He popped the question, she said yes, time to post on the Social Media…now what? Now that you and your bae are engaged, it’s time to commemorate the momentous occasion with a romantic photoshoot. But where do you start? There are so many cheesy couples’ photos and countless run-of-the-mill shots that it can be a challenge to snap a photo that is truly your own. Engagement photos are more than fun snapshots. They’re one of the first mile markers in your wedding planning journey and the images you can use on your save the dates! Arranging for an engagement session is a fun, low-stress, wedding-day dry run. You’ll learn to master all sorts of flattering poses. Also, you will be capturing save-the-date and wedding-website content in the process. Plus, see your engagement sessions as the way to find and test one of your most important wedding-vendor relationships – your wedding photographer!
Being engaged is a fun time of your life to capture photos—you just said yes, after all! It can help you establish a relationship with your photographer so you’re comfortable with them, on your wedding day and help them learn more about you before the big day when there are stress and wedding jitters.
How Much Do Engagement Photos Cost?
Typically, engagement photos are built into a wedding photographer’s package. The photographers want that time to get to know you and your significant other. It helps them create more meaningful and personal images. The cost largely depends on your photographer, destination, location, or even time of the year. Are you thinking of having an engagement shoot? Ask us on the pricing!
How to Choose a Photographer?
Always think that while all photographers do a mix of portraits, candids, and formal poses, their unique editing style remains consistent — it’s their brand. Choosing a wedding or engagement photographer comes down to two things: editing style and personality. Whether you’re scouring Instagram for a local professional, reading wedding blogs, or gathering friends’ recommendations, we believe it is very important to take a step back and think of the photo style you’re naturally drawn to. For us, it’s natural and timeless with a lot of light! If you’re having trouble choosing your favorite photo style, think about the types of images you’re drawn to on Instagram. Also, which styles would look best on the walls of your home?
The next important step for choosing your wedding or engagement photographer is studying their personality. You are not hiring the photographer to be your friend, but you’re spending the majority of your big day with this person. You want to enjoy their company! We find it important that our personalities should mesh. If you want to know more we recommend checking out the photographers’ about page and Instagram. Meeting, however, is equally important to schedule a quick and informal call to get to know us outside of the emails.
When to Take Your Engagement Photos?
Once you’ve hired your photographer, it’s time to schedule your engagement shoot. If you’re planning to use these photos for save-the-dates (which go out six to eight months before your wedding), you need to book a session around 10 months or more in advance. That way we have time to edit the images, and you still have time to get those invitations designed. If you have a longer engagement, or you’re not planning to use photos for save-the-dates, you can be more flexible. In terms of season, we think spring and fall are the best times. There are no extreme temperatures to worry about and you can still have pretty, colorful foliage around. For the time of day, most photographers will recommend evening or early morning for soft, warm sunrise and sunset hues.
Where to Take Your Engagement Photos?
When choosing the perfect engagement photo spot, you can either pick a meaningful location or rely on our expertise. If you have a special spot in mind—a first-date location, your favorite bistro, or a local park on your go-to walking route—run it by your photographer first. Then, we can scope it out, get some ideas, and figure out any necessary permissions for photographing. While it’s fun to have engagement shots from a romantic location, we love it when couples lean on us for inspiration. We are scouting out new or lesser-known photography spots all the time, so we get overly excited when a couple asks for our opinion! If you and your significant other love travel, you can also opt to get your engagement photos on vacation ( hello Santorini!). It is hard to beat engagement photos from, say, the beautiful city center of Corfu or the whitewashed streets of Mykonos —especially if travel is your “niche” as a couple.
What to Wear for Engagement Photos?
Less is more when it comes to selecting the perfect engagement-photo outfit. We are always advising our couples toward soft, subtle, and neutral colors for a classic, timeless look. You know, muted tones like beiges, taupes, blacks, and whites are the most flattering. Try and avoid deeply saturated or bright colors like a vibrant red or orange; those colors will reflect on your face, especially in the sun.
What to Wear for Engagement Photos?
If the couples have a favorite color, say red, we suggest they incorporate it in a different element, such as a skirt or shoes without risking the color to bounce back on the face. While it may be tempting to wear a brand-new outfit, comfort should be your priority—but that doesn’t mean yoga pants or unflattering sweatshirts. If you’re buying outfits especially for your engagement photos, wear it to dinner first, get a few phone photos in it, and see if you truly like how it looks.
Engagement photo sessions are a great time to experiment with wedding-day makeup, too. If you have a vendor in mind for day-of beauty, use your engagement shoot as a trial run. It’s great to see how makeup reads in professional photographs. What feels like a lot of makeup often doesn’t show up as dramatically on camera as it does in the mirror. It’s helpful to be able to make any makeup tweaks after the engagement session. That way your big day will be flawless! It’s also just really special for couples to have nice pictures of themselves. You’re going through this new experience together, trying to figure out this next stage in your life, and it’s kind of nice and romantic to have photos of that!
Looking for photographers to capture your just engaged glow? We’ll be happy to do the honors! Contact Us!
