Engagement sessions!

I always get tons of questions about engagement sessions every wedding season.  I love working with my couples for their sessions – we always have a blast.  All of my couples that I work with during the year receive a complimentary engagement session in their wedding package.  I see this session as a must for all my couples.  The session lets me get to know both of you guys on a more personal level, see how you guys react in front of the camera, and you see how I work! Yay!

 

I recieve a lot of the same questions from my couples on the engagement session.  Some of these questions are:

 

What should we wear?

Where should we go?

Can we go to multiple locations?

Can we bring our dog/cat/rabbit/random other animal inserted here?

Do we get the images on a disc?

What time should we start?

What day can we do the session?

 

Most of these questions are covered during the wedding consultation that I have with each and every client when we talk about their wedding and photography needs. Most of these questions are also answered in the flyer that I give my couples with their welcome packet during the meeting.  My out of town/state couples receive this information through emails and of course everyone can always call me with these questions or similar questions before their engagement session.

 

I developed a great resource to help with the engagement session process.

 

http://engagement.pipersphotography.com/

 

At the above link you will find a wealth of information about locations for engagement sessions. That is usually the number one question I get is locations.

 

Here are my answers to the questions above:

 

 What should we wear?

I have a small guideline flyer that I give to my couples.  Mainly it says to wear what makes you feel good about yourself – aka when you look in the mirror you know you are lookin’ freakin’ amazing.  Those will be the best outfits for the session.  When you are 100% comfortable and feel amazing about yourself in the outfit that will show off in the photographs.  It is best if you are not messing to much with your outfit ( adjusting a low cut shirt, worrying about a short skirt flying up in the breeze, tripping on shoes, etc).

Always bring 2 outfits – I always say one dressy, one casual. If you are more dressy then casual then bring 2 of those and vice versa.  Whatever works for you!  Make sure you can sit, jump, lift your legs, etc in these outfits.  It is best to try them on a couple days before and make sure you are comfortable sitting in the outfits as well as standing.  Several of my couples are sitting, standing, walking, running, jumping during their sessions.  This does not mean that we are going to do all of these activities in your session, but it is good to not be limited due to clothes restrictions.

I will do a follow up post on outfits an clothes for an engagement session later this week.

 

Where should we go?

I always say if there is a location that is meaningful to you two, lets go there!  Favorite park, first place you met, first date, first place where you said I Love You, Fav coffee shop, etc.  If you can not come up with any locations that work then go to http://engagement.pipersphotography.com for tons of information on all the locations thatI have been to.  I love trying new locations and that is how I have found several of these locations. I am always open to new ideas!   Let me know if you like more rural or urban spaces, what you guys like to do in your free time together, your favorite activities.  All of these answers help me to give you some good ideas for your engagement session.

 

Can we go to multiple locations?

Yes, We can go to multiple locations for your engagement session.  I suggest keeping the driving time between these locations to a max of 5-10 minutes.  Normal engagement sessions last about 1.5 hours and by keeping the driving time down to a minimum then we are not spending all the time driving to the other location.  Several locations are big enough that there are tons of options to use for backgrounds and to interact with. Let me know what you are thinking for locations and multiple locations and I can help advice you on what would work the best.

 

Can we bring our dog/cat/rabbit/random other animal inserted here?

Please do!  Any animal that can not be put on a leash I say lets try to do those animals in a controlled environment.  Animals that can have leashed on them are more then welcome to come as long as the place we are going to allows animals. Make sure a babysitter comes along to take the animal when we are finished working with them.

 

What time should we start? 

2 hours before sunset is the best time to start. If we are unable to do that time, then I always say early morning is good especially in the summer.  Winter engagement sessions we can usually do any time as the sun is usually under cloud.

 

 

I hope that helps!