Monday Wedding Madness topic of the day is engagement portraits. I had a bride write in about if she should get engagement portraits taken.
"Hey Jasmine,
I have been toying around with the idea of doing engagement photos. I would love to have some more photos of the two of us. But my fiancé is not very excited about taking photos. Are engagement photos a necessary part of the wedding process or can they be left undone?"
Thank you for the question! This is a questions I get asked quite a lot by brides. Some brides like the idea of engagement portraits but do not know if they are for them. Oftentimes, they voice their fiancé's concern and disdain for taking photos. I'll talk about what you can use your engagement portraits for, how to ease your fiancé's concerns, and the main benefit of taking engagement portraits. Before I start, I just want to say that taking engagement portraits is totally up to the two of you. If you really do not want to take engagement photos, then don't! They are by all means not required, but they do add a nice touch.
Engagement portraits are kind of the official announcement of your engagement. Yes, you told all of your friends and family and posted your ring on Facebook, but engagement photos let your family and friends see the two of you together, in love, and celebrating your engagement and upcoming wedding. Besides sharing these photos with your friends, family, and social media, you can use these photos in your Save The Date's, on your wedding website, and even at the wedding.
Your fiancé expects that the wedding day will be filled with photos and picture taking, but if he is not a huge photo fan or doesn't see the need for the engagement portraits he may not be too excited about an engagement session. There are a couple of tips that I give my brides who really want engagement photos but have a fiancé who is not very excited about it. The first being, try to cut the engagement session down. Talk with your photographer and let them know that your fiancé is not a huge photo person and they can work with you to allow you to get the amazing engagement portraits but also cut down on the time it takes. This can be as simple as choosing one location that has a couple different backdrops. This will allow you to get two different types of images with less time involved. Another suggestion I give my brides is that they can throw out the typical engagement session and do something a little different. They can do a themed engagement shoot (think zombies, tv show themed, book themed, etc) or they can do an out of the box shoot (paint, go carts, amusement parks, etc). Sometime this helps the session go from picture taking into something a bit more fun and exciting that your fiancé will love.
The biggest reason I'm all for engagement sessions (and why all of my wedding packages include complimentary engagement sessions) is because it is a great time to get to know and work with your wedding photographer before the wedding and a great time for your wedding photographer to get to know you! You will get familiar with how your photographer operates and be more comfortable around them when your wedding day arrives. It is also a great way for you to let your photographer know what photos you love. When you get your images back, letting them know which photos you really love the most will allow them to use that knowledge on your wedding day. This is also why I recommend getting your engagement portraits taken by your wedding photographer
Last bit of information I am going to leave you with is when you should take your engagement portraits. I tell all of my couples that they should take their engagement portraits at least 3 months before their wedding. You want to allow enough time to use your engagement portraits before your wedding arrives. If you are planning on using your engagement portraits on your Save the Dates or wedding website, you will definitely want to factor that into the time frame.
I hope this bit of information helps! If you are still looking for a wedding photographer, I would love to discuss weddings with you. Also, all of my wedding packages include a engagement session!
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Monday Wedding Madness is a blog series that occurs every Monday and answers the questions you have about wedding photography. Have a question you would like to have answered or something that you wish you would have known before your wedding or are you a wedding professional who would like to contribute? Send your questions to jasminenorrisphotography@hotmail.com.
