Same photographer for engagement and wedding?

Our photographer included our e-pics in the wedding package. I think it's a good opportunity to really see how they are while they're working, to see if you really mesh. Kind of like a test run for the wedding. That's my opinion.

Most photographers will package them together. It's a good thing to make sure you and your photographer work well together.

Our original photographer did our epics and we hated them! So we found a new photographer for the wedding and did a mini shoot with them and the pics were infinitely better. If you are concerned about quality of the photographer, an engagement session is a great was to test the waters without losing out on too much money.

Most people chose the same photographer so during e-photos you have an opportunity to get comfortable with them. That way if you don't care for them, then you can find someone else. Not to mention if the photos come out fantastic then you'll feel at ease when the wedding comes around.

If you end up being unhappy with the e-photo photographer and pick another photographer for the wedding....well then there's no guarantees there either.

How much money are we talking about in savings?

It doesn't matter but we had the same for both. Our e pics were a test run to confirm we liked the style and we liked them. We completely loved them and hired them for our wedding.

Our photographer (most of the ones I saw) include e-pics too. Really gives a chance to see how it works with them and for them to know us and our best angles.

We're having the same for both. Engagement photos are part of his package. Look around, it may not be cheaper to have two different photographers.

Yes. Don't be cheap with what matters most.

@ FutureMrsBrbr - we had the same experience. The shoot was awkward and the pics come out horrible. We had to find another photographer quickly and w/only 5 months out, most were booked already.

Luckily, our 1st choice was able to move her schedule and get us in.

I would suggest using the same person you would want for your wedding day. Most will give you a discount for doing both.

If you love your photographer who does your e pics and the pics turnout great then don't switch photographers on your wedding day. If those pics don't turn out as great, you'll regret it. But if the engagement pics are shit then look for another photog. As PPs have pointed out, the e pics are your chance at a trial run and you don't want to cut from this area that's pretty important.

My photographer offers an engagement shoot with her packages. It's nice to get to know your photographer and their style/ personality before the wedding.

My fiance hired a photographer to capture the proposal and then he took our engagement pictures for us right then and there. We are using an entirely different photographer for our wedding. You definitely don't have to use the same person, but it is a way for you to get comfortable with the photographer you will be using for your wedding day.

I liked having our wedding photographer do both. E-pix are a great way to get to know your photographer and prepare for your wedding day!!

Mine were different, really my fault, and both turned out beautifully. When we found the wedding photographer we loved, the package included either an e-session or bridal session. At the time, neither one of us cared about doing e-pics so we chose the bridal session. FFW to a few months before the wedding and suddenly I NEEDED to have e-pics and regretted not doing it. By that time, there wasn't room in our budget to add on an e-pic session with our current photog (not to mention who knows if his schedule could even allow it) so we found someone else available and in our budget for a quick session. They turned out pretty awesome as did our wedding day pics. Our wedding photog even commented on the ones on display at the wedding saying who ever did them was very talented!

Our photographer is doing both and it was part of the same package. I'm really glad we did it that way because we had an opportunity to get to know the team and their style. I'm super excited to work with them again!

We did two engagement sessions. We're both super awkward in photos, and we thought it would be fun to do one in Kenosha where we went to college and met, and then one here with our wedding photographer so we could get a couple shoots under our belt so we didn't self destruct our wedding photos.

I picked our wedding photographer with 100% confidence, but I'm still really glad we met with him before the wedding. He showed us what we can expect from him on our wedding day, gave us a run down of how we can be the most efficient, and we got some fantastic images out of it. It wouldn't have been the end of the world if we had only done the one session in Kenosha, but FH and I are both really glad we had a session with him too.

I think you should stick with one (as long as you're happy with your epics). You will have already developed a good working relationship with your photographer and you'll know what to expect on your wedding day. For example, we found out during our e-pics that our photographer doesn't provide a lot of direction on poses or anything. We figured we would just show up and he would direct us on what to do, where to put our hands, etc. Not so much. He captures the "in the moment" looks very well but anything else he's not much help lol. We felt really awkward trying to figure out what to do. Now we know for our wedding that we will have to plan ahead a bit on some of our poses and shots that we want.

@ Jay Farrell - I can see why you'd say that but we did look at his work and had a referral from a co-worker. I will say that he was less expensive than our first choice and we thought it would be fine.

You do get what you pay for. Now we're only out for the cost of e-pics and have hired our first choice, which we should have done from the start.

As a photographer, I love it when my clients do their engagement sessions with me, especially since it comes included with all of my packages. It is such a great chance for both of us to work together before your wedding day, and I really just love shooting engagement sessions! When I got married last year, I took advantage of the engagement session offered by my wedding photographer, and I'm so glad I did! I used quite a few of those images for wedding decorations! A word of advice: If your photographer offers a free engagement session, check to see if you actually get any of your images with that session, or if you will end up paying more if you want the images. For some photographers I know, the free engagement session only means that the session fee is free. If you want to use your images, you will have to pay more.

We're having two different photographers. The one for our wedding included a free engagement session but when we went to schedule it, we found out he only does them at his studio. Well we didn't want that so we chose another photographer to do our e-pics. We haven't done them yet but hopefully they'll turn out great!