Today, we’ve got another engagement sessions topic! So, you’ve picked out your photographer and everything is planned for your big day! While we know your to-do list is long, we truly recommend adding one more thing. Do an engagement session with your wedding photographer!

If you’ve already planned for your engagement photos and wedding photos to be shot by the same photographer, then you are ahead of the game. You’re killing it! But if you have already gotten your engagement pictures done or scheduled two different photographers, then hear us out.

So You Get Comfortable With Your Photographers

Your photographers are on this journey with you and will be around the entire day of your wedding. Imagine if your wedding day was the first time you met them or were directed by them. We highly recommend you do an engagement session so you can get comfortable with them and how they direct you for photos. This way they get to know what works for you guys. They can learn what lights you up. They can even learn what gets you emotional. Then on the wedding day they can capitalize on that.

As photographers ourselves, we do a lot of crazy and weird prompts. We want you to know how that feels so that on the wedding day it feels normal. By the end of an engagement session, all of our grooms know how to “nuzzle.” Everyone has whispered vegetables to each other (sounds weird, but we swear it works).

So we get to know you!

Of course, lets flip the script quick and let you inside our minds as we work with couples. For us, our engagement session was one of the first events where we felt officially engaged. It’s a fun time that shouldn’t be riddled with stress and instead just an enjoyable process. As photographers, the engagement sessions’ value lies in three places.

One, it’s the perfect time for us to get to know you. We learn what makes you guys tick, how you work well together, and what looks most natural. We walk into an engagement session trying to figure out what makes the to-be bride throw her head back in laughter. This makes the to-be groom relax a little more, and the couple shows affection best.

So you can get to know us!

Second, it’s time for you guys to get to know how we shoot. We shoot in a very active manner. This means, yes, there will be you frozen for a second just smiling into the lens and getting a classic portrait, but the majority of the shoot is spent a different way. It’s spent frolicking, whispering, taking deep breaths together, and playing games. We “direct” rather than “pose” a large portion of our shoots.

This allows you room as a couple to show us how you would actually cuddle up while watching Netflix or how you embrace after being out of town on work for a week. It allows for the real authentic YOU to come out. But, we know that this is not a common professional photography experience that you’ve had in the past, so we want to give you time to get used to it. Then, once you’re at your wedding you are a professional at “nuzzling.”

A devoted time to love on each other

Lastly, and most importantly, we think engagement sessions serve as a devoted time for you two to embrace the engaged life and just spend it loving on each other. On a normal day, we interact with our significant others between work and life. We kiss goodbye and hello, we cuddle on the couch, maybe there’s a booty squeeze while cooking dinner. But on our engagement sessions, you have a devoted hour enjoying your significant other’s presence, breathing them in, kissing them everywhere, and laughing with them. It’s a place to enjoy your engagement away from the stress of wedding planning, an opportunity to show your fiancé that you care, love, and enjoy them, and a dedicated opportunity to just love on them

With all that in mind, we truly hope you consider doing an engagement session with your wedding photographer, whether it’s us or someone else. This is so important to us that we even offer our engagement sessions complimentary with any wedding package because we believe it’s an integral part of the experience, so feel free to contact us with any other questions!