engagement pictures taken at Edwards Gardens Toronto, North York

When you’re planning your wedding day the pictures will likely be at the forefront of your planning to make sure you can look back over this day dedicated to celebrating your love. You might be on the fence about whether to have an engagement session when there’s already so much going on with your wedding planning, but there are definitely benefits to hiring your wedding photographer to shoot some engagement photos for you and your fiancé. Here’s exactly why having engagement photos are a must-have while you’re enjoying your engagement.

 

Meet Your Wedding Photographer . . . Before the Big Day

If you only meet your photographer on your wedding day then you might not feel really comfortable with them. Holding an engagement session gives you a chance to meet your photographer and get to know them – both as a person and as a photographer. During this engagement session, you can use the time to see if you mesh well with your photographer. If your personalities click and you feel like you’ve known them forever then it will make it a little less stressful on your wedding day. There won’t be some stranger with a camera coming to your Big Day, it will be a new friend you know and feel comfortable with.

 

Remove Some Pressure

If you aren’t used to having your picture taken – and most of us aren’t – then this session is a great way to build some comfort being in front of the camera. When you feel comfortable with a camera around, and with your photographer, then your pictures will be just that much better. Your wedding day photos are memories you’ll be showing off for years to come so if you have the chance to make them look exactly how you want them then this is a great way to enhance the final product. Some of my clients are learning a lot from the engagement photo shoots and had a much better idea after, what they like and what they don’t like to have on the wedding pictures.

 

Preview the Work

Many photographers have social media that shows off their work, and that’s exactly why you contacted them in the first place. However, what if it turns out that your engagement photo shoot didn’t turn as good as you thought it would be? This session gives you the chance to validate their work, customer service and make sure you like it. Imagine hiring a photographer who takes pictures of your wedding day that don’t turn out. This is your chance to essentially interview your photographer and confirm you made the right choice. If you don’t like them, or their work, it gives you enough time to replace them and find a photographer you do like for your big day.

Document Your Relationship

Your relationship with your fiancé isn’t just about your wedding day. There’s so much more to your relationship and we want to showcase that. Who you are as a couple, your passions and hobbies, is really important. Engagement photos are the perfect time to show off exactly who you are and what makes you great together. Engagement sessions can be held virtually anywhere and the outfits you choose are completely up to you. Wedding day photos are going to feature the bride in a dress and the groom in a suit or tuxedo – most likely – but these photos are a blank canvas. Take this opportunity to work with your photographer to document your relationship: maybe you do some shots where you first met, where you got engaged, your first home together. You can pick spots that are special to both of you.

 

Use the Engagement Pictures

When you’re designing your wedding invitations, you can actually use the pictures from your engagement session on the invitations. They are professionally shot and edited so they will be ready for use in all kinds of printed materials or websites. These pictures are a great way to show off the love between you and your fiancé during your engagement and leading up to the wedding. It’s especially great if you haven’t had pictures taken of the two of you in a while.

 

Try Out Your Wedding Day Makeup

Along with searching for photographers, brides are also interviewing hair stylists and makeup artists during this exciting time. Most brides will do a trial with both people to make sure they like their work and it will turn out well on the day of their wedding. If you can schedule it, have your hair and makeup done by your choice of vendors on the same day as your engagement photo session. This way you can verify their work but also see how well it photographs. This will give you an idea of how you’ll look on the day of your wedding and make sure you’re comfortable with the look they’ll give you for that day. You don’t have to pick exactly the same looks, but this is a great test of skill for them.

Having an engagement session is a great part of enjoying your engagement, and focuses on the two of you as a couple. You’ll be given copies of your pictures you can use, print and frame to display in your home or on your social media as you’d like. This is a time dedicated to the two of you, and having an engagement session gives you a chance to document the time.

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