Save the Date & Engagement photo shoot?

You don't have to take engagement photos. I think it's a choice between the couple whether you want engagement photos. Some photographers do include it in the wedding package. But the photographer will ask if you want engagement photos before they quote you a price. Engagement photos are used any way you want them to be used. I'm getting married this May and we used our engagement photos for our STDs, guest book and wedding program.

A lot of photographers do include engagement shoots in their packages but you don't have to get them done if you don't want to. If you really don't want them, ask the photographer if they can exchange that for another kind of shoot or for products instead.

I used old picture for our save the date too. The save the date was like a movie strip for 3 photo. I put 2 picture of my fiancee and I (one for 2010 and one for 2017). The last picture is us and my son. Like becoming a family. I didn't do an engagement photo session. Its up to the couple. It is costly. We said we will get new photo when we get married.

We chose not to do engagement photos because we didn't see the point of taking and paying for pictures that would become obsolete once we got married. That being said, if it comes with the package it can be a good way to bond and get comfortable with your photographer. You could also just use the pictures for the wedding, and I've seen them used as a guest book.

If it is included, I recommend it. It is good practice for taking direction from the photographer, finding your best, most comfortable poses, learning how long you have to hold a pose for them to get the shot, etc.

Does it really matter? 😂
It's very difficult to get my FH to pose for photos, much less go through a whole photoshoot, plus after the engagement and everything going on we just never teally got around to it & so far no one has asked or made it seem like the missed seeing professionally posed shots. We took a few right after he proposed before the sun completely set, and we took a few as we announced it to family, and thats it! Lol

It is not something that you have to do. When I was looking into photographers 90% of them offered an engagement shoot in the package. The photographer we hired did and we did do the photos.

We did use the photos from the shoot for our STDs. But if we had already sent out the STDs I would still want to take the photos. FH and I never had any professional photos of us done before so I was very excited about it.

Our photographer offers a free engagement shoot with all her packages. She uses the shoot to get to know the couple before the big day.

Our photographer included them in our package. We are doing them for a few reasons 1. So we can get familiar with our photographer before the day of.
2. So we have some good photos of us that are non wedding. We aren’t planning on doing super posed engagement pics so they will end up just being really great pictures of us like on a date or whatever.
3. For our save the dates, wedding decor, etc...

If the idea doesn’t appeal to you tho don’t do them. It’s totally up to the individual couple to decide what’s right for them.

Agreed with some of the comments above, I think its an amazing way to make sure you're comfortable posing, knowing what sorts of poses you like, can take direction, etc. before your wedding!

I didn't even think about using it to get to know our photographer. Great ideas ! I haven't started looking for a photographer yet, but I have a fee that have been recommended from friends who have used them. I guess I'll find out! I live in Napa Valley and the mustard flowers will be in the vineyard beds soon. I've always wanted pictures taken there! Thank you 😊