If you are recently engaged, first of all — congratulations!!! Second of all, you might be starting to think about taking engagement photos with your fiancé. But with so many decisions to make as you begin to plan your wedding, you may be asking yourself: is an engagement session really worth it? As a wedding photographer and past bride, I say HECK. YES!
Engagement sessions can be such a beneficial part of the wedding planning process. Are they absolutely necessary? No. But, can they be helpful in ensuring that the day of your wedding runs as smoothly and stress-free as possible? Absolutely. Keep reading to learn about the five main benefits of doing an engagement session before your wedding day!
1. Great practice for your wedding day.
If you’re like most people (myself included, believe it or not!), you probably get a bit nervous in front of the camera. Engagement sessions are a great way to get more comfortable having your photo taken, and to get a better sense of what your couple’s portrait time will be like on your wedding day!
During your engagement session, your photographer will also get to know you and your fiancé’s best poses so they can direct you more efficiently on your wedding day — and by then, you two will already feel like total pros and know exactly what to do (with your photographer’s guidance, of course!).
2. Get to know your photographer.
If you’ve never met your photographer in-person before, your engagement session gives you the chance to really get to know them face-to-face — especially so you aren’t meeting them for the first time on the day of your wedding! By the time they arrive on your wedding day, they’re less of a stranger and more of an old friend.
It’s important you feel comfortable and confident on your wedding day, and engagement sessions helps build trust and connection with your photographer, so you can focus more on enjoying the moment and less on feeling nervous or awkward as they’re shooting you.
My clients always say that after their engagement session, it feels like we’ve been friends forever! One of my favorite parts about engagement sessions is getting to know my couples personally, to laugh with them and learn more about them, beyond the emails we’ve exchanged and the calls we’ve had.
3. Receive a beautiful gallery of images.
This one might seem obvious, but you can utilize your engagement photos for more than just your save the dates! You can use them on your wedding website, print and display them at your engagement party/bridal shower/cocktail hour/reception, use them in your guestbook, gift framed prints to your family members, and/or hang them in your own home!
There are so few opportunities in life where you receive a big gallery of images of just you and your partner, so I highly recommend displaying these photos anywhere you can.
4. Test run your wedding hair and makeup.
If you’re able to coordinate your trial with the day of your engagement session (and you’re going for similar glam for your engagement photos) this is a great way to see how your hair and makeup will photograph with your photographer’s style!
In many cases, you may want something more casual in terms of hair and makeup for your engagement photos, but even working with your hair/makeup artists ahead of time can be helpful to mitigate your stress on the day of your wedding.
5. Celebrate and commemorate this special time in your lives.
Your engagement is such an important milestone as a couple, but it won’t last forever! Use your engagement session as a moment to truly enjoy this exciting season and reflect on your journey together — how far you’ve come, and everything the future has in store. Incorporate things that are meaningful to you two into your session, like the location where you had your first date or your favorite bottle of wine.
So much of the wedding planning process revolves around creating an amazing and fun experience for your guests, but your engagement session is a day that is truly JUST about you and your fiancé.
I encourage my couples to buy a new outfit that makes them feel great, get their nails done, and make a reservation somewhere special for a date night after their session! You deserve to be celebrated, and your engagement session is the perfect time to do that!
RECAP:
1. Great practice for your wedding day.
2. Get to know your photographer.
3. Receive a beautiful gallery of images.
4. Test run your wedding hair and makeup.
5. Celebrate and commemorate this special time in your lives.
If you liked this post, check out what to wear in your engagement photos.
