More often then I’d like to, I hear “oh I don’t need an engagement session.”  Normally my next question is why.  Sometimes the answer is because they have been together for a long time, because they aren’t doing save the dates or because they don’t need any more photos.  Obviously I love photos, which is evidenced by the amount of them hanging on my walls, but that isn’t why I think engagements are important.  The following are my top 3 reasons why you should take engagement photos:

 

“What should we do?”: I hear this question on almost every engagement session.  Most of my couples have never been engaged before, and never had photos like that taken of themselves.  It can be a bit nerve wracking because you just don’t know what to do.  There isn’t an instruction manual for engagement photos, it’s up to your photographer to guide you. On the flip side of this, your photographer will have a playbook of instructions and poses they use when working with couples.  From my experience, sometimes a particular pose or the wording of an instruction doesn’t always work with everyone.  During your engagement session your photographer can figure out what poses are amazing for the two of you, and the best style of instruction gets the desired result.  Honestly, it’s like a dress rehearsal!  Why wouldn’t you want to practice the process so on your wedding day it feels so normal and natural?! All of this leads to a less stressful wedding day, and more authentic photos because you can be as relaxed as possible.

 

“Why are there so many strangers in the room?”: This is the last thing I would ever want to hear on someone’s wedding day.  It is one of the most important days of your life and you don’t want to spend it surrounded my strangers.  Having relationships with my clients is one of the most important things to me, because I want it to feel like an old friend is walking into the room.  I want you to trust me as a photographer and as a friend, and that is hard to do if we haven’t spent much time together.  Your engagement session is just another opportunity to get to know your photographer.  Every single engagement session results in lots of laughs and great memories; memories that I share with my clients and that we carry into our interactions on your wedding day.  I don’t want to intrude on your personal moments, but be a part of them.

 

“I really hope my wedding photos are good!!”: Getting a chance to work with your wedding photographer is going to make you feel much more relaxed and comfortable about the end result on your wedding day. After I had my own engagement photos taken (what feels like a thousand years ago!!!) all I could think of is “omg, I hope they turned out ok!”  Then after I saw just a few I knew they would be fantastic and I had nothing to worry about it.  On my wedding day, I never had that thought!!  I had already worked with my photographer, I already knew she could capture my new husband and I very well, and I never stressed at all about how the photos would turn out.  What a relief it is to trust your wedding photographer because you have already seen them capture you in the perfect way!