Engagement Photos | The Ultimate Guide

Welcome to the beginning!

Most likely you have never had professional photos taken before and are beyond clueless on what all it entails and how you should dress and act during your session. Let alone what kind of session do you have in mind. Welcome to the ultimate engagement guide to help you sort through some of that. Below I will try to ease your mind and give you a step by step guide to help create some masterful and emotive images that truly capture you and your love together.

Being Prepared

How far in advance should you schedule your engagement photos from your wedding date you wonder? Typically portrait sessions are turned around within 45 days. During busier seasons of the year this can be extended out to 60 days. With that in mind and if you are dealing with mailing out your invites and holiday mail running slower, I recommend the sooner you are on the books the better. Some people do their photos a year in advance in order to get their preferred season. Others do it six months beforehand. Any closer than that you are pushing it and it often becomes wonderful wedding decor for the day of, but not so much in fighting with printers and the post office and getting RSVP’s in a reasonable timeframe.

Outfits

You might be stressing hard, trying to figure out a style to wear. Maybe your partner just lives in jeans… I am here to tell you, that’s okay.
While we are trying to capture you at your best, the important element is we are trying to capture you.

So if you have a flair for the dramatics and want to wear a dramatic dress and full makeup on top of a mountain, go for it! If you are more jeans and a tee shirt person, that is fine too. Although, adding a nice: flannel, corduroy jacket, or sweater to that vibe can absolutely help to polish it up.

Also, bring options and cozy normie but cute clothes especially if hiking a longer distance. Staying warm and comfortable are often important in colder seasons. Also things such as a pair of leggings under a dress can help with quickly switching outfits outdoors and with staying warm.

If you have a flair for the dramatics and would like some options to look at and help you craft your brain I fully recommend the sites listed below:

Lulu’s
Baltic Born

With whatever you choose make sure it is something you are comfortable in and makes you feel good in your skin. That is the most important, because if you are uncomfortable it will show in your session.

Also, leave all hair ties on wrists, apple watches, wallets, car keys and cell phones out of your photos. I will gladly carry the things for you. But the less I have to hold onto, the better. My brain is ran by tiny spacey gerbils on caffeine that are too busy plotting out cool shots and following the sun. I need reminders too. This is the help me help you line of this guide. The smaller the pile of things, the better.

Colors and Patterns

Colors and patterns of your outfits can blend or compete with your surroundings. I often recommend to only have one person in a pattern and another in a solid, otherwise this can cause the image to feel cluttered instead of balanced. Neutrals can help to balance things out as well. The addition of a cream sweater, or a camel coat, etc. can help to elevate your look.

If you are looking for more of a boho warmed tone vibe, dress to fit that. Using creams, taupes, browns, camel, and other warm toned neutral colors can help you achieve that more brown toned warm look to your images.

I also recommend using colors that fit the season when you are in nature. I’ll attach some color guides below to show some examples. In urban environments the addition of more bold but not neon colors can help to make you pop. Textures such as a leather jacket, a silk shirt, or a good pair of shoes can also help to elevate your look.

Also, PLEASE DO NOT SHOW UP IN MATCHING COLORS. Just no, please don’t do this to me. I will cry. If you are stuck, send me a message with photos and let me know and I will help guide you. Or bring options and various layering options as well and I will help sort and figure it out.
I don’t want you looking like members of a cult, I do want you to look like you belong together. There is a difference between those two I swear lol.

Color Palettes provided by Looka.com

Spring Color Palette: Spring , Fall , Winter

If needing further ideas and guidance you can come to my Pinterest board here

What to do?! Where do we go?

So now you know what and what not to wear, I am sure your next question is okay…. What do we do? Where do we go?

Well, in large part that’s up to you. Your session should feel like a date you would normally go on. Maybe we are going on a motorcycle or vintage car ride together, or fishing together, drinking beer in a brewery, grabbing a slice, eating an ice cream cone, taking a boat ride, kayaking, wakeboarding, hiking to a mountain top or a waterfall, a walk along the beach playing in the water as we go. We could be exploring a new town together, or grabbing a drink in a cute bar and touring a place that is an old favorite. A bookstore date with coffee, a cozy day inside cuddling up. The world is your oyster as long as it feels like you.

Another great thing is capturing a part of your love story. Maybe you are building a car together, or a motorcross track. Maybe you run a farm together or a small business. Maybe we revisit the location of your proposal or where you first met with a fresh artistic vision.

You want your engagement photos to represent you, to tell a story that feels like you. Because at the end of the day this is all about your love story. I am just the dorky third wheel with jokes and a camera.

Don’t Think Too Hard. Just Have Fun!

The number one thing I often find myself telling my clients is don’t overthink it. If you have a whole Pinterest board full of poses, stop it. Send what you have currently to me and then erase it from your brain immediately. It’s like writing a paper and having an outline. I can make for you your own session, without plagiarizing someone. We don’t need to create the carbon copy of someone else’s work.
I don’t want you overthinking on how to hold your body during the session. I will cry. The goal is to be interactive and in the moment. Capturing your real and raw emotions. While yes, there are guides I’ll give you along the way or prompts in order to create a certain reaction and moment. However, this is mine to think about, not yours. Your job is to be in the moment and to tap into your childlike energy of play. If you are a naturally stiff person, bring some booze, or something more green. Whatever helps loosen you up to your natural form.

To that please do not look at me for each pose and smile. Or look at each other and non stop fake smile. That isn’t real. It makes my face hurt for you. That seems beyond painful to do for an hour straight. Have a conversation. Stick out a tongue. Go skipping down the path. Laugh for real. I promise I will delete the unflattering ones, this is your safe zone to be authentically you.

Also leave the save the date boards far far away from me. I hate them. They are tacky. Please don’t do that to me. Just please, no.

Location, Location, Location

If after the above suggestions you still find yourself clueless on a location, let me know. There is always a list in my mind of places I love, places I have been vying to capture, etc. Just give me some tidbits about what you enjoy doing together and I can plan the rest. The beauty about traveling around in a car all over the US my whole life is I have a pretty good mental rolodex of things to make awesome dates occur out of thin air. I promise we will have an absolute blast together.

Working with Animals

Some of my most favorite images have come from working with animals. So feel free to bring them along or include them in some way. Maybe you want to ride your horses. Let’s do it, I grew up around horses and have been vying to have a shoot like that. Maybe you have your own farm, yes!!

Maybe you are like me and during Covid you got some chickens. Let’s snuggle the chickens.

Or maybe you are a '“normal” person with a doggo or a kitty. Whatever is your speed, I am down if you are down.

I was once very saddened at a shoot because a couple was telling me all about their exotic menagerie of animals at home and yet we captured none of them. Don’t do that to me. Let’s include the babies.

Time of Day

So the other important question you’ll want to keep in mind when planning is what time of day you desire. As a photographer I am personally partial to portraits being done during Golden Hour. If you do not know, that is the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset.

Certain places and ideas require light closer to the early afternoon, such as indoor sessions. While others are best a few hours before Golden Hour, such as shooting in deep forests.

Depending on the time of year can make the difference of how much daylight you have to work with, as well as the weather. My tip for keeping it all put together is I instantly google when the sunset is that day and then work backwards from that time in building your own personal timeline for the day. This is a rough draft that we can tweak as needed.