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Tony and I got our engagement photos!!!! Confession: We actually got them a while ago. This summer, to be exact. Our beautiful, wildly talented, sweet sweet friend Robyn Von Swank took them as a favor to us because we love her, and she shot our poster and promo shots for our Groundlings show TONANNIE, and we needed her photos to be a part of our wedding, too. She did gorgeous work, even though she’s a famous Hollywood photographer who doesn’t shoot weddings, and made me look and feel beautiful. We were so excited, and so in love with the photos. And then we submitted them to Style Me Pretty in hopes of being featured, which has been my dream pretty much since Style Me Pretty was created (I am a true wedding obsessive. Always have been.) And they said no.

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I’m going to be honest. This was my biggest “bridezilla” moment to date. It trumped me briefly considering buying a gown far outside our budget (the cardinal sin of wedding planning), and asking our florist how much it costs to ship anemones in from South Africa in August (um, what?! NO. Just NO. Why?!) I’m not gonna lie. When I got the rejection email, I cried. Then I called Tony and cried. Then I called my mom and cried. Then I called my dad and cried. Then I called Katierose and cried. Then I called my wedding planner and cried. Then I called Tony’s publicist and asked if there was anything she could do to make them change their mind. (She tried, because she has a kind heart and compassion for insane brides, and they still wouldn’t reconsider.) I was devastated.

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I am so ashamed. I wavered on whether or not to share this story, because it’s gross and absolutely ridiculous that something so silly should make me so upset. And it reeks of Marie Antoinette, that this is the extent of my worries and troubles in life. (It’s not. I just caught the bridezilla disease and turned rabid.) But, I also don’t want this blog to be a glossy perfect facade, because I’m about as far from perfect as a girl can get (as evidenced by this humiliating story). I had a panic attack/existential crisis that this wedding may be my only chance to be published, if I never book a TV show or none of my scripts are ever made. (So melodramatic! And insane!) It brought out all of the ugliness in me, obsessing over the things that weddings aren’t about. At the end of the day, I get to marry my best friend, the love of my life, who still wanted to marry me even after this absurd meltdown. (I know. I am very, very lucky.)

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However, I also wanted to share this madness because I ultimately decided to try on Tony’s “glass half full” attitude, and see this as a blessing in disguise. I’m giving myself the exclusive, and Heels in the Hills gets to release these photos that I love so much. Here’s what I wrote for our initial submission, to accompany the photos:

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Our story: Tony and I met performing in The Groundlings Sunday Company. He’s an actor (starring in the upcoming School of Rock television show, playing the part Jack Black played in the movie!) And I’m a comedy writer, and am charting the mad crazy fun that is planning a wedding on my bridal blog, ALTARED (*now Heels in the Hills). You can read our beautifully hilarious, imperfectly perfect proposal story here, and a few of the billion reasons why I love Tony here.

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If there were a soul mate factory, I’d make Tony. He looks like a Ken Doll-’80’s bad guy hybrid and is the funniest, kindest, most loving and selfless human being (not to mention the best dancer) I’ve ever met. We complement each other: I’m a germaphobe, and he’s been known to pull “still good” food I’ve thrown away out of the trash. He’s an optimistic, glass half-full kind of guy, and I’m a “the world might end tomorrow, we should probably stock up on wine and cheese and build a bunker” type of girl. He was a Division 1 college athlete; I consider walking in heels exercise. I inherited my Texas grandmother’s love for cooking; Tony calls blending a protein shake “cooking.” He’s my best friend and I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with him. (And he also let me keep the puppy I adopted while he was in Vegas at a bachelor party – a keeper if I ever saw one! Tony and the puppy.)

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Our wedding is August 1, 2015; we chose it because it falls on a blue moon weekend, and only once in a blue moon do you meet your person! Because we’re getting married in Lake Tahoe (at my parents’ best friends’ home, where I spent summers growing up and where Tony proposed), we wanted our engagement shoot to capture our home, here in Los Angeles. So, we did photos in all our favorite, most meaningful places – our backyard in the Hollywood Hills, the lookout point we walk our dogs to every day, The Groundlings Theatre where we met, and finally, LACMA – I know this one is a little cheesy, but it’s our favorite date night spot for the Jason Reitman Live Read series. And come on, those lights! We’re also big into animal rescue, so of course we had to include our dog-daughters: Lucy, Tippi and Maggie.

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Our friend Robyn Von Swank is a fancy schmancy famed Hollywood photographer who very generously offered to shoot our photos (the gold confetti was her idea for the engagement shoot! She is a genius.) I wanted to incorporate our wedding colors, so I rocked ivory, emerald green and sapphire blue in the dress department (both bought on clearance sale!), grey on my nails and gold and cream on the jewelry (my grandmother’s pearl earrings, and the gold necklace Tony gave me for my birthday, that the costume designer he works with on Hart of Dixie helped him select). The only time we deviated from our color scheme was when we used the beautiful pink blanket Tony’s mom gave us for Christmas for a few of the photos. Life can get so hectic, and so this photo shoot was the perfect day to focus on each other, visiting the places we love most, laughing the entire time.

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Every day with Tony is the best day of my life, and August 1 can’t come soon enough! I’m so excited to be his wife.

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2 Comments

  • Ofelia Ramirez says:

    Amazing Pics!!! love it!, You are sooooo Pretty!! Wonderful Couple!

    • Annie says:

      You are the sweetest! Thank you so much, Ofelia!!! You are so wonderful to check out the blog, I so appreciate the support :)