How to Prepare for Your Engagement photos! // tips for brides

Ahh! You’re engaged!! Seriously one of the most exciting times for you and your person — this time in your life can be short, and like I tell all of my couples — you get to be married forever, you only get to be engaged for a short window of time... So enjoy that time!!

I’ve offered complimentary engagement sessions to all of my booked wedding couples for almost the entire time of my business being in existence, and I feel super strongly about how important, valuable, and FUN they are! Aside from the obvious — getting gorgeous, joyful photos of the two of you, and documenting this special time in your life — we three get to know one another better, bond, build a level of comfort with you guys being in front of my camera, and so much more!

One of my gifts to newly booked brides of mine is an 86-page online magazine, famously dubbed the “Bridal Guide”, which literally covers the whole process of planning your wedding from start to finish, and really also helps ensure you have the best possible photography experience with me! Eighteen of those eighty-six pages are dedicated to engagement sessions!! Covering all things from how to choose the best date, time, and season! How to prepare yourself, how to prepare your groom, location talk (how to choose the best spot!) outfit tips, outfit inspiration, some tried and true tips and tricks overall, as well as what exactly happens after your engagement session is all done! Trust me, it’s a lot of valuable information!!

I thought I’d share just a few tips today to get you guys started on this awesome part of your journey!

So, without further adieu —

Five tips on how to best prepare for your engagement session!

- 1. When thinking about the date & time — know that a lot of photographers, myself included, work off of the natural light! We, meee :) really favor the last few hours of sunlight in the evenings as that is the BEST time for complimentary and gorgeous light! Remember that the sun will set much earlier in the cooler months, much later in the warmer months.

- 2. Location or locations, plural! — Such a big question, and one that gets asked often! Remember that to a trained photographer, one location, one park, one wooded area etc can be a plethora of options for us. It may seem like not much, but trust me, we see the craziest things differently and a good photographer can make the side of a road look like so much more than you’d ever imagine, haha I laugh, but it’s true!! I always tell my couples that if possible, let’s go to one location only — one location means less driving time and more picture-taking time, and ultimately isn’t that the best part!?

- 3. Stock-pile your inside jokes! — Obviously you two have inside jokes between you, that’s one of the best perks to a relationship in my opinion!! As you guys prepare for your shoot, think about what you know makes him laugh the best and stash it away to pull out and surprise him with as we are taking photos. You’re going to love those joyful photos as much as I do, and you both know how to make one another laugh better than anyone else!

- 4. Outfits, outfits, outfits!! — Remember that you and your love don’t need to match necessarily, coordinating outfits is better than matching! What do I mean by that? Think like you have this super cute floral dress that is primarily rose colored, but has hints of pinks, mauve’s, mint greens and browns. And in his closet? Is a mint green button down — BOOM, coordination!

- 5. Movement! — You guys will be moving a lot during your session, so be mindful to wear clothes that of course you feel confident in, but that are easy to move around in as well! Shoes? I usually suggest that if you know the ones you want photographed aren’t the most comfortable, just simply bring a comfy pair for walking around, and then we’ll get your shoes changed before we start snapping photos! Also! Remember that sometimes the “posing” itself can involve a lot of movement — so with that in mind, clothes that easily slip off your shoulder and show a bra strap for example, might not be super ideal if you feel that you’ll be worried about that!

Bonus tip!!!

• Know that above all, you can’t mess this up! You just can’t! There is absolutely, 100% no wrong way to do this! You guys shouldn’t be worried about where to put your hands, how to “pose”, what your hair is doing etc etc — leave all your worries to your photographer, me!! I ultimately just want you guys to have fun and enjoy this time together, I’ll handle everything else!

Above all — your engagement session should be the farthest thing from awkward, stressful, or flat out not fun. What it should be is more fun than you even imagined, carefree, relaxed, and ultimately it should yield a set of photos that remind you just how much you love each other!

Next up —

Learning how to prepare your groom for your engagement session!!