*Updated November 2, 2021

It’s been a year and a half since we originally posted this article about reasons to do an engagement session. Since then, we’ve photographed about 30 more engagements sessions. As you can guess, we’ve learned a thing or two in all of those sessions.

Why You Need to Have an Engagement Session

You may be on the fence about whether or not you should do an engagement portrait session with your wedding photographer. If you are debating on whether or not you need or want engagement photos, let me try to help you decide!

Here are my top reasons why I encourage our bride and grooms to-be to do an engagement session with us.

I actually think it’s a MUST-do! It’s such a big deal, that 99% of our couples choose to do an engagement session with us before their wedding day, and we actually offer it, complimentary in all our wedding packages! It’s that big of a deal to us.

1. Meet Your Photographer

If you don’t do an engagement session, you’re totally missing out by not getting to know and understand how your wedding photographer works!

I emphasize to all couples to do an engagement session with us, even if you already have engagement photos! Why not? It’s in your wedding package, regardless!

It will be helpful for you to get to know my posing and how we work as a team. It will also be helpful because you will already know some of the poses that we will do on your wedding day! It really adds so much to the wedding day experience if you get to meet and hang out with your photographer BEFORE the wedding!

You will be much more relaxed on the wedding day because we will feel like friends and not some strangers who just happens to be at your wedding with a camera.

2. Perfect for Save-The-Dates and Wedding Website

If you plan on sending save the dates to all of your guests, then your engagement pictures are excellent for those. If you get those perfect engagement photos, all that you have to do is put the date on the postcards, and print them out. It’s going to make sending out those save the dates a lot easier.

Also, these pictures are great for adding some decorations to your reception. You can print a dozen of them, buy some $1 frames from the Dollar Tree, and put them on the tables or in the entryway. It’s a very inexpensive way to personalize your wedding. Plus, after the wedding, you already have some pictures printed that you can hang in your home!

Updated: 

Now that COVID has changed so much of the wedding industry, wedding websites are way more important than they’ve ever been. Now couples are using wedding websites not only to collect RSVPs and manage wedding gift registries but also to send out updates about their wedding date or venue.

Your wedding website is the perfect place for your engagement session to live! They look great on a website and it’s perfect for all your guests to see.

3. Become Comfortable in Front of the Camera

This is huge! If you’ve never had professional pictures taken, it can be awkward when you first get started. It’s not something most people are comfortable with at first because photo sessions aren’t something that you do on a regular basis- unless you’re a model. 😉

If you don’t take engagement pictures, the first time that you’ll be with your spouse in front of a camera is on the wedding day, when you’re on a timeline, which is not the best time to be getting out all of those nerves.

Taking engagement pictures will help both you and your fiancé get comfortable with the poses, get to know your photographer, and become relaxed with being in front of the camera. It will also help us to move more quickly through photos, leaving more time for you to PAR-TAY on your big day!

Update:

The more weddings we have done, the more we find this to be true. When we photograph a wedding of a couple who did an engagement session, everything flows together and the couple will remember the tips and poses from the engagement session.