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Friday, August 27, 2010

FAQ: Engagement Sessions

I have expensive taste.

It's kind of become a running joke amongst my family and my fiance that given a choice between two items, I will inevitably pick the most expensive one. Not on purpose... it's just how I am.

BUT... I love a bargain.
Seriously.

There are some things I am willing to splurge for, but I would much rather find it on sale! Buy one get one free... 50% off... buy this, get that... You name it... if it's on sale, I need it!

Soooo... I think free engagement sessions are a FANTASTIC deal!
I mean, how much better can you get then free? Well, unless I pay YOU.

One of the questions I get asked the most is "Do I have to do an engagement session?"
The answer of COURSE is no.
But I think you should.
I think you should SO MUCH that I do them for FREE if I am shooting your wedding!

Engagement photos are definitely one of my very favorite things to shoot. There's excitement and love without pressure. Without other people. Without guests and time constraints. Just you, your fiance, and your love story.

Often times, the engagement session is the first time I get to spend time with my bride and groom. I get to hang out with you, hear your story, see your interaction... but even more than that, it's often the first time my bride and groom have gotten to spend time with ME. You get to see how I work... how I shoot. That way, when it is time for your wedding, we are old friends! And we know what to expect and how things will work. It just makes the wedding day run even more smoothly!

Not only that, but how fun is it having engagement pictures??? There are so many fun things you can do with engagement photos on your wedding day. Here's the thing... Since I've been a photographer, I've always been a photographer. But now I'm a bride. As I'm planning my wedding, I am sooooo excited about all of the ways I am going to use our engagement pictures. Guest books, slideshows, save the date cards, decorations... There are so many options!

Okay, so you've decided to do an engagement session (And I am jumping up and down with excitement). Now what? Where do we go? What do you wear? And what is it going to be like?

I want your engagement session to be about YOU! I want it to show off your personality and who you are as a couple. Did you meet in high school? Awesome! Let's shoot there! Do you love to go hiking? Perfect, we can shoot on the side of a mountain! Do you love to read together? Cool... we'll hit the library! There are so many choices of locations... and it doesn't have to be where your best friend had their photos taken. It should be uniquely yours!

So you've got the perfect location in mind... but what to wear? Well what did you wear last Saturday on date night? Because that would be perfect! You don't have to wear perfectly matching outfits. In fact, it's usually better if you don't! Wear what you are comfortable in, making sure to coordinate but not be too matchy matchy. Think about your venue and how you want your photos to feel.

You've dressed to impress, you've picked a venue that you love and we are getting ready to shoot. What now? RELAX! Have fun! Be yourself! Love each other. That's it. No joke! It's THAT easy! And don't worry, I will help you out :) You don't have to just KNOW what to do.

My fiance and I took our enagement photos just a couple of weeks ago. The amazing Jordana of Hazelnut photography shot our session and it was amazing! One of our favorite things to do together is to ride Javi's motorcycles. So naturally, we took one with us! You will notice that in this picture, he is wearing a t-shirt. Nothing fancy... just a t-shirt. That's what he wears. So that's what he wore. I love this picture because it's us. It's not someone else's idea of who we should be.

Photobucket

2 comments:

Grams said...

Fantastic picture. Are there more to come??

Michelle said...

Sweet pic! Sweet ride :)