Wedding Tip Wednesday: Engagement Session with your Wedding Photographer

I’m a huge fan of doing engagement sessions with my wedding clients whenever possible.

In fact, engagement sessions are essentially a freebie that is included in several of my packages. I think they are that important!

Let me tell you why:

1. Get to know your photographer.

Engagement photos are a great opportunity to make sure your photographer is a perfect match. She should be prompt and communicate clearly before the shoot. She should set you at ease and make you feel comfortable and beautiful during the shoot. The final images should have a style you love.

Hopefully, you already know a lot of these things before the shoot, but it doesn’t hurt to confirm your expectations before your big day arrives!

2. Get a posing education.

Personally, I treat engagement sessions like a lesson. You’ll learn my 4 main poses, to help you get started. You learn what to do with your hands. You learn when to talk and when to smile and when to nuzzle in.

By the end of my sessions, it’s very typical for my couples to totally take over, falling naturally into beautiful poses without a word from me.

You’ll build your confidence in front of the camera and get all the awkward out. Which leads to…

3. More time on your wedding day.

We will be taking couple portraits on your wedding day, but by then you’ll be an expert and things will flow smoothly. That means we will get beautiful portraits quickly, and you can spend that much more time enjoying your guests and your celebration.

You may have noticed that this is a bit of a theme for me. I think it’s incredibly important to beautifully capture your day, but that’s only a concern for me. Your concern should be getting the maximum possible time to enjoy your actual wedding. You worked hard to make it perfect and it goes by in a flash, so I want you to soak up every second.

4. Engagement photos are useful!

I already did a whole long post on ways you can use your engagement photos. Feel free to pop on over there and check it out!

Do I have to do an engagement session with my wedding photographer?

Of course not!

This is a wedding, not life or death.

You need to respect your budget, your location, and all the other factors that go into wedding-related decisions. Don’t let anyone (not even me) pressure you into anything that doesn’t make sense for you.

But, if you can swing it, there are a lot of very good reasons to have the same person shoot both your engagement photos and your wedding.

What do you think? Did I convince you? If you’re already married, did having the same photographer shooting your engagement photos and your wedding make a difference for you?