The Importance Of Engagement Sessions

We recently had the pleasure of capturing Kim and Darren’s wedding, but a couple of weekends prior to that we got together on a sunny afternoon to shoot a few frames in an engagement session.

A lot of people don’t bother with the engagement shoot.  After all you’re going to be spending many hours and many frames getting to know each other on the wedding day right?

We highly recommend you don’t skip this step, and that’s not just a sales pitch to get you to spend more money.  We think they’re so important they come complementary with our full wedding package.

These sessions should be fun and easy going.  They’re much more relaxed than the photo session on your wedding day – mainly because you don’t have the time pressure of trying to get to the reception.

Aside from the fact you hopefully get some killer images of you and your beloved, there are actually many benefits to an engagement session.

Being in front of a professional photographer is an entirely different story to having a snapshot taken by family or friends.  We often find when people first get in front of the camera they can be a little shy and feel a little self conscious about the whole thing.

Most people don’t regularly hire a professional photographer, so for most couples this is a chance to test the waters so you know what to expect and feel more comfortable on the wedding day.

Another bonus is you can use it to test a few ideas for your wedding photos.  You can test-run locations, different poses or styles, or maybe even experiment with a few shots you might have seen in wedding magazines.

This will all help ease the pressure on the day.  One of the biggest hurdles on the wedding day is how quickly time flies, so being as prepared for the photo shoot as possible will help ensure you get the shots you want.

Assuming you have the same photographer for both your engagement shoot and wedding, the main point of an engagement session is to get to know your wedding photographer and so your photographer can get to know you.

From a photographer’s point of view this can be valuable research.

• What do they look like in front of the camera?
• How do they react when the camera is pointed their way?
• Do they have a good side?
• Are there any obvious issues that you need to watch on the day?
• Are they self-conscious about any particular part of their body?

And the list goes on!

When people think of engagement shoots they tend to think of the couple entwined in each other’s arms, usually on a beach or at a park, but it doesn’t have to be like that.  These sessions are all about you as a couple.  If you’re not the lovie dovie PDA type of couple, talk to your photographer about it.  There’s no point trying to force something that really isn’t ‘you’, it just ends up looking awkward.

In saying that, an engagement session is going to feel a little strange, especially if it’s your first time in front of a camera.

So if you do have the chance of getting an engagement shoot done, either with your wedding photographer or a completely different photographer then go for it.  This is a magic time in your life, why not celebrate that!  Have fun with it and get in some practice for your wedding day at the same time.

As mentioned at the start of this post these shots are from our pre-wedding shoot with Kim and Darren.  We chose to use their much loved Morris Minor as a prop of sorts, as this was also going to be their main wedding car (not forgetting the fact it’s a stunning vehicle and totally photogenic of course).

This shoot was full of laughter and really was a great afternoon.  Not only did we have fun, but we picked up some great info to set us up for the wedding day.  And the best thing of all was later hearing that they both had a blast too!

Did you have an engagement shoot for your wedding?  Are you a photographer that either offers or doesn’t offer engagement shoots?  Leave us a comment below with your thoughts.

Thanks for stopping by, we hope to see you again soon.