4 Tips For Planning The Perfect Engagement Session
Let's prep to capture that newly engaged glow, woot woot! Wedding planning is already stressful enough, so let me help you plan a stress free engagement session that will feel like a date night with your fiancé!
Hire A Professional Photographer
Hiring a wedding/engagement photographer comes down to a couple of things: what kind of photography style are you drawn to and what do you envision that photographer to be like, personality wise? Do you like all formal poses? or would you prefer to have more candids and fun portraits? Do you like bright and colorful images? Or do you like dark and moody images? These are some important things to think about. Go through different photographers’ work, to help you narrow down what style you like best. Although, you’re not hiring your photographer to be your friend, it is important that you feel comfortable with them. A friendship between you and your photographer changes everything! Friendship breeds comfortability and comfortability leads to trust…and trust is something that every bride and groom need to have in their photographer! After you’ve reached out to a photographer, they’ll most likely set up a call with you to go over the details and get to know each other a bit. I schedule a video call with all of my potential wedding clients so we can vibe it out!
Gather Inspiration & Choose A Location
As we start to plan for your engagement session, you will need to start brainstorming about location ideas. I LOVE it when couples pick a location that is special or sentimental to them in some way! If you can’t think of anywhere specific that you would like to shoot, dive deep into your relationship and what you guys enjoy doing together. What places do you frequent? What do you like to do together? Where was your first date or kiss? I can help you decide on a location - I shoot at gardens, coffee shops, pizza parlors, monuments, you name it and we'll do it! Do not shy away from unique ideas. The more creative, the better! The goal is for your friends and family to see these photos and say that they scream YOU TWO! You can gather inspiration by reading over my Wedding Experience Guide with so many tips, creating a mood board on Pinterest, and looking over my engagement session galleries.
Choose Your Outfits
Once we’ve chosen a location, you can go ahead and start planning your outfits! What style are you going for? Bold or neutral? Classy or casual? Bright and fun? Classic and trendy? When choosing your outfits, keep in mind the season and location. I always suggest you bring one dressy and one casual outfit. Maybe you want one outfit to be very light and neutral but you want to wear more color in the next outfit. These categories will hopefully help you determine what you’re hoping for in your engagement session. If you’re feeling stuck and can’t seem to determine what you prefer, that’s very normal and I’m happy to help. I ask my couples to send me photos of what outfits they’re thinking of wearing, so I can give some feedback.
Make A Date Out Of It
Look and feel your best, show affection towards each others, and end with a breakfast, brunch, or dinner. Every detail from your engagement session, from the location, outfits, props, etc…these photos should SCREAM YOU TWO! I love helping my couples incorporate activities into their session - things they love to do together! Such as, playing cards, having a picnic, eating pizza, going to your favorite coffee shop, and loving on your fur baby. Incorporating these activities will help the nerves go away and allow your shoot to feel relaxed, and just like any other date night together. I want you to look back at your engagement photos and remember how you felt in that moment in time!
