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:

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

---

What me to photograph your wedding?

---