Why You Should Take Engagement Photos With Your Wedding Photographer | Minnesota Wedding Photographer

Lauren Baker Photography Minnesota wedding and engagement photographer

Engagement photo sessions are an important part of your engagement season. I’m 99.9% sure that’s not news to you, you are reading a wedding blog after all. But did you also know that the particular photographer behind the lens is just as important as the engagement session itself?

This topic is near and dear to my heart and there are many reasons why I think you should take engagement photos with your wedding photographer.

Here are my top 5 in no particular order:

Engaged couple cuddle in the park

1. You strengthen your relationship with your photographer

Engagement sessions are fun and a great ice breaker for you, your fiancé, and your photographer. You’ll play, tell stories, make jokes, and get a bit personal during your session. You may not realize it but you’re building a relationship of friendship and trust with your wedding photographer during your engagement session.

If you take your engagement photos with someone other than your wedding photographer, you’re building that relationship pretty much from ground zero on your wedding day. And as someone who just got married, that sounds stressful to me and stress ain’t welcome at weddings.

2. It’s practice for everyone.

When you take engagement photos with your wedding photographer, it’s not only practice for you and your fiancé, it’s practice for your wedding photographer, too. You’ll learn what it’s like being in front of their camera and your photographer will learn what poses and prompts work best for you and your fiancé.

Bride and groom kiss at golden hour

3. There won’t be surprises on your wedding day.

Because you’ve learned your photographer’s unique “photography language” and all of the core poses you’ll be asked to do during your engagement session, you’ll basically be a portrait pro before the wedding day even arrives. So when it comes time to take your wedding day portraits, you’ll know exactly what to do. No fuss no muss.

Bride and groom walking on boardwalk

4. Appropriate expectations are set

The biggest points of contention I’ve ever had, both personally or professionally, have been because appropriate expectations hadn’t been set. Taking engagement photos with your wedding photographer is no different. You’ll set expectations of what it’s like to work with you in front of the camera and your photographer will set expectations of what it’s like working with them behind the camera. Based off of the portraits they deliver from your engagement session, you’ll also have a better understanding of the kinds of portraits you’ll be able to expect after your wedding.

Engaged couple walking through woods

5. You’re not stuck if it’s a bad fit

As a photographer, I always hope my clients love working with me and love the photographs I deliver. However, if they truly felt that we weren’t a great fit for each other after their engagement session, I’d rather know that so we could do something about it rather than risk me not making them happy on their wedding day.

If you work with your wedding photographer for your engagement session and things don’t go well you still have time to:

A) have a conversation with your photographer and try to ameliorate things

or

B) breakup with your photographer and find someone who will serve you better. Yes, your photographer will be bummed but more than anything they want you to love your photographs. And yes, you may be out some money but what’s more important in the big picture? A couple hundred dollars or having a negative wedding experience and risk not liking your photos?

Engaged couple with Minneapolis skyline in background

So yeah…all of that to say take your engagement photos with your wedding photographer! I promise it’ll be worth it!!


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I'm a free-spirited love and adventure seeker who aims to inspire joy, compassion, and beauty. I hope to show each person I interact with how remarkable they are and that they have value.  

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my philosophy

How do we even start to say thank you for all the work and effort you put into our wedding day?

- Josie and Scott

Lauren played such a meaningful role in our wedding, capturing the day in photos that we'll look back on for the rest of our lives. She kept Scott and me calm and sane - Lauren is a miracle worker! She put in 100% effort and gave us her very best, and that means so much to me. Seeing our photographs makes me so excited and so happy that Lauren was with us on this journey.

Lauren made the process so easy and made us feel so comfortable!

- Amy and Luke

We just wanted to say thank you again so much for your amazing work. You were seriously incredible to work with and we loved the locations you suggested for both our engagement shoot and the spots in Stillwater. We were very worried about getting professional photos done since we had never done it before, but you made the process so easy and made us feel so comfortable. Thank you!

Working with Lauren was easy breezy and FUN! She gave us our most treasured photos ever!

- GRACE AND NICK

There was a chunk of time in our wedding planning when we thought we'd go without a professional photographer to save on cost (terrible idea!) but once we met with Lauren, we knew we'd be in good hands. She checked in often and asked questions that got us thinking about other parts of the wedding that we probably would've missed. Lauren captured exactly who we are as a couple!

Lauren's enthusiasm and passion make the photo-taking process so fun – she made me feel like a star!

- Alisa AND Adam

Lauren and her team are so much fun to work with! She made us feel so comfortable on the day of our wedding, providing both silly and helpful cues to help us relax and be ourselves in our photos. Lauren’s background in dance is super helpful in recognizing simple posture changes that make a big difference, too. Oh, and the photos we got are just stunning!

Lauren was pivotal in making our wedding day perfect!

- Emma AND Erik

My husband and I looked FOR MONTHS to find the perfect photographer and after meeting Lauren we knew was the best fit for us. She made our day so much fun and easy. She found little opportunities to make the perfect photo all with a  calm ease that comes from someone who has an artistic eye along with experience in understanding the flow of a wedding.

Not only is Lauren an amazing human being, but she is an awesome photographer!

- Haley AND Erick

I've been in several weddings and have worked with a multitude of photographers and I never felt as confident as I did with Lauren. I love how professional she is. She helped with the timeline way in advance and we stuck to that timeline the day of. She was also able to professionally and firmly keep unruly family members settled and focused and navigated family drama beautifully!

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