Engagement Session: Why You Should!

Let me start by saying Congratulations on your engagement! I can only assume you’ve stumbled across this little blog post because you are newly engaged and you’re wondering “What do we do next”?! I am going to breakdown an engagement session an answer why I think every couple would benefit from an engagement session of their own. Along with some helpful tips on where and what to wear to nail your engagement session!

The WHY.

Why do I believe so strongly in engagement sessions that I offer them to all my wedding couples complimentary? The biggest reason is I want to get to know you and your bae. The kind of get to know you that I can’t do in few phone calls or grabbing a coffee, though I’ll do all of that too. I want to know how the two of you interact with each other, what things your love does that makes you laugh, what you are most excited about that you have planned for your wedding! And I’m sure you want to get to know the person that is going to following you a la paparazzi style on your wedding day.

Most of my couples tell me that they either never had professional photos done and/or the most awkward people ever in front of a camera. And I can totally relate to the latter. Can you think of a better way to get to know each other & get you comfortable in front of the camera before your wedding day? And bonus points, you can get some dope ass photos to use for your Save the Dates, Wedding Website, or to replace that awkward one of you on mom’s mantle.

Oh, and a little pro tip, plan your makeup trial for the day of your engagement session. Not only will you be feelin’ yourself, but you will get to see how your makeup photographs, share photos with your makeup artist and make any necessary changes!

The WHERE.

I am constantly seeing posts about “where should we do our engagement photos?” The first thing you need to figure out is what is the look you are hoping to getting. Beach? Mountains? Gardens? Urban? Narrowing down your vibe will make the next part super easy. Which is.. Talk to your photographer!

I personally have a huge list of location recommendations throughout Connecticut and the Hudson Valley/Catskill area, which are either areas that I love to shoot at or have been dying to shoot at. And if I know the look you are going for it makes it super easy for me to send over a ton of places for us to talk about! Another thing to consider, and something I always ask, do you have a special place? Or activity that you want to incorporate? These are suppose to be fun, so have fun with it! I have hiked out to epic waterfalls and documented pizza picnics because what I always want and strive for is to have your photos tell YOUR love story!

And I’m going to add a little pro tip here as well, since we aren’t constrained to a wedding day timeline, definitely consider doing this around golden hour lighting which is the 2 hour window around sunrise & sunset!

The WHAT TO WEAR.

This is a big question and one that I get often. I like to start off by saying, be you, but like the best version of you & match formality with your hunny. When I say match formality I don’t mean make sure you are wearing matching colors, patterns etc. What I mean is don’t get all decked out formal attire and then let your boo walk out wearing causal jeans & a tee. Agree on how dressed up (or not, because that can look awesome too!) you are going to be. Don’t be afraid to mix and match patterns and look at a color wheel to choose complimentary colors over matching everything colors. Big bold, colorful patterns photograph really well, but I would advise stay away from small, thin stripes as they don’t tend to photograph really well.

I have Pintrest style mood boards set up that I am always happy to share. And recently I went one step further and added a personal styling service that all of my couples get to use!

The styling service breakdown. Once your session is booked, I send over the website and access code. You answer 3 questions about your style and then it shows you a ton of curated options that you can mix and match to create outfits with accessories! The best part is you can actually purchase those items from the site! Or you can use it to shop for yourself or pull similar things you may already have in your closet. My couples love how easy this has made choosing outfits for them!