My Boyfriend And I Did A Wedding Photo Shoot For One Epic April Fools' Joke

April Fools' Day only comes around once every year. And it's the only glorious day of the year when you have to go big or go home with the practical jokes. Well, two years ago, my boyfriend and I decided to go big.

Real big.

When I found an ad on Craigslist looking for a couple who'd be willing to do a wedding photo shoot, a neon sign in my brain flashed "100 percent YES." I can't really say why that happened; I've never been the girl to dream of her wedding day or obsess over puffy white dresses. My opinion of getting married has always been a vague, distant "whatever."

But something about this photo shoot seemed too good to pass up. At the time, we'd just moved to LA and knew literally no one except our landlord who, with a two-month-old baby to take care of, wasn't about to go drinking with us on a Thursday night.

So, I thought it'd be good for us to get out there, meet some locals and set up the most perfect April Fools' joke of all time. All I had to do was convince my boyfriend, Mike.

“Honey,” I said, sweet as can be, “A stranger I met on Craigslist wants to shoot us.”

I probably could have phrased it better, but the point is he eventually got on board. Two weeks later, we were driving downtown to this random woman's apartment hoping she wasn't actually a Buffalo Bill protégé.

When we got there, we were relieved to meet Blaire, the creative force behind Sparkles and Vintage, along with Martina, the photographer. Right away, the hair stylist and makeup artist got to work prepping me for our "engagement shoot."

Mike, being so naturally pretty as-is, needed nothing more than a little hairspray. As for myself, I needed a complete overhaul.

My makeup was a lot heavier than I'm used to, and in person I looked like something between a clown and a geisha. I think it photographed alright, though, which explains why I'm not a makeup artist -- also why I look like a washed out, sickly chicken in most of my selfies.

At the end of the day, it was actually a really fun experience. The hardest part was waiting to post the photos to Facebook since we did the shoot in mid-March and had two weeks until "the big day."

But then, on the morning of April 1, I posted this photo with the caption, "We did it!"

We had a good number of people fooled, commenting "Congrats!" and "WTF? Yes!" My best friend texted me, "Um, did you seriously not invite me to your wedding?" My grandmother wanted to know what we were planning to name our unborn child.

My mom, on the other hand, called our farce right away. She knew we didn't elope; not because it was April 1, but because our dog was absent from all the photos. Touché, mom, touché.

If you're looking to prank your friends and family in a similar fashion, I highly recommend it. Of course, be careful contacting randos on Craiglist. I should also mention a day of pretend married life does change you, and we considered becoming swingers to break up the monotony. Proceed at your own risk, pranksters.

Also, my grandma still thinks we're engaged. Whoops.