If you think about it, only a few years ago engagement portraits were not what you see today! If you’re in the wedding industry or are a bride just getting started with your planning, it’s important to realize just how much this industry has evolved in the last several years! It’s really transforming into something totally different! I’ve even heard of a few people that aren’t associated with the industry ask what engagement portraits are! Whenever I hear that, I am just in shock, in my opinion – even when I was a bride planning my own wedding, our engagement session was like a right of passage for our wedding day!

In my opinion, I feel that every couple should have an engagement session! And as a photographer, I think it’s so important to educate our couples on everything we do and why we do it! SO if we’re going to help our couples understand this entire process, then we have to start at the very beginning! I’ve been very blessed to have couples that LOVE engagement sessions and really desire to have one done before their big day! However, I do occasionally get asked “What’s the big deal?”. And I totally get it! Some couples are super busy and carving out time for an engagement session is hard to do, but there are so many more benefits to an engagement session than just beautiful portraits! So, today I decided to share my top three reasons why an engagement session is so helpful and necessary!!

1. Your engagement session is your trial run… this is your no-pressure practice time in front of my camera! Posing doesn’t always come naturally, and this is why an engagement session is awesome!! Without the pressure of the wedding day timeline AND the nerves that come along with a wedding day, engagement sessions allow my couples to get super comfortable in front of the camera! By the time the wedding day rolls around, they have MASTERED their poses and they feel confident in front of the camera instead of timid and shy! From experience, I would say that it takes about 20 minutes for a couple to warm up to the camera 100%… but on the wedding day, we really don’t have 20 minutes to spare, and I need my bride and groom to be ready to rock and roll! Luckily, because my couples have an engagement session included in their package, they are always ready to show off their modeling skills on the wedding day!

2. Confidence is key! When you’re confident, it shows in your images. After my couples have completed their engagement session and have seen their photographs on the blog, they have a sense of confidence moving forward to their wedding day. I’ll be the first to admit that when it was my turn to be the bride, I really felt 100x more confident in my wedding portraits because I had already seen my engagement photographs! Confidence is not something you can just make someone instantly feel! You have to instill confidence BEFORE the wedding day… and THAT is what an engagement session is for!

3. Last but not least, your engagement session is your time to GET TO KNOW YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER! Some of my favourite memories with clients are during their engagement session. It’s so incredibly relaxed and I have 2 hours to just get to know my couple. An engagement session allows everyone to just get comfortable with one another. In my opinion, this is the biggest point of this entire post because I run my business relationally! When I KNOW my clients, then I can accurately capture their true personalities! I think it’s really hard to capture amazing portraits when you have no connection to the subject. Being emotionally involved with your subjects in turn, creates emotional, powerful images! If I care about my clients… that should show in my work!!. And I think it does. However, I wouldn’t be able to get to this place unless I have had time to get to know my couples. Again, another reason the engagement session is a must!!