Engagement photos?

A lot of photographers will include an engagement session in their wedding package. I would still do them if that's the case. I liked getting to know my photographers and we had a lot of fun, and now I'm even more excited about them photographing my wedding.

My wedding is June 10th! We booked our photographer and never even considered having and engagement session, and none of the photographers we talked to ever brought it up, so I wouldn't stress about it. The only reason you should do it is if those photos are important to you. If you are doing it because you think the photographer, or anyone else, is expecting it, then don't worry about it! One less thing to plan. I figure we will have so many pictures from the wedding, I don't necessarily value an engagement shoot.

I find one of the hard things about booking a photographer is that its sometimes hard to tell the difference between them if, like me, you don't have the ability to discern small details in photography style/ editing. I ended up contacting a guy I knew in college who became a wedding photographer because he's significantly cheaper than other people in my area and I can't tell the difference from his work and the other photographers I spoke with who were 3 or 4 times the price. Good luck!

You could just have a friend snap a few pics of you two together. That way your practiced posing together.

I would say not to worry about it. Some photographers include it in the package but I wouldn't pay extra for it. But I'm also not about the engagement sessions. We're just not that type of couple. If you're the opposite and it's something important for you to have professionally done then go for it. Maybe wait until you have your hair and make up trial and schedule it the same day, since you don't need the pics for STD's.

You need to book a photographer yesterday. Your wedding is in 4 months in a prime month. Your options are going to be very limited at this point. Photography is one of the most important vendors. This isn't an area you want to leave to last minute or cut corners on. All you have left at the end of everything else are your photos.

I'd only worry about e-photos at this point if it is included in a package. Start making phone calls and writing emails now to photographers.

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No. Not cool to make your friends work for free. A professional photographer will tell you how to pose and capture what happens naturally. No need to practice posing.

View Quoted Comment I understand the urgency but the vast majority of photographers I've contacted are available on my date so I have options.

I'm also spending $4,000 towards photography so it's not like I'm cutting corners. Just having a hard decision because I'm a perfectionist and can't decide who I like best....

I absolutely cherish my engagement photos so I would definitely recommend getting them done. We didn’t use ours for Save the Dates. I did use them to create an adorable guest book though. I honestly couldn’t imagine not having them. My FH and I have 200+ professional photos from our engagement shoot. I can’t even begin to describe how much they mean to me.

View Quoted Comment Very true... But I think you just helped me make my decision. The one photographer I'm leaning towards is totally thrilled about me wanting a few "moody" artistic shots. I'm going for a glam look but also want the timeless, classic photos. I'm all about some artistic shots but my fiancé will need coaching. Definitely think I need that practice session!

View Quoted Comment My fiancé just said I better do it because he knows I'll want them later. Lol... He knows me well. I agree, I think they'll mean a lot to me too.

You could go without an engagement shoot, but as someone already mentioned, photographers often include an engagement shoot in their wedding package, so if that's the case then why not? I also think it's a great idea to get comfortable with your photographer, and the same goes for him/her. If they get to know you and your fiancé a little, they will get a better idea of what you're looking for for your wedding photography, and know how to help you relax and look natural instead of posed in the photos!

Honestly, I think Engagement photos are a great way to work with your photographer and get a feel for how they work and how their photos will look for your wedding. We skipped them with our photographer, but only because we won a free engagement session with a different photographer who was absolutely terrible to work with! We have a few good photos but I would have never hired them after our experience. So glad that we did not choose them for the wedding (they were also really expensive!!)

Just food for though!

View Quoted Comment Thanks Jaci! Very good point!

I think you should do engagement photos. First, you can use the pics at your venue or as a guest book. But more so you can learn how your photographer communicates. On my wedding day, my photographer just had to gesture certain ways and I knew what he was telling us to do. Also, you get a sense of how you will appear in pics and make adjustments as needed.

We're actually thinking about running around town with a selfie stick before we do engagement photos. If we, through some semi-miracle, get a great shot we might not even do professional shoot. Otherwise we're viewing it as scouting locations.
They're not really necessary but we have so few pictures together, since we're not really picture people, so we see a value in it.

If you’re spending $4000 you most likely will get a complimentary engagement shoot. Almost every photographer I looked into included it in the packages. Although I don’t think it’s necesary due to your timeframe. It might be fun to have a photo shoot after your wedding instead if you really want one. I’m sure our wedding pictures will be gorgeous but I want to have some canvas pictures on our walls at home and I’m going to use the engagement pictures with “normal” clothing. I personally think it just flows better with our house and Decor and is more natural. That is the main reason I’m glad we did one.

My fiancé and I ended up getting an engagement photo shoot included in our package. While we did no use them for save the dates, I found it very helpful in getting to know the photographer, how both their style and our vision worked together, and just a glimpse of what the wedding day photography might be like! I highly suggest it if it's within your means 😊

*did not use them, not did no use them. Sorry, I wish I could edit spelling and grammatical error out of my comments 😂

I’d be so nervous if i didn’t have a Photog. Do you know if the people you’re looking at have your date available..???

Our photos came with an engagement session for free, i recommend it to know more about your photographer