You’re engaged – and excited. And now you’re ready for the engagement session. FREEZE! Let me fill you on something: myself and many other photographers include engagement photos in their wedding packages. Amazing, right?! Sometimes couples get excited and immediately book a session before they’ve found their wedding photographer. But waiting may make more sense emotionally, logistically and financially.
As a wedding and engagement photographer, I always encourage my couples to take advantage of these special sessions, even if they already have had an engagement session at the beginning of their engagement. Here’s why you should have your engagement photos taken with your wedding photographer:
You’ll Feel More Comfortable In Front of the Camera
It’s completely normal to feel shy at first, likely not used to being in front of the camera. But your photographer will guide you through different angles and poses to ensure you both feel comfortable and confident. This time together will serve as a valuable “practice session” before your wedding day! Your photographer also gets a glimpse into your dynamics, and how much posing direction you’ll need on wedding day too.
Bonus Tip: Turn your engagement session into date night. Make a dinner reservation and enjoy the evening. After all, you are dressed up, already in photo-ready mode!
You’ll build a stronger relationship with your photographer
You may have chosen your photographer based on their portfolio and a brief initial meeting… But your engagement session is the true start to building trust and a relationship with each other! How you perceive your photos directly relates with how you felt the moment they were captured. And being comfortable with the person behind the lens plays a big role in that. Plus, when your photographer arrives at your wedding it will be like greeting a long-time friend, not a stranger!
It sets you both up for a smooth wedding
An engagement session gives your photographer the opportunity to see how the two of you interact with each other. Why is this important? It gives us insight on how we should structure and capture your day. Weddings have stricter timelines and getting to know couples in advance allows us to execute day-of portraits flawlessly! Photographers would rather spend wedding day focused on capturing the moments, both big and small… Rather than also juggling determining your comfort levels in front of the camera. Or what posing or direction delivers the most natural moments.
Getting engaged is worth celebrating
Time can quickly fly by as you start planning your wedding. Trust me, get the engagement photos. Yes, wedding day will give you lots of photos too. But it’s nice to have photos that reflect your everyday too, without the suits and ball gowns. We encourage capturing this special moment too so you can cherish for years to come.
You can use as part of your wedding day décor
There are so many ways to incorporate your engagement photos into wedding day too. It could be creating a photo guestbook for your guests to sign and leave a personal message. It could also be framing photos and setting them on all the tables or mantles as décor. Many couples also use the photos on their wedding websites and ‘save the dates’. Using your wedding photographer can create consistency in your engagement and wedding photos too.
Sometimes booking a separate a engagement photographer makes sense. You may be an out-of-town couple or your friend is a photographer, and they gifted you a session. I still always encourage couples to leverage the engagement session part of their package if they can, even if they’ve already had photos. Think of it as a second set of photos you can have to love. You can always do something different than the first, whether it’s a change in season, outfits or scenery.
Atlanta, Georgia Engagement Photography Inspiration
Still looking for inspiration for your engagement session? Check out my engagement photo gallery here or my Pinterest engagement session inspiration board.
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