Engagement Photo Day + Lunch at the Lazy Dog

I’m taking it back to the beginning of May. May the 4th to be exact – the day of our engagement photos! I got my hair done at Hairspray Salon in Hillcrest and decided to treat myself to a little lunch. The Lazy Dog is right next to Ulta Beauty and made for a convenient stop before I went to get my makeup done.

I got the soup and half a sandwich. Chicken tortilla. I added avocado to the soup which was an excellent idea. It adds a creamy touch to the yummy soup. There was bits of cheese on top with chunks of chicken and tortillas. Good flavor overall. Very hearty!

For my sandwich, I got the House Club sandwich. It’s got roasted chicken breast, smoked bacon, more avocado, and all of the other fixings like lettuce and tomato. It’s nicely toasted and delicious and I loved the hot french fries (that I got extra on the side) with the sandwich and my soup. A nice break in between my “getting all dressed for my engagement” sessions!

I snapped a photo of myself in the car after getting my makeup done. Snazzy, eh?

Before I get to the photos, I want to show off a little something I made for our engagement photo session.

For our photos, I wanted us to have an Xbox Achievement sign. Jake and I are both gamers and we thought it would be fun to have an “Achievement Unlocked – Got Engaged” sign. I thought maybe I could buy one on Etsy but no one made them. I found various t-shirts on Etsy but that wasn’t what I wanted. I also found a few blog posts about how people made their own sign and I decided to do the same thing. 

I designed the sign in Photoshop and then I had it printed at Mira Mesa Copy Center. I got two copies made. It cost me $1.25 plus tax. 

I got a piece of foam board at the Dollar Tree and after cutting out the prints, I traced it into the foam board and cut it out with my exacto knife. 

After cutting it out, I glued the sign to the foam board. I wanted it to be a bit thicker so it was easier to hold onto. The first one I cut out… was not quite right. I messed up the edges a bit! 

But on the second go, I was able to make it look better. Good thing I got two copies made! I’ll will do this again for after our ceremony and make “Got Married” signs. Or maybe “Obtained a Husband/Wife” signs! 

Now… onto the engagement photos! We had our engagement photos done by our awesome photographer Mel of Goodnickels Photography (FB).

The first part of our photo shoot was at Belmont Park. Jake and I went here on our first date after having lunch at L&L Hawaiian BBQ. 

Here’s our sign in action!

Then we changed locations and when to San Clemente Canyon off of the 52. We did some “normal” photos at the canyon and then did a themed photoshoot.

We’re both fans of the horror comedy Tucker and Dale vs. Evil which is the inspiration for this part of the photo shoot.

A bloody hillbilly engagement shoot! Jake is supposed to be Dale and he’s pretty spot on. I’m supposed to be Tucker but I didn’t want to wear suspenders. I thought the “hero” shirt would be a nice touch along with my “Love” trucker hat.

I got Jake’s hat at the thrift store and used a template to cut the letters out of felt and glued them onto the hat. 

Jake and I thought these photos were hilarious and definitely not the “norm”. We had a blast with the photos and Stacey (my maid of honor) came to help bloody us up for the shoot (thanks, Stacey). I love all of the photos we got and can’t thank Mel enough for the amazing photos!