Are engagement photos worth it?

I had an informal one done by my friend with her nice camera. I printed one large engagement photo for display at my wedding.

Hi Luci!

I was very much on the fence about doing an engagement shoot, since it is more time and cost that you have to put into the planning. But boy am I glad that I did! The engagement photos are super helpful for when you are sending out save the dates/wedding invitations, and it gives you a great excuse to get some good, professional couple photos before your relationship changes (in a good way!). It also gives you the opportunity to ask for certain photos that you love to be framed or canvased on your wedding registry.

I'll admit, I was lucky and our engagement shoot was an engagement present from the FMIL, but I have noticed that a lot of photographers will even include an engagement shoot in their wedding packages. I would honestly recommend doing it this way, because then your photographer has an idea of what the two of you are like before the wedding. My wedding photographer is an old family friend who hasn't seen me since I was a kid, and I'm nervous about her lack of knowledge of me and my FH as a couple.

All this to say, not getting engagement photos is completely understandable. But as someone who originally didn't want anything to do with them, I am very grateful that I was convinced to go through with them anyway.

A lot of photographers include an engagement session with their packages. Honestly, that was one of our requirements. We've never had professional pictures done so we really wanted this. We're using the pictures of save the dates and maybe at the wedding itself.

My engagement pictures were included with my package. I am happy we got them because a) it allowed us to meet our wedding day photographer and get to know her and b) it gave us the chance to be professionally photographed together for the first time.

We used ours for our Save The Dates and also have a few hanging around the house. I am definitely happy we got them done!

For us it was helpful to get comfortable with our photographer and how to pose. Neither of us were used to having professional photos done so it was a big help to get used to it before the wedding day.

It was definitely worth it. We didn’t have any really good pictures of us together. It was so much fun. I put them up in my apartment and used them for save the dates.

It was worth it. We have some great pictures of us. It also gave us time to get to know the photographer better before the actual wedding. Plus my FH and I both will feel more comfortable having our pictures taken the day of the wedding now.

They allow you to really meet and work with your photographer.

You can use them for photos on Save the Dates or Invitations.

You can use them for your wedding website.

My fiance and I bought frames and gave copies to our parents and grandparents as Christmas gifts. We also put some around our house.

We did engagement photos for two major reasons, to learn how to pose/feel comfortable with having our photos taken. We have never taken professional photos together (been together since 2011!) and it was weird, but it got easier as the session went on. The other reason was to use the photos for our save the dates! The photos came out great, we are happy we did them! We are going to have our favorite one printed large for our room and a few others printed for the foyer table at the wedding. Other than that, probably won't use them for much once we get the wedding photos! Good luck!

Definitely worth it. Especially if you haven’t spent a lot of time in front of the camera. I hadn’t had professional pictures done since senior pics! It was a great way to get a feel for what it’s like in front of the canera

I guess I should specify... is it something you would PAY EXTRA for? We found a few photographers we like and one them (our top choice) does not include engagement photos in any of their packages.

I think they're worth it! I love our engagement pictures. We've used them for several things including our Save the Dates, framed for Christmas presents, etc.

We loved ours and used them on our website, save the dates & at our wedding!

We weren't originally going to have engagement photos, but they ended up being included in our photography package. I'm SO glad we got them. We ended up needing photos of us for various things (save the dates, guest book, bridal shower decorations), and it was nice to have some of both of us together that weren't all selfies. If you can swing it, I'd definitely say go for it.

We didn't do engagement photos. Our lives just got so busy due to our best friends getting married a month after we got engaged that we totally forgot. We have so many photos together over the years though that we had some nice ones to use for the pre wedding parties & as well as the wedding.

I really wanted engagement photos just because FH and I don't hardly ever take pictures together (plus I can never get him to dress up and this was a good excuse to lol). Luckily our photographer included the engagement pictures in the price of our photography package.

If you can find a photographer that includes engagement photos with your package, I highly recommend it. That way you can get comfortable with that person before the big day. We meet ours in May and our wedding is in October.

We got them done and I think they are totally worth it. They came out great and we needed up using them for holiday photos that year. Also a lot of photographers will give you a wedding photography discount if you use them for your engagement photos. I also like to think of the engagement photo session as a practice run to wedding photos.

Totally worth it! We used ours for our save the dates, on our wedding website, and as decorations on our gift table at our reception. We had never had professional photos taken together before. So it was nice to have those! We still love them even though we now have wedding photos, and we still have some framed around our house!

I personally don't think they are worth the cost with so many other things you have to pay for... but, everyone is different and different budgets allow for different things... My sister did our engagement photos for free, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to have them done. We're paying for our entire wedding ourselves, so we've had to be mindful of possible unnecessary extras. The pictures came out great, but I'm not sure what to do with them now. lol... We'll probably display a few at the wedding and hang them in our home after, but other than that, I'm more excite for the actual wedding photos!