Engagement photographs are the rehearsal for your wedding photographs and the source of your save-the-date. Treat them as a date with a camera present and they will look like it.
In this guide
- Choose the location for what it means
- What to wear
- Poses that do not look like poses
- The practical checklist
- Use the photographs afterwards
Choose the location for what it means
The bench, the bar, the kitchen, the trail. A location with a story gives you something to do besides pose, and the photographs will look like your relationship rather than a catalogue. City streets at blue hour, a field at golden hour, and your own home are the three most reliably good options.
Book the shoot for the hour before sunset. Every photographer will ask for it.
What to wear
- Two outfits maximum — one dressed up, one you would actually wear on a Sunday
- Coordinate, do not match: one palette, different tones
- Avoid loud logos, tight stripes and neon, which distort on camera
- Texture photographs better than pattern — knit, linen, denim, leather
- Shoes you can walk in for an hour
- Something with movement for the wind: a coat, a skirt, a scarf
Poses that do not look like poses
Walk towards the camera holding hands and talk to each other. Whisper something genuinely funny. Dance badly with no music. Hug from behind and look the same way rather than at the lens. Sit on the ground with a coffee.
The photographs people love are almost always taken in the seconds after a direction, not during it.
The practical checklist
Get nails done if there will be ring shots. Bring a hairbrush, a lint roller and lip balm. Eat first. Arrive early enough to stop feeling rushed — the first ten minutes of every engagement shoot are stiff and everyone knows it.
Ask the photographer for one vertical and one horizontal image with clear space for text; that is your save-the-date.
Use the photographs afterwards
Save-the-dates, the wedding website header, a framed print for the engagement party, the thank-you cards later, and a guest book made from the shoot. One session, five uses — which is what makes it worth the money.
From Sagevow
Newly engaged? The first thing most couples order is a save-the-date, and the second is something to keep from the day it started.
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