7 Tips for Having the Best Engagement Session Ever

Meet Jesse and Courtney! They are two amazing friends of ours who are getting married in October. They are both Physical Therapists who love to travel, explore, and as you will see below, love each other. After doing their 2nd half of their engagement session we decided we had to share some tips on how to make your engagement session go perfectly… because as you will see, these two are perfection and we love them.

1. Hire a Friend-ographer

   Obviously we do not know the majority of our clients before meeting them in a professional sense. However, we feel very strongly that it is suer important to meet a couple when initially booking to get to know each other a bit. Justin and I are extremely outgoing and could basically talk to a wall but we want to make sure that our clients feel comfortable with us. We want each and every client to feel like we are their friends so that during their engagement photos and on their wedding day it is like another person from their family or friend group is along for the day, not some random photographer. So when booking a photographer, find someone that you like their style, they have a good amount of experience, and you connect with on a personal level, because you end up spending a lot of time with them!

2. Schedule Your Session Accordingly

   Depending on how long your engagement is you may want to send save the dates out. Rule of thumb is that you will want to send your save the dates out a year in advance for a destination wedding and at least 6 months in advance for a local wedding. So you will want to schedule your session accordingly to make sure you can send save the dates if needed! Secondly, contact your photographer soon after booking your package to reserve a date that works well with your schedule during the season you love most! If you absolutely love summer, schedule a summer sunset session, or a beach shoot! Lastly, always schedule a backup date if your schedule is busy in case of bad weather!

3. Plan Your Wardrobe

   It is normal to have 1-2 outfits for an engagement session. Depending on your chosen location you may choose one more casual outfit and then a slightly more formal outfit for a change. Always avoid matching patterns, and anything that isn’t “you”. You want to feel like the best version of yourselves! Maybe that means you want to get your makeup done professionally, and/or your hair, do it, any reason to get pampered is a good reason! Feel free to ask for our opinion if you want!

4. Choose a location that means something to you

   Where is your happy place? A lot of people in West Michigan love the water so maybe a beach session would be the perfect fit. If you like being outdoors, it might be fun doing mini hiking and camping trip for your session. Tall rows of pines are always a favorite of ours. If you live, work, and play in downtown GR and maybe you would want a downtown and rooftop session. We recommend sharing your vision and style with your photographer and letting them pick at least a couple locations that they have a creative vision for and fits your style. You hired them, so you obviously like there work. TRUST THEM! Be vulnerable, when they have ideas or tell you to do something, go for it!

5. Make a date out of it

   We love helping our couples come up with an idea and run with it. Similarly to our tip about finding a location that you love, if there is something that you and your fiance absolutely love to do together lets incorporate it into your session. We have done sessions with couples while walking their dog, going canoeing, beer tasting, and going out for ice cream. If there is something that is your “thing” together lets do it during your session! Also, furry friends are ALWAYS welcome.

6. Have Fun + Be Yourself

   This goes back to our initial point about choosing a photographer who you are comfortable with. You want to feel like you can be as goofy, lovey, and fun as you normally are when it is just the two of you being together. We always tell people we have three rules.

   Once we put you into a pose… 1. you are not statues, feel free to move and interact unless we tell you otherwise. 2. you can kiss whenever and however much you want. 3. if it feels awkward it probably looks awkward, so tell us if something doesn’t feel like “you”. We want to capture our couples being themselves, laughing and having fun. Oftentimes we end up cracking really dumb jokes or making fun of each other to get a few good laughs out of our couples. The biggest thing is to just act like you are on a completely guard down date together, having fun, and loving on each other, then we will stand back and capture the two of you, being you.

7. Print Your Favorites!

   Nothing makes us happier than seeing our work hung on walls and in books on coffee tables. We offer professional printing options so if you ever need help with printing let us know! It is easy to do and amazing quality. No matter how you print them whether it is through us or not, print them, enjoy them, hang them up!!

Now onto the good part… meet Jesse and Courtney, and yes they are as amazing in person as they seem in these photos. We included a few pictures from the first mini engagement session we did back last winter at The Broadway Ave pre-demo.

And now we wait… 46 days until these two get hitched