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If you’re newly engaged and starting to plan your wedding, here are 3 big reasons to get engagement photos taken that you more than likely haven’t thought about.
From the moment a couple gets engaged, nothing is more important than sharing a photo of the proposal (pics or it didn’t happen!) My now-husband and I reveled in engagement bliss for approximately 20 minutes laughing, kissing, and popping champagne before FaceTiming everyone in our inner circle to share the amazing news. In this day and age, it’s become common practice – almost obligatory – to post a #ringselfie to social media within hours of the proposal. And for good reason; who doesn’t want to show the whole world “WE’RE ENGAGED!” With that in mind, this article is all about engagement shoots and three important reasons to get engagement photos done.
During the wedding planning process, each special event is documented through photos. Said yes to the dress? Post it to IG. Visiting your venue for a food tasting? Post a pic on Facebook and check in. Bachelorette party? Post a very blurry, very hilarious video to your IG story. However, one special event that many couples choose to forego is an engagement session.
Of all the important pre-wedding adventures you’ll have between ‘Will you marry me?’ and ‘I do,’ an engagement shoot should rank high on your to-do list. In fact, many photographers think it’s so important, they include it in within their packages at no additional charge! We do! There are, however, those who think that an engagement session is only about getting photos to show off on social media. Well, there are a few big reasons why we do our best to talk our clients into getting an engagement session done when they’re on the fence.
Here are three big reasons why you should consider an engagement shoot:
Anyone can put a camera up to their eye and capture an image, but not everyone can do it extraordinarily well and manage to capture an entire story. Scheduling an engagement shoot allows you and your fiancé to get to know the artist behind the lens. Ask them why and how they got involved in photography, what their favorite part of the wedding day is, what inspires them. Although they are providing a professional service, photographers are in the unique position of capturing the most special, most intimate moments of your life and I can assure you that the best ones know just how lucky they are to be doing so. They aren’t signing on for that insane amount of trust and responsibility just to get a paycheck.
My husband and I chose a beach engagement shoot in July – peak summer storm season. The day wasn’t as sunny as I had hoped, in fact, it was the exact opposite. It was cloudy with storms rolling through just a couple hours before we were supposed to leave for the shore.
Our photographers, Jay and Sandi were more than accommodating, offering to reschedule so we didn’t have to get soaked, while simultaneously being up for the challenge if we wanted to carry on. Being the adventurous souls we are, we decided to gamble and the weather was on our side. Jay and Sandi were in the water with us, hanging their zillion dollar cameras over the waves, giving gentle suggestions and running with our ideas. That experience showed us that we picked photographers who had only our best interests at heart while also doing whatever it would take to get amazing photos. Without an engagement shoot, we might have never known just how badass they are! From then on, it was like we were one big happy family and it helped make our wedding day was a breeze. Having that opportunity to get to know the two of them before the wedding was one of the smartest decisions we could have made.
Jay & Sandi have always made building relationships with their clients a priority and it’s a big reason for the massive success they experienced so quickly. As the studio grew and they added more photographers, they made sure that Twisted Oaks clients always felt that they were getting that same experience no matter who the photographer was. It’s pretty common for clients to not only become good friends with their photographers but continue the friendship long after their wedding day.
A good example of one of the closest friendships that Jay and Sandi built with their clients and still have today is Matt & Amy Mahoney. After Jay wrote a blog post (click HERE to read) about their wedding, Matt (the groom) wrote a blog guest blog post about his experience working with Jay & Sandi which you can read HERE.
Believe it or not, the majority of newly engaged couples have very limited experience with having their photo taken by a professional and that alone can be enough to 2nd guess an engagement shoot. You worry about everything from being awkward in front of the camera to not having the slightest clue of what to expect. While skipping engagement photos might seem like the easy way out, imagine your first interaction with your photographer being on your wedding day. Imagine having those same worries in the back of your head wrapped into one big stress ball along with everything else you have to worry about on your wedding day.
A wedding is lively, so full of noise and excitement that it’s hard to listen, take direction, and convey emotion without feeling overwhelmed. An engagement shoot gets you and your fiance comfortable in front of the camera helping to ease those concerns. It also allows the photographer to work with their personal style, comfort level, and sense of adventure to get the very best photos possible. You’ll get to see if the photographer gives good direction that allows your true personalities to come out as well as the love you have for each other at such an important part of your life. If they don’t do a good job of this then you know that it might be time to consider finding a new photographer.
The engagement session is also a great opportunity to build on your relationship with your photographer. Why would you want to do that? It’s actually something most don’t think about, but the more that your photographer knows about you, your fiance, and even your family the easier it will be for them to document those real and candid moments on your wedding day. Building a relationship also helps you feel like you have someone in your corner that you can trust to deliver. A friend with a camera rather than just another vendor showing up on your wedding day that you’re meeting for the first time.
In addition, engagement photos help give an idea of the finished product. Photography is a huge investment, but one that also lasts forever with a tangible representation of your love. Engagement sessions show the quality of work you should expect to receive, which is very reassuring and calming. By the time the wedding rolls around, you and your fiancé will be calm, cool, collected and totally camera ready.
You’re getting married! This is an EXCITING and FUN time in your life! Although the wedding is regarded as the ‘BIG DAY’, your engagement is something that should be celebrated as well. This time period is very fleeting and short-lived compared to marriage. It’s a transitional stage, which is why it’s nice to slow down, hit pause, and capture the little moments from this phase of life. Engagement sessions are the perfect excuse to capture this time of your life with fun photos that come out very different than the ones on your wedding day. It gives your photographer a chance to stretch their creativity and show your personality.
Although wedding dresses and tuxedos are beautiful and elegant, it’s probably unlikely that you wear a ballgown on the weekends or a three-piece suit to watch the game. Engagement sessions give you a chance to incorporate something you both love or a special location that resonates with you. If you’re outdoorsy, pick a great park with interesting trails and foliage. If you’re homebodies, rent a unique AirBnB and capture an epic cuddle session. Aspiring homebrewers? Schedule your engagement shoot at your favorite local brewery. Your love story is unique and your shoot should reflect that!
It’s also a great bonding experience that reinforces your partnership and allows you to focus solely on one another for a bit instead of juggling all of life’s daily distractions. And finally, one of the best things to come from an engagement shoot is obviously the photos! They’re meant to be shared and shown off, so let them serve double duty! Add them to your save-the-dates, get your favorite shot printed on a canvas or in a guestbook, or just share them 100 times on Instagram (and make sure you tag your photographer of course!)
If you were on the fence about an engagement shoot before and have stuck with us to this point, I hope we managed to sway you. My name is Alex and I’m the Twisted Oaks studio manager who was also a wedding client of theirs. I hope you enjoyed this as I’ll be posting more like it going forward. To wrap this article up, here’s an IG post from one of Jay & Sandi’s 2020 clients who had their engagement session at an AirBnB earlier this year in New Hope, PA. The soon to be bride and groom were initially not interested in having engagement photos done. Jay talked them into it and you can read below what she had to say about her experience. Thank you for reading!
They met through Bumble, started talking on Thanksgiving, were engaged a year later, and tied the knot at a beautiful The Inn at Barley Sheaf Farm wedding this past November. Gigi and Geoff’s wedding turned out to be one of our favorites from 2019 and one we’ve been excited to share with everyone. You may recognize them from their engagement shoot that we shared on the site last year. If you didn’t see it, check it out by clicking on the image below, you won’t regret it. It was when Sandi and I quickly realized just how special these two were and how perfect of a match we were for each other. I often speak at workshops and conferences about how to book your ideal clients that perfectly fit your brand. For us, this was that couple. Not only that but they put their full trust in us, let us be as creative as we wanted, and our work shows it. They let us get to know them as individuals and as a couple which only makes telling their story through our photography that much easier.
Shortly after booking, we started planning their engagement shoot. Not wanting a typical engagement shoot, Gigi wasn’t sure if she and Geoff were really even interested in one. I talked it over with her and explained why I felt that they should and how important it was for them, and us, for us to properly tell their wedding story. Their AirBnB engagement shoot, at the Paxson Hill Farm was what led us to write, 3 Big Reasons To Get Engagement Photos.
After talking them into an engagement shoot, Gigi emailed over a handful of AirBnB options and asked us to choose the one that we felt offered the most creative opportunities. They went with the one we chose, made a weekend out of it, and we drove up to New Hope, PA to hang out and capture some documentary-style engagement photos that also let them see what it felt like being in front of our cameras.
We immediately felt like old friends and had a great time photographing their engagement shoot. By the time that their The Inn at Barley Sheaf Farm wedding rolled around, Sandi and knew enough about them to feel extremely comfortable telling their story.
Fast forward a little over 7 months and we were driving up to The Inn at Barley Sheaf Farm, a venue we hadn’t shot at in the past, and one that we immediately fell in love with. Right in front of where we parked was a fenced-in pasture filled with ponies, cows, sheep, and goats. Having grown up on a farm until I moved out at the age of 18, I love getting to shoot at farms like this with animals (especially goats). It takes me back to when I was younger at a time when my Mom was the photographer and neither of us would have ever imagined that I would follow in her footsteps. One day I’ll own a farm with animals again, but until then, the nostalgia a venue like this brings will have to do.
Gigi and Geoff’s Inn at Barley Sheaf Farm wedding turned out to be one hell of a day filled with many unique elements that made it an extremely special day for us as photographers. I’ll be honest, we have had a lot of clients over the years tell us all about how they want to keep things untraditional as much as possible. In the end, their plans for a unique wedding turn out to be as traditional as a traditional wedding can be.
Gigi and Geoff, on the other hand, followed through with their promise. As artists, we couldn’t have asked for much more. Not only did Gigi personally design her wedding gown from scratch but she wore her grandmother’s hat throughout the day which gave her a very unique and absolutely stunning look. They had their ceremony right there on the farm but due to it being one of the coldest days in November it was moved inside.
The cold weather can tend to make things difficult as far as capturing documentary-style photos, especially if the bride isn’t a fan of cold weather. Gigi didn’t let it bother her in the slightest and we were able to capture everything we needed to properly tell their wedding story. At the end of the night when the temps had dropped, even more, I asked the two of them if they had any desire to head back outside to capture a few more shots. They didn’t hesitate and we headed out for a few night shots which turned out being some of our favorite shots from the day. I was freezing in my North Face coat with gloves on yet Gigi and Geoff took a solid 10 minutes or so to enjoy the moment just before their big day officially came to a close.
If you’ve made it this far in the blog, please do us a favor and read the review below that Gigi and Geoff wrote for us. It’s very easy for wedding photographers to rave about how great every single wedding is that they shot, but it’s rare to see the clients’ perspective being shared. This review couldn’t have made us happier as we read through it for the first time and it meant the world to us. We really feel that it makes for a perfect ending to this story.
We wish Gigi and Geoff nothing but the best and couldn’t be more grateful that they chose us to document their big day. It’s a wedding that Sandi and I are extremely proud of and look forward to showing other potential clients. They put their trust in us and just as with any wedding, we put a ton of pressure on ourselves to deliver our best work. We thank you for your trust, your friendship, and your appreciation for our artistic style of photography. Thank you for everything, enjoy!
If you don’t want to read my whole spiel then you can stop after this sentence knowing that if you’re considering using Twisted Oaks you need to stop considering and pull the trigger. This studio is amazing. I worked with Jay and Sandi (the owners) for my own wedding, but I have seen their associates work as well and they are just as incredible. Jay goes above and beyond. He truly loves the art of photography and that passion clearly translates into the finished product. I am certain that he has chosen and trained associates that do the same. What you get from this studio is not only incredible imagery that captures the day but and extremely professional and laid back experience that allows you to have one less thing to stress about on your big day. It was freezing the day of our wedding, but knowing how important it was to me to have outside shots, Jay froze his a** off setting up the perfect shots for me to run out and quickly get a great shot with the perfect backdrop. In addition to their artistry, Jay and Sandi know how to make the photo taking process as painless as possible. My husband hates taking photos, yet was blown away by how much fun he actually had during our engagement and wedding sessions. What can else can I say, I love Twisted Oaks and ca not wait to work with them again in the future.
