Weddings have a way of becoming about everyone else, whether we want them to or not. From figuring out where to best seat Grandma Esther, to selecting dresses which will flatter each of your bridesmaids equally; the number of people to consider in each decision you make is ever-growing. Even when it comes to day of photos, there is typically a rush of chaos as your wedding party and respective families organize to have their grins captured alongside yours. Saying “I do” is rarely ever just about you and your betrothed, but there is one part of the process you get to claim solely as your own.
Your engagement photos will be used for save-the-date’s and invites, but the session itself is a perfect opportunity to celebrate what it is that makes you as a couple unique. Rather than selecting locations for these shoots based purely on aesthetics, I always encourage couples to think about a place that means something to them. Did you fall in love at a cabin up north, or are you both die-hard baseball fans? These are parts of your history, details that allow us to choose locations that hint at the magic of your love story. They present an opportunity to capture images which define you as a couple; photos you can look back on later and appreciate not only for their beauty, but also for the story they tell.
Make a day out of getting your engagement photos done, looking at it as an extended date together away from the pressure of wedding planning. Plan for a nice lunch or happy hour drinks a few hours prior to your session, giving you each the opportunity to relax and get excited about what is to come. Reflect on the journey you have made together up to this point, and some of the more lighthearted moments in your courtship. When the camera starts flashing, have fun with it. Laugh and be silly with each other. Don’t worry about what I am seeing from behind my lens, just focus on these moments which get to be all about you.
Unlike the day of your wedding, you won’t have to be concerned about your families or what you may be missing at the reception. Instead, you can fall in love with each other all over again while I capture your essence as a couple. Remember that this is one of the few opportunities in life the two of you will have to take professional photos that truly represent YOU, without the glitz and glam of the wedding day. We will be taking candid images that you can look back on and recognize yourselves in. Photographs that will leave your friends and relatives swooning when they receive the invites in the mail, silently thinking to themselves “that is so them…”
So what would those photographs look like, the ones sure to tell your story?
Let’s brainstorm together, and then create those moments unique to the two of you.
You provide the magic, I’ll produce the photos.
-Jen