Anyone have engagement photos that are neither cutesy nor glam?

You could always do an 'at home' photo shoot! These are great for couples that are more laid back, and really showcase the couple in their natural habitat! Your photographer is there to help you and make you feel comfortable, so if you tell them your personalities and that you don't want to look like every other photo shoot, they'll more than likely be excited and on board with lots of ideas!

A lot of my favorite photos from our engagement shoot weren't "posed." They were just genuine moments between me and my FH. Our photographer was GREAT tho, instead of just putting us in poses he gave us prompts or challenges.

Two of the more fun ones were "walk towards me like you're both drunk stumbling home from the bar" where we got these fun ones (the one with the kiss on the forehead came from this prompt but was just a genuine moment between the two of us)

And the other was he had us just stand and look into the sun set at the location we were and asked me to seductively whisper in FH ear directions on how to make his favorite breakfast. Which resulted in some genuine laughs

The trick is finding a photographer who actually works with you and directs you with these prompts instead of just telling you how to stand. We got lucky as I won our engagement shoot for free in a raffle on Instagram. But the photographer was AMAZING and we ended up hiring him for our wedding because as two people who are uncomfortable in front of the camera he made us feel so at ease.

View Quoted Comment Oh my gosh, yes, those are much closer to what I would want. Thank you!

View Quoted Comment That is brilliant and I LOVE those photos. Thank you so much!

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You're so welcome! We plan on having a shoot like this when we get our first home! I love how organic and genuine they feel!

We rented an Airbnb and did an at home style shoot. It was very fitting because we got engaged at home in our own living room (during quarantine) we then turned it into a staycation after our photo shoot

I can’t stand posed photos of myself,
Don’t want to take ‘em, don’t want to look at them. For this reason I actually skipped engagement photos, haha, BUT, since I knew I’d want *some* wedding photos, I talked to my photographer about it, and she used a “fly on the wall approach” for our couples portraits. Basically my husband and I just took a walk on the beach where we got married, and she snapped photos as we went. She basically told us to just take a walk and talk to eachother, so we did and we have natural movement and natural reactions, and I LOVE them !

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Oh, that's BRILLIANT. Thank you, that is such a great idea and never would have occurred to me.

Hey, don’t call yourself a slob ;-) so you’re not into dressing up and looking glamorous - that’s like most of the world not in instagram, trust me!
Get a good photographer who will listen to you and you’ll get fun photos that show how happy you guys are!

We are also not a cutesy or glam couple- just two down to earth, hard working people who love the beach so the beach is where we went! I didn’t love myself in all of them, but these were a few of my favorites! I would do something that you both like! What are your hobbies or favorite places?!

We got photos in our local area where there's heaps of graffiti. We did dress up just a little, which was a nice contrast to the surroundings, but I imagine you could get some super cool shots if you were dressed down in jeans/sweaters too! Here's a pic:

We also went to a cool local coffee shop since I LOVE coffee! Basically, as Shy said... the trick is finding an environment and an outfit where you'll feel comfortable and it will show off the true you. Whether that's at your home, a coffee shop, a skate park, or dressed up to the nines at a fancy cocktail bar... it's about being exactly who you are!

Equally, you totally don't need engagement photos at all. We decided to get them to have an opportunity to get comfortable with our photographer, and also to give him a chance to try out various things with our height difference - there is a 45cm difference (almost 18 inches!) between the two of us, so we really wanted someone who could shoot what is actually there, but also, you know - get both of our faces in the same photo, LOL.

We just got ours back today. I would mirror what others have said here.

If you want engagement photos, go for it. Be yourself. Dress the way you feel comfortable and be in an environment that you feel comfortable in.

We did two outfits (one casual and one slightly only slightly dressy) and went outdoors. It was a great way for us to have a fun date night and get fun photos of us before the wedding. It's also such a great way to get comfortable with professional photographers before the wedding day arrives.

We went to a local park. Neither of us are "picture people" - and we told our photographer as much. While she did pose us for some, she also had us walk along a tree-lined path, she had him tickle me and me react, and we even had a small portion of the shoot where we found some fun (dirty) graffiti and laughed and posed with that.

Talk to your photographer about your preferences. This is what your engagement session is awesome for - you get to meet with the photographer and become comfortable with each other.

http://www.chanterellephotography.com/blog/engagement-becky-tyler-blount-cultural-park-montgomery-alabama/

We are also not cutesy or glam people at all. We decided that we wanted to look like ourselves for our engagement photos, so we both wore outfits we'd wear in normal every day life, maybe to a nice family event. As Erin said above, our photographer did a lot of the same tricks and we had a LOT of fun. There of course were some posed photos, but also a lot of natural. We are also extremely goofy, so our photographer captured some of those moments too! Posting some of ours!

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I love your photos! I love how you can see the adoration and excitement on both your faces, and I love how you look like humans in love and not like you're doing an ad for perfume or something, you know? That's exactly what I want.

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Oh this thread is helping me SO much. Your pictures are authentic and excited and loving and beautiful, and they have none of the things I've been hating about all the engagement photos I've seen. I'm starting to wonder whether my friend group just has a tendency to take a certain type of picture that I don't connect with, because obviously a lot of couples have managed to capture exactly what I'm looking for. Thank yu!!

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Thank you! I totally get it. We were the same, we wanted to look like ourselves vs. being too glamorized or done up. With the right photographer pulling it out of you, it's surprising how many good natural shots they can get!

I love this !

Hiii kiri congrats on your engagement ! Like everyone noted . You need a good photographer . My photographer is just starting but I loved her work . I told her beforehand I hate being on camera (just not into that ) and she directed us but not as much as I wanted her to because him and I were both like uhhhh. However she did let me send her pictures of our outfits and told me which ones were best which I really liked . So here are a few tips. I suggest two outfits and two locations. One comfy/fun and the other more formal outfit . Don’t wear a dress If you don’t like to wear it . Ladies can dress cute in jeans too ! However twirl pics are the best and fun in my opinion where he spins you . If you do the photo shoot at home do inside comfy outside dressy. Get your nails done pamper yourself that day to feel ready . Put music on and do something you and your FH like to do . So if your homey do a board game theme or eating popcorn .


We did golfing because he likes to golf and our wedding is golf themed and then we changed and walked around town and ate ice cream . Have fun with it . And look up poses on Pinterest for back up !

This thread is awesome