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• Engagement photos are a whole other beast with your new fiancé. Levi’s not a fan of cameras, photos, or social media in general, so convincing him to get engagement photos isn’t hard per se, as he realizes it’s traditional, but the boundaries he sets around it are… picky. Deeply opinionated.
• It’s not that he doesn’t want the photos, but having a photographer watch him kiss you and take a photo of it that you may then potentially post for all your friends and family to see is nightmare fuel for him. He is not the type to want that sort of attention.
• He will take the pictures, but expect Levi-branded awkwardness. If you select an easygoing photographer, an extremely private setting, and don’t push for overly doting photos, you actually might get some good ones.
• Levi is incredibly nervous leading up to the fact. He’s meticulous about grooming by nature, but he goes hardcore for this. Some because he knows it matters to you (and to him, in his way), but also because it helps with his nerves. He’s especially quiet leading up to the appointment with the photographer as a result of these nerves.
• Unexpectedly, he’s caught off guard. Seeing you thrilled to get married to him hits something raw and long scarred over. This might be one of the first moments where it starts feeling real for him in a more public-facing way. Levi definitely has some abandonment issues, and while I don’t believe he’d get cold feet, I do believe that he can become very rigid with enough emotion and anxiety.
• Levi, much to his dismay, ends up being exceptionally soft-eyed in some of them. The candid photos are where he shines. Posed photos look good. He looks good in everything, but he’s stiff in more formal photos. The photographer is fighting for their life.
• The candid photos capture that little quirk his mouth does when he’s happy and is trying not to show it because he’s embarrassed. It’s usually because you said something funny or did something cute. That’s how you get him.
• Once you get the photos back, he’s very insistent on getting them downloaded to his phone stat. He’s not going through them in detail with you, but he is going to spend an obscene amount of time looking at them in his own time.
• Yes, a candid one of you looking at him and beaming and him looking soft in the eyes, hand entwined in yours, ends up as his screen saver. He will never comment on this. It is in your best interest to not comment on it either.
• Setting a date with Levi is surprisingly easy. His only qualms are no summer wedding (sweat + formal wear is a hard pass for him), and it needs to align with any important life dates. He’s practically focused in this regard and is not going to have a set date or season bookmarked in his mind.
• He’s not the type to draw out an engagement, because once he commits, he commits. Levi would not propose if the intent is not there. Maybe a year, max, from engagement to wedding day. Enough to reasonably plan a wedding without having to rush to do so, but if timeline-wise it makes sense to push it further, he’ll deal with it (and be annoyed). Once again, very much thinking about practicalities.
• One odd thing he’d get really into – invitations and the wedding website. Not aesthetically, exactly, more so making sure the format makes sense, making sure any enclosures are meticulously correct in providing locations, transportation, menus, etc. He is very locked in on this in the beginning stages of wedding planning.
• He ends up making a very minimalist version of both. If you’re minimal, you’ll love it. If you’re not… you may have to convince him that color is not a crime, and neither is a floral pattern that the site offers for design purposes. You get the most unimpressed look when you “pretty” up the designs, but he reluctantly admits it looks nicer.
• Registries are another point I feel like he’d be meticulous about.
• Levi grew up in a situation where handouts felt like a trap. He’s not a fan of gifts or feeling beholden, and while he knows, logically, people do this when they get married – it’s still a sore spot that makes him uncomfortable.
• He responds with control. Nothing unnecessary goes on the registries. He agrees to upgraded or nicer home necessity items, one or two things decoration-wise that also serve a practical purpose, and cringes at the idea of adding anything overtly luxurious.
• This may be a contention point that requires patience and time.
• Picking out wedding bands with Levi is interesting. He has a double-edged standard here. He wants good quality and simple for himself. BUT he’s willing to indulge whatever you want for your band within reason. Levi is a frugal king, not a sugar daddy.
• Oddly tender here. Probably gets it engraved with something simple as a surprise. May not even mention it until the wedding day. Yes, you cry. Yes, he gets very soft-eyed and understatedly affectionate as a result.