Engagement Photo Advice….From a Wedding Stationer?

Jun 9

Is it weird for a wedding stationer to be giving advice about your engagement photo session? Yes, probably? Maybe?

BUT

I was a recent(ish) bride who wanted a beautifully cohesive wedding (and who, because of a forced postponement got two chances to plan it) I thought I’d share my unique perspective with you!

HOW TO TAKE GOOD PHOTOS

The Advice I feel equipt to give, since I am not a professional photographer, relates specifically to the design style of your wedding as a whole. If you’d like advice on how to take great pictures, I highly recommend our wedding photographer’s blog on this here —And if you’re in the Southern California, and are looking for a wedding photographer, if Kelly H Photo is AMAZING!

WAIT?! MY ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS ARE SUPPOSED TO MATCH MY WEDDING

Of course not! I firmly believe that throughout your whole wedding planning process, being authentically you is more important than arbitrary rules, Trends or any restrictions you feel need to adhere to. The most important part of your engagement shoot, is doing what makes you feel comfortable. There are many, many reasons to get your engagement photos done: It helps you to develop a bond with your photographer And It helps your to feel more comfortable in front of the camera.

the Intention of this post is to give you suggestions IF having all the details of your wedding be as cohesive as possible is important to you.

FIrst, THINK ABOUT WHERE YOU WANT TO USE YOUR PHOTOS

OK, so now that we’ve got that settled…before you go into your engagement session, before you plan what you are going to wear, before you pick your location… think about where you are going to use these photos.

Save The Dates?
Your Wedding Website?
Your day of Materials (such as your welcome cards for out of town guests)
A Framed Photo(s) at your wedding
Maybe all of the above!

We used photos from our engagement shoot on our welcome cards for our out of town guest gift bags!

WHAT SORT OF IMAGES DO YOU WANT?

It’s really exciting getting professional photographs of you and your fiancé, it might be the first time you’ve ever had this opportunity - however it can be easy to forget the utilitarian need for these photos in some of your wedding materials.

if you’re thinking in a design forward way, make a list or talk to your photographer about what you’re looking for. You will most likely get many images back that will work well for your Save The Date (if you’d like to use a photograph for it). But what about your

For your wedding website, design-wise, it can be really busy to the eye, if you’re using a lot of images, to have every picture be of your faces. Adding detail shots to your engagement shoot can break that up and let your favorite photos shine. Detail shots like your shoes, holding hands or details in your engagement shoot location.

Our wedding photographer, Kelly, gave us so many beautiful detail shots that worked so well with our wedding website and other printed materials like our welcome bag cards.

Here are a few examples:

YOUR LOCATION

Choosing a location that feels like and/or is meaningful to you is perfect! If you want to “level up” thinking about cohesiveness with the rest of your wedding make sure that you’re thinking about the colors in your location — do they match your wedding aesthetic? If you want to make sure you have (or don’t have) certain colors in your images, let your photographer know! (They have the professional eye)

YOUR OUTFITS

It’s important to feel comfortable and confident in your outfit choices. If you’d like specific advice about that check out (Kelly H also has an article about choosing an outfit here)

If you’re looking for cohesion make sure that you coordinate or compliment your outfit choices to the colors and feel of your wedding. If you are anything like me, you will be very happy.

THE “MISTAKE” I MADE

My husband and I, like many things with our wedding, did our engagement session twice! (Long story short we lost our original photographer when we had to change wedding dates)

In our original engagement shoot, I didn’t think about how our LOCATION and my OUTFIT would blend with the rest of our wedding. The dress I chose and our engagement photoshoot location were almost the complete opposite of our “wedding vibe”. (The location was bright, loud and bold- my dress was yellow and our wedding was soft, blues with a dreamy watercolor vibe) While, we love the photos and are so happy to have them, they made creating a cohesive website for our guests REALLY challenging.

When we got our engagement shoot redo — I made sure to really think about what we needed for our website and what colors would be cohesive if they weren’t our exact wedding colors. Our location and our clothes were reflective of the softness of our wedding “vibe” while still feeling much more like us. Plus, this time we had our puppy with us!

WHAT IF YOU ALREADY TOOK YOUR ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS?

If you’ve already taken your engagement photos, and you had perhaps a similar experience to me - a photoshoot that “doesn’t match your wedding” it’s ok! Before we knew we were going to have another chance, I worked with what I had. The easiest solution is to work with black and white photos. Your photographer may have provided you some already. If you want to turn other photographs into black and white, I suggest asking your photographer first as a curtesy, while most of the time a switch to black and white is fine, many photographers have in their contract that you cannot adjust the photos.

In the end, as long as you had a good time and are happy with your engagement photos, that’s what really matters. You have beautiful professional photos of you and your fiancé! If they are cohesive with the rest of your wedding details? That’s just icing on the cake!

If You Have any questions or would like help with your wedding invitations or wedding details let’s talk!