT CREDITS:

Profile Studio Photography

Marc Reynolds Photography

True Gentlemen Custom Suits (Men’s suits)

Bridal Closet (Gowns) 801-432-0031 Draper, Utah

Sweet William Floral (Flowers) 801-679-5352 South Jordan, Utah

Hair Artists: I’m Beautiful! Salon

Aubrey Schut

Darci Hansen

Ashley Squire

Karine Herrin

Cody Cole

Melissa Glazier

Makeup Artists:

Amy Capece www.imbeautifulsalon.com

Vivian www.vivianmakeupartist.com

Alece McKenna www.imbeautifulsalon.com

Twin Tested: How to Look Good in Photos

How to Look Good in Photos

We all want better photos of ourselves, right? Britt and I know next to nothing about photography so we decided to call up one of our favorite pros for some tips. If you are in SLC you have most likely heard of Jessica Janae. Jessica is a super talented photographer that has a way of making everyone look their very best. She pointed out six guidelines for taking a good picture, these include in front of the camera and behind. Britt and I volunteered as her good example/bad example in the pics below so that you can see the contrast. Shout out to Britt for looking super awkward in most of these and taking one for the team! 🙂

1. Flattering Face Pose:

As girls, it seems like we all get a weird urge to tilt our heads once a camera is in front of us. In the pics below you can see how much better (and normal) it looks to be straight up and down. Resist the tilt! Jess also recommends keeping your chin down.

2. Flattering Full Body Pose:

Thanks to Jessica having tons of experience shooting fashion she was able to teach us some flattering full length poses. We quickly found out that popping your hip forward makes your whole body look bigger. Jessica encourages clients to do the foot crossover for a universally flattering pose that everyone looks good doing. No more hip popping!

3. The Rule of Thirds:

We had no idea how this worked, but it is amazing to see the difference in the rule of thirds composition! This is what Jessica recommends the next time you are snapping a picture of a specific subject – your dog, baby, etc to try and use the rule of thirds. Jess put some diagrams on her pics below to show how to align your photos.

4. Switch Up The Light:

Jessica has a GORGEOUS downtown studio with amazing natural light streaming through the windows as you can see in these pics. However, if you aren’t a professional photographer with a perfectly lit studio you can still get good photos. Try to create an atmosphere of natural light that is not too harsh in your natural surroundings. She also recommends taking photographs at dusk and dawn for the perfect outdoor lighting.

5. Movement:

Jessica encourages movement in her photos. Why? Because you automatically feel less awkward when you are moving. It brings out natural smiles and personality a lot better than a static pose. In this one, she had Britt pose with her arms folded standing still and you can see how different it looks. It can feel a little awkward, in the beginning, to be twirling around but you will love the end result. It is human nature to be more relaxed when our minds are focused on doing something instead of staring straight into the camera.

6. Different Angles:

Try to move around while taking a photo. Jessica is not scared to lay on the ground or squat to get the right look. Give it a try and see all the different perspectives you can come up with!

We had so much fun at her studio – we wish we could hang out there every day. Jessica truly creates beautiful work and we are so glad she was able to sharpen up our photo skills. Make sure you check out her site!

What it is really like on the Grammy Awards Red Carpet

The red carpet for the Grammys was amazing!

It is so fun to see everyone up close and get a chance to chat with them.

This year we both decided to wear Adrianna Papell dresses.

Britt interviewing Dead Mau5 and Kat Von D.

What up Carly Rae?
She was a little bit awkward to interview, but was nice overall.
She is tiny!

Teenage Heartthrob Hunter Hayes was such a sweetie.
Warning to all you ladies, he is a shorty that wears a lot of makeup (but all guys wear makeup at the Grammys).
I felt like an amazon woman talking to him.
I was trying not to fangirl too hard, but I wanted to tell him we played “Wanted” at our wedding reception.
He was one of my favorite people to interview.

Nelly.
He sang his new song to me and life was good.

Chris Van Vliet from Cleveland was with the CBS crew and is always fun to work with.
He definitely knows how to do an entertaining red carpet interview!

Brooke got to interview Miranda Lambert, who was over the top sweet and so nice.
She really is just as down to earth as she seems.

One of the funniest things we saw all night… Supermodel Chrissy Teigen asked a security guard to take her picture (he said yes of course), then he got so nervous that he dropped her phone and everyone around was just staring.
Loved her dress!