Whether you’re recently engaged, or you’ve been engaged for a year, if you’re on the fence about having an engagement portrait session, my advice, HAVE ONE!  I have been a professional wedding photographer for 10 years and understand the value and importance of an engagement session.  If you’re on the fence about doing one, here are a few reasons why you should definitely consider it!

1) An engagement session will help you to get comfortable being in front of a camera.

Most people aren’t naturally comfortable in front of the camera. If you’re like me, you actually dread it. (Funny… right? Lol) An engagement session is a wonderful way to allow yourself time to get comfortable being photographed. On your wedding day, your photographer will be with you the entire day, and an engagement session can help you prepare for this. You will be dealing with plenty of nerves on your wedding day as it is, why add more?

I start my engagement sessions by telling my couples that it’s NORMAL to feel awkward in the beginning. After the first 15-20 minutes, you should start to feel comfortable with the poses and just enjoy the time with each other and the love that you share.

2) An engagement session will help you get to know your photographer.

As a wedding photographer, I might be a little biased, but an engagement session is essential as it helps you to get to know your wedding photographer! When you know your photographer, you then change the dynamic on your wedding day. Instead of a STRANGER following you around for 8 hours, you have a friend. Someone you’ve met and feel comfortable with.

An engagement session also gives you a sense of your photographer’s style. When you take engagement portraits, you will have the chance to see YOURSELF in the photographer’s photos and not someone else. You can look through portfolio after portfolio, from several photographers, but you won’t truly know if you LOVE someone’s work until you experience it yourself.

3) You get photos of the two of you as a couple, without all the wedding attire. How many times after the wedding will you get dressed up to have your photos taken?

The majority of my couples have NEVER had professional photos taken as a couple! An engagement session is an opportunity to have professional portraits of you and your fiancé that aren’t of you in wedding attire. These are great for save the dates, wedding invitations, your new social media image (lol), and more. Think about it, after your wedding, when is the next time you will have professional portraits of the two of you taken? Probably not until maternity pictures, IF you plan to have kids. My advice, go for it! Have fun and enjoy this time in your life! 

4) What better excuse to get dressed up and have fun.

An engagement session can be anything you want it to be. Wild and adventurous, fun and playful, sweet and romantic. It’s your choice! They’re a great way to EXPRESS who you are as a couple, outside of your wedding. Outside of the time crunch and expectations from your family and friends. This is a time just for the two of you, and possibly a fur baby or two, to create beautiful memories.

5) Professional photos to use for wedding invites, save the dates, and as decorations for your wedding.

I’ve already mentioned this, but I’ll say it again. An engagement session is a great way to get professional photos for your wedding invites, save the dates, and as decorations for your wedding. I’ve seen engagement session photos as part of the centerpiece, as wall decorations, printed as postcards for people to take with them. There are so many fun ways to incorporate them into your wedding, the list is endless.

6) Engagement photos help you to get comfortable with posing and learn how your photographer poses people.

An engagement session will help you to get comfortable with posing and with working with your photographer. Every photographer works differently when posing people, so this is allows you to learn how your photographer communicates. This will in turn help to maximize the limited portrait time on your wedding day as you already know the poses and prompts your photographer will refer to.

Note: I highly recommend booking your engagement session WITH your wedding photographer. Why? Read the reasons above. Lol

Convinced you need an engagement session?

Contact me to schedule yours today!