How To | Great Engagement Session Photos (Part 1 of 23)

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Your engagement photos are only as important as you want them to be.

Engagement photos are optional. You don’t need them if you don’t want them. Even if they come with the wedding photography package – you can opt-out. You can say you want something else. A print credit, less hours of coverage. Trade. Barter. Whatever – just know that engagement photos aren’t a must – and that’s okay – and if anyone tells you otherwise or acts like you’re crazy – tell them I said they should go away. Or F*ck off. Unless you want them to be a must-have. Then do it. Go all out – and you might as well decide to have AMAZING ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS!

Whether you want to haul a truckload of items to a field for a styled shoot – or make your friends dress up as zombies and stage a mini-zombie-apocalypse in your apartment – OR even a simple portrait session with the two of you in a location that has personal meaning – IT’S. ALL. GOOD. You can bring your dog, your cat, balloons, swords, whatever. BRING IT ALL.

You can have your engagement session take place in a cave, on the beach, your apartment, on a cliff, in a vineyard, or the industrial section of Newark, NJ. (feel free to use any of those ideas). It doesn’t always have to be the woods, or a field of tall grass. It doesn’t have to be obviously picturesque. It doesn’t have to be anything – except the two of you looking happy, in love, and having a good time – having a moment, or a few moments. It’s going to be a collaboration between you and your photographer. That’s why it’s important you select not only a good photographer – but the right photographer. Because hey – if you have a crazy idea you’d like to try (zombies), or difficult conditions (12pm in the middle of the day with the sun blazing overhead) – or you just aren’t ever comfortable in front of the camera, it’s very important to have a photographer that can GET YOU OUT OF YOUR HEAD.

Because you don’t want to be standing there asking “Where do I put my hands?” for the entire session.

Don’t settle for plain. Don’t settle for good. You want badass photos. You want to be able to say “Yeah! Our engagement photos are badass!” Or Awesome. Or Amazing. Or AmazinglyBadassAndAwesome.

And then you can go have an amazing wedding. AMAZING WEDDING.