Wedding Planning: Pre-Engagement Shoot!

Engagement Sessions

I’m going to do 3 engagement shoot blogs, this one is pre-shoot, then during the shoot, and getting the photos back.

Pre-Shoot

Before we booked our engagement shoot I was actually unsure if I even wanted to do one! I’m comfortable with our photographers and totally trust them, and was not sure I wanted a photo for the save the date. We ultimately did decided to do the shoot and am so glad we did! It was so much fun to do. Great to be put in the “in front of the camera” scenario (which I haven’t done since senior portraits!), and got great photos! Here are some teasers showing off the locations and props I explain below:

First we picked the date, time, and brainstormed locations with our photographer. I wanted to focus on locations that were not only beautiful but were personal to my fiance and I. So we chose:

1. – A park that we run through sometimes near our house that had BEAUTIFUL leaves around
2. – A bar down the street from our house that we sneak away to on occasion
3. – Our house! It was close to the other locations and I thought it would be personal and nice to have some shots there as well

After choosing the locations we discussed the idea of props which was encouraged by our shooter. Since engagement shoots are literally just photos of you and your fiance, props can add a lot to a shoot, and they can be super simple! We figured a prop or two at each location would be fun to throw into the mix of photos. The props we decided on were:

1. – At the park: a blanket, cards, and dominoes
2. – At the bar: beer!
3. – At home: a school hat
4. – Spontaneous prop on the shoot: leaves!

Then, the hard part: outfits. Talk about hating everything you own the night before the shoot! I swear I liked these things when I originally bought them..right?!

I had two outfit ideas in mind, tried them on and decided nope! Not good…so I tried on the rest of my closet to not be satisfied with anything. Then I remembered I need to be coordinated (not matching or clashing) with my fiance – UGH! After getting a bit flustered, and almost postponing the shoot, I reminded myself this was supposed to be FUN!

So I pulled up our blog and flipped through a bunch of engagement sessions. I realized couples wear all sorts of outfits and they all look great! After checking out those posts I went back to my closet and decided I would do one outfit that I was comfortable in, simple, and me. And not second guess myself.

My fiance then coordinated his outfit to mine and we went to bed excited for the shoot the next day :-)

Next post: during the shoot!

November 9, 2013 Comments (0) Engagement Sessions, Erin's Planning Blog! powersstudios