Why Engagement Photos Are Worth It (especially If You Feel Awkward in Front of the Camera)
I’m a wedding photographer — I’ll be the first to admit that I’m definitely a little biased when it comes to telling you engagement photos are worth it. But after working with couples through engagement sessions and wedding days, I’ve seen firsthand why engagement photos matter for couples planning engagement photos in Washington state.
Engagement photos the BEST way to get comfortable with your wedding photographer.
I highly highly recommend using the same photographer for both your engagement session and your wedding photos (if possible.) This isn’t just for photo style continuity, although that is nice too. It’s because the best way to have natural, joyful, and real wedding photos is to be comfortable with your wedding photographer — and the best way to get comfortable with your photographer is to have worked with them and gotten to know them before wedding day.
While I can’t speak to how other photographers do their sessions, I specifically plan my engagement sessions to be up to two hours for this exact reason. That extra time gives us time to warm up and get to know each other before putting you in front of the camera. It also gives me plenty of time to figure out you and your partner’s natural dynamic and bring out the best of it for your photos.
Doing your engagement session will also help you learn to trust your photographer — trust that you can be yourself and still look beautiful without worrying about it, trust that your photos are going to turn out how you’re envisioning them, and trust that your photographer holds up their end of the deal.
This is usually something I talk through with couples early on —especially if they’re worried about posing or feeling uncomfortable in front of the camera. An engagement session can take a ton of pressure off the wedding day!
Engagement photos are milestone photos — like newborn photos but for your marriage
For the rest of your lives, you’re going to come back to these photos and go “oh my goodness we were so young!” “We’ve grown so much together since then!” And flash right back to who you guys were as you were getting started. Unlike cars, engagement photos only appreciate in value with age. Because they’re taken before the wedding, during that in-between season when everything is just beginning, they become the kind of photos that matter more and more as your relationship strengthens over the years.
Engagement photos are super practical! And often get used more than you might expect.
They can go on your save the date (or as an insert with your invite), they can go all over your wedding website (not to mention your social media announcement), be used in your wedding decor, and be turned into an album to use for your guest book
If you’re recently engaged and trying to figure out what should happen when, engagement photos are often one of the first things I help couples plan — right alongside their wedding photography. If you’re planning a wedding in Washington and want engagement photos that feel natural and comfortable (while still capturing your relationship in its best light!), I’d love to chat about what that could look like.
