Preparing for your Engagement Session

Maybe you have found your photographer, maybe not. Either way this simple guide will help prepare you for your engagement session. You may be using your engagement pictures to display at your wedding or maybe even on your save the dates. I suggest booking your wedding photographer to also take your engagement photos. On your wedding day you will work closely with your photographer so meeting them beforehand and getting to know them can make you more comfortable the day of. Working with your photographer before the big day will also give you a chance to learn how they will operate on the big day, which can make posing so much easier and quicker so you get to those unposed moments faster.

1. Location
   • Pick a location that is important to you as a couple and matches some aspect of your personality.
   • Location Ideas (I have a list of specific location ideas I send to my couples after booking but here are a few treasures to start considering)
     • Trails and wooded areas
     • Beaches and bodies of water
     • In-towns and Cities
     • Parks and Gardens
     • Your wedding venue
2. Outfits
   • Coordinate, don’t match! This simply means tie your colors into each other. Let’s leave the white shirt and jean pants trend in the 90s please.
   • Use your wedding colors in your engagement session outfits like Brittany and Pat did in the image below. This will pull the two galleries together for a curated feel.
   • Avoid neon & bright colors. Colored clothes reflect light and can throw tones onto the two of you while shooting. Also, those bold colors can stick out like a sore thumb. Avoid the bold colors if you can. 
3. Rings
   • Clean your rings before your engagement session. Most photographers like to get shots highlighting the ring at engagement sessions, and those macro shots can tell all.
4. What season to have your engagement session
   • Depending on the style of outfits you plan to wear and the colors you may need to pick a particular Season for your session. It may not matter to much at the beach, but it will matter in other areas. For example, Fall colors are called Fall colors because they coordinate with Fall. You don’t want your outfits to stick out more than you do in the photos.
5. Accessories/Props for your engagement session
   • You do not have to add any accessories, but if you do make sure they fit with who you are. It wouldn’t make much since to make pottery together if you aren’t into pottery or you don’t do crafts together. Any props you use during your engagement pictures should represent who you and your fiance are.
   • Pictured below you will see Justine with her trendy hat and that fits her, but if you don’t like the way you look in hats you may end up regretting using it.
   • Ideas for Accessories/Props
     • Champagne & Glasses
     • Ring boxes
     • Cuddly blankets
     • Cute bikes
     • Hats & Jewelry
6. The best light
   • Don’t be surprised when your photographer suggest a sunrise or sunset session for your engagement pictures. Sunrise sessions start right as the sun is rising and sunset sessions typically start 2-3 hours before actual sunset. These are the times of day that have the most photogenic light. When possible, these times are ideal. If this is not an option for you, don’t worry because your photographer should know how to get images in almost any light situation. I urge you to go with your photographer’s suggestions, after all you hired them because you love their work and trust them to do the job right.
     

View more of my engagement sessions HERE and you can view weddings HERE.

A couple of the locations pictured above, Murrays Mill and Kure Beach.