Planning Guides

Melissa Jill - I love shooting engagement sessions with my wedding clients. The engagement shoot is so important for developing a level of comfort and trust with your photographer as well as in front of the camera before your wedding day. I always encourage my clients to do an engagement shoot and each and every one of them is so happy when they do. Not only do we get fabulous images that they can use for their save the date cards, invitations, programs or any number of things, but we get the chance to work together before the wedding and get to know each other better. It makes all the difference for a positive experience on the wedding day.

In my time as a wedding photographer over the years, I’ve learned a few things along the way and I wanted to share with you my 5 Tips for Spicing Up your Engagement Shoot!

1. Choose a location that says something about you as a couple.

When you’ve seen some of your friends’ engagement photos–where are most of them done? 90% of the time at a park, right? Parks are a beautiful setting and I still use them from time to time to get some green and natural elements into the shoot, but I also encourage my clients to think outside the box about their engagement shoot location. I try to ask my clients about what they enjoy doing as a couple and where they often spend their time. This gives me some great ideas about where we can do their shoot.

In the instance of Katina and Robert, they said that they enjoy doing home improvement projects together and that their home-away-from-home is Home Depot. So I suggested we do their engagement shoot there. The shoot turned out to be so much fun!

Kristen & Brett met in high school and dated all the way through their college years at ASU. Brett played defensive line for ASU during college and was able to sneak us in to Sun Devil Stadium. We had the place to ourselves and got some great shots.

2. Don’t be afraid to show off your personality through your wardrobe.

Many couples ask me what they should wear for their engagement shoot. Commonly I see couples donning matching black shirts and blue jeans or white shirts with khaki pants. These combos can work, but why not spice up your wardrobe with some clothes that scream YOU! Here’s a few fun examples:

3. Don’t wear sunscreen.

Sunscreen, while protecting you from sun damage, causes your skin to look pasty in photographs.

4. Feel free to include furry family members in part of your shoot.

Many of my clients consider their dogs or cats part of their families and I can relate! I have a dog of my own who I absolutely adore. So I love including animals in engagement shoots. I recommend one of two options. Either do part of the shoot in your house or yard to include the animals or if the shoot is at another location, bring along a third person who will take the animal part-way through the shoot so that your photographer can also get some photos of the two of you alone.

5. Focus on each other during your shoot and have FUN!!

My favorite engagement photos are ones where you can really feel the love between the couple. Be as affectionate with each other as you feel comfortable doing and focus on each other. If you do this your love will come through in the photos. More than anything–have fun with each other!