You’ve gotten engaged, chosen the perfect dress and probably have some other large things in place for your wedding day. You have selected a photographer that you can’t wait to work with and who’s style you adore, but you just aren’t sure about the included engagement session. More likely, your fiance’ isn’t sure about the engagement session! Haha! After all, you’ll have plenty of pictures of the two of you from your wedding day, right?

While it is true that you should have a good amount of photos from your wedding day, here are a few reasons why I think an engagement session is still necessary. In fact, I include them in all of my wedding packages because I believe it’s THAT important!

1. An engagement session gets you comfortable in front of my camera. You probably haven’t had your pictures taken by a professional photographer in years, if ever. You might be a little nervous, which is totally normal. An engagement session helps you relax in front of the camera, gets rid of those jitters and gets you comfortable with some light posing and direction. This will make the wedding day go much smoother and quicker. Typically, an engagement session lasts a couple of hours, whereas on a wedding day, I may only have an hour with you to capture a large variety of photographs of you as bride and groom. If you have had an engagement session, you’ll be able to take direction and posing much quicker.
2. I get to know you! When I book my couples for their wedding, I try to get together with them in person. Sometimes, though, that’s just not realistic. Having an engagement session helps me to get to know you and your personalities. If you are a fun, silly couple that is loud and energetic, I will be able to figure that out and help that show in your photographs. We will plan some energetic and fun locations! If the two of you are more romantic and quiet, we will choose quieter, calmer locations and the posing will reflect that. When you get your pictures back, I want people to see them and see the true you!
3. You’ll have great photographs of the two of you in more natural clothes! Wedding photos are great and important memories to have for years to come. But, let’s face it, you don’t wear a wedding gown and a tux every day. In your engagement photos, you’ll look much more like your everyday selves. You’ll be able to choose a few different looks, too! Most of my couples end up with 75-125 photographs from their engagement session, which leads to my next point.
4. Your engagement photographs are useful! Of course, you’ll want to print them and display them in your home. They are also useful for save-the-dates, table settings, displaying at the wedding, or for creating a gorgeous coffee table album. Some of my couples even use them for a guest book at the wedding.

I’m sure I could come up with several more reasons why engagement sessions are important, but hopefully these few points help convince you that you really do want to take them time to do this. I think you’ll be thrilled that you made the choice to schedule your engagement session!

Looking for a wedding photographer to document your special day?

Contact me today either by filling out the form on the home page or email me at karen@karenshoufler.com.

I would love to see if we would be a good fit!