Your engagement session is a great opportunity to have fun and create some images that will capture this time in your life. Talk with your photographer about the look and feel you want for your images and don't be shy about making suggestions on locations or stylizing your shoot. This session is all about you!
Many brides and grooms are choosing to do more with their engagement sessions than just a few simple portraits. Adding fun elements or picking a unique location can make your session totally personal.
Here are some of my favorite engagement shoot ideas:
1. Bring your pup (or pet) -- What better way to capture your new family than by including a beloved pet in your session?
2. Use an urban setting -- Fun and funky or chic and modern. Downtown locales are great for couples who want a more modern look to their session. Alleys and undiscovered locations in your area make for a more intimate view of the city where you'll be wed.
3. Make it seasonal -- If you can plan far enough ahead, you can catch the nuances of the season in which you'll be married from a winter wonderland to the leaves of fall, the flowers of spring and lush green grass of summer.
4. Incorporate your favorite activity -- Maybe you enjoy playing checkers or golf. What better way to capture your personality as a couple than in the heat of game play, the agony of defeat or the comedy of anticipating the next move?
5. Acknowledge your heritage -- Think vintage-style. Bring out nostalgia or an avant garde flair with some dramatic shots coupled with retro styling. Maybe incorporate family heirlooms to make it more personal.
6. Use props and furniture -- Rent a great piece of furniture to use in your session, or bring a prop to create more variety in your images.
7. Return to the place where he proposed -- After all, what better way to capture an engagement than at the place where it all started?!
Something else to think about ... The combination of your outfits and location you choose for your session create a mood in your images. Since many couples use these photos in their Save-The-Dates, a guestbook album or Thank-You's, it's important to consider your portrait session as part of your wedding. Coordinating your engagement session with the look and feel of your wedding design means you'll have a consistent look from start to finish.
Oh, and one last tip for grooms ... Want to score extra brownie points with your bride-to-be? Make dinner reservations at her favorite restaurant and whisk her away to a romantic dinner after an afternoon of shooting. She'll think it's super thoughtful. And after an hour or two of shooting, your growling tummy will thank you too!
Meredith Melody is the owner of Meredith Melody Photography. She is a seasoned wedding photographer who's shot many creative engagement photos for Arkansas brides and grooms. She blogs about her adventures in engagement, wedding anad boudoir photography on her blog LittleRockWeddingPhotographer.com. Learn more about her services at MeredithMelody.com.
This blog is adapted from an original post by Meredith Melody that ran 03/15/12.
Photos by Drew Cason Photography, Lyndsey Sullivan Photography, Angie Davis, Sterling Imageworks, Katie Childs Photo, Arshia Khan Photography, Tyler Rosenthal Photography and Tilly Davis.
