Real Bride Blogger, Abby – Engagement Photo Advice
Engagement photos are typically part of your photographers package. They’re a great way to get comfortable with your photographer while spending quality time with your fiancé. Our Real Bride Blogger, Abby, recently had hers done. Keep reading to get her tips, learn from her experience, and see her gorgeous photos!
Hello, friends!
Robby and I are finally to the really fun stage of wedding planning. I define “fun” by how much food I get to consume. Taste testing is probably the best thing ever. You can eat three cupcakes and no one will judge you because it’s all in the name of finding the perfect flavor. This is truly living the dream.
Luckily, before I consumed all this food, Robby and I had our engagement photos taken. Of course, I’m going to tell you all about our experience so you can be prepared for when your time comes! But before that, you may be asking:
Why do I need Engagement Photos?
- For your save-the-dates and wedding website
- To give your photographer a chance to become more familiar with you both (haven’t found one yet? Today’s Bride can help with that!)
- To help you and your S/O feel more comfortable in front of the camera
- Because they’re fun! (And it’s nice to have a professional set of pictures that don’t involve a white dress and a tux)
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Twenty Two Photography -
Twenty Two Photography
Time and Place
Before our session, Robby and I talked with our photographers broadly about what we wanted the feel of our engagement session to be. Robby and I chose to have our engagement photos done about a year after he proposed. We wanted to contrast our summer wedding by having an engagement photo session to give us aaallllll the fall feels. I turned to this blog on Fall Engagement Photos for inspiration! Our photographers got that desire and DELIVERED. I would definitely recommend working with your photographers to iron out the fine details. They can give you input on where to do the shoot, the best time of year, etc. They are, after all, the professionals!
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Twenty Two Photography
What to Wear
After we figured out the season and location, it was time to start picking out clothes. PRO TIP: Don’t wait until the night before to pick out your outfits: I mean, who would do that…? Not me… I swear it wasn’t me you saw running from store to store in pursuit of a cute green dress. Not me at all. (In my defense, I ordered what I THOUGHT was a really cute dress online, until it arrived on my doorstep two days before our session and made me look like a green potato. Cue, panic.) Retrospectively, I wish we would have planned out our outfits a liiiittle further in advance. But hey, we pulled it together!
Hair and Makeup
Then came the hair and makeup. I was always told that, for photos, you want to look like yourself, but better. Basic translation: if you don’t wear a ton of makeup on a day-to-day basis, don’t go for the smoky green eye and dramatic red lip (at least, not for these pictures!). Instead, do some neutral eyeshadow and a berry lipstick. You get my drift. PERSONALLY, I love to pack on my makeup (the higher the lashes, the closer to God), so I went for a bold lip and some contoured cheeks. I tried to curl my hair, but Ohio had other plans. It fell after about three minutes. My fiancé did his normal hair routine (no makeup for him!).
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Twenty Two Photography -
Twenty Two Photography
Our Experience
This, of course, leads us to the day of the engagement shoot. Robby and I were so excited when we arrived in Chagrin Falls we were practically bouncing (okay, I was practically bouncing). We met up with our photographers and got started. And while we were both a little nervous, we were having a blast just a few minutes in. Instead of focusing on the camera, we found little moments to laugh at and tried to wholly focus on each other. That seemed to help our pictures turn out authentic instead of posed.
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Twenty Two Photography
By the time our shoot was done, a light drizzle had started. Literally a minute after our photographers took their last shot, it POURED. But hey, if a little rain is good luck on your wedding day, a lot of rain during your engagement session has to be good luck too, right?
Let me know what you think of our pictures! Do you have a fave? And have you done your engagement shoot yet? Comment below and let me know!
Until next time,
