Why Have an Engagement Session?

               Engagement Portraits have not always been a thing, but in the past 10-15 years or so, it has become THE thing! There are so many reasons why having an engagement session is so important and it’s not just because they are such a trend nowadays. I actually think they are really helpful and very necessary and I’m not just saying that because I’m a photographer. I absolutely love photographing engagement sessions, so that I can get to know the couple better and we can all be better prepared for the wedding day! I include a complementary engagement session with all of my wedding packages because I think it is that important to have one! Here’s three reasons why I think having an engagement session is so crucial!

               I really think that having an engagement session makes you a lot more confident on your wedding day taking photographs! By the big day, you’ve already seen your images from the engagement session, so you have proof that you look great in your photographs and you can rock all kinds of poses. That will really help you relax on your wedding day, because you already know that you are going to look awesome.

             Not only will you be more confident, but you also get to practice what it will be like to take photos on the wedding day. It won’t be nearly as stressful because you already know what to do and how to pose! Because of that, I think that helps you as a couple to interact better with each other in photographs on the wedding day and you can just enjoy each moment with each other and take it all in.

               If you’ve never been photographed as a couple before, you get that experience! I think an engagement session allows you have fun and relax taking photos together, which won’t be as easy to do on a wedding day. There’s so much going on during your big day, because you’re constantly watching the time and trying to get from one thing to the next. There’s not near as much of a time restraint when you’re taking photos for an engagement session as there is on a wedding day.

              You are photographed in more casual clothes! You will have much more of a variety of photographs by having an engagement session where you are in different, more casual clothes than you wedding dress and suit. It also gives you to ability to have a lot more décor options to display in your home! Hunter and I have just as many engagement images on display in our home as we do wedding images. It’s great to have a really nice wedding wall, but it’s also nice to have some more casual photographs to mix in with the wedding day images.

             Not only do you get the variety of clothes, but also the variety in location! Our engagement session location was totally different from our wedding location and I wanted it that way! Our engagement session was at Furman University in South Carolina (more on that in a later post!). Our wedding however was in Tallahassee, Florida and our images were mostly in a wide open green field or in the woods. Both of those locations were completely different and I loved all of our images!

               By choosing to have an engagement session, you get to know your photographer so much better! I really think you will be much more relaxed taking photos on your wedding day when you already know how your photographer works and you’ve already had that time to get to know them! You also get to know your photographer’s shooting style better and how they work with you. Photography is such a huge part of a wedding day, so knowing your photographer beforehand through an engagement session is important, because you won’t have that time on the wedding day to really get to know them.

              Your photographer also gets to know you better too! She is able to understand how best to pose you as a couple and how you interact with each other!

I hope all of this information helps you understand why choosing an engagement session is so helpful and important!

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