If you found yourself here on this blog post, it’s most likely because you’re getting ready for an engagement photo shoot…or you’re still single and are just daydreaming about being engaged (can relate lol). Either way, I welcome you with open arm to my Top Tips for Engagement Photos! While this guide won’t necessary tell you engagement photos poses or how many outfits you should wear for your engagement photos, it will help you get in the mindset of how to make your engagement photos spectacular.
As an Asheville Wedding Photographer, I love when my couples choose to also include an engagement session in their package. You’ve probably seen it before when searching through engagement photo ideas and engagement photo poses, but your engagement photo session is the perfect time to learn more about you and your partner, your photographer, and how you all interact with each other during a photo session. Your wedding ideally shouldn’t be the first time you’re standing in front of your photographer, so a great way to get comfortable with your photographer is through engagement photos. Plus, you walk away with great pics for your save-the-date, and to share with friends and family.
Below you’ll find plenty of tips on how to prepare for engagement photos. All of this is from personal experience and are topics any photographer should talk with their couple about. At the end of the day, they’re your photos, we’re just the ones blessed to be capturing them :)
Top Tips for your Engagement Photos
- The Right Place -
Location, location, location. There are a crazy amount of options to choose from when deciding where you want to have your engagement session. From the mountains, to the valleys, to the city, to the country, to the lakes and rivers and waterfalls, you honestly can’t go wrong! The most important thing is making sure the location represents the kind of pictures you want. If you want to head downtown to a rooftop bar, don’t expect pictures surrounded by trees and rocks. It’s unfortunately unlikely to get the best of both worlds in one single location - but that’s when people choose two locations for their engagement photos! So if you want the best, make sure you discuss this with your photographer and see if they would be willing to do photos in multiple locations.
If you’re unfamiliar with Asheville and all the amazing scenery it has to offer, check out Romantic Asheville for an overwhelming (but thorough) list of ALL the spots! But to narrow down your search, just hire me ;)
- The Right Time -
Not only the right time of day, but also the right time of year too! I’m biased towards the golden light of sunset or sunrise, so most of my sessions are around that time of day, like this one in the mountains along the blue ridge parkway. Middle of the day sessions are possible…but never ideal. I’ll do most anything in my power to avoid them. Clouds help a ton (despite what a lot of people think when they test me “it’s going to be cloudy today, my photos are ruined!” when in reality, the opposite is true).
But in addition to having great light, you need to choose the time of year you want your engagement photos during. Fall obviously has fall foliage with lots of orange and yellow and red tones. Spring has the new green buds of the trees and the delicate floral colors of flowers blooming. Summer is pretty vibrant, and winter is pretty muted with the possibility of snow. Nothing better or worse, they’re all just different. So when scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest finding more inspiration photos for your ever growing collection, consider what time of year the photo was most likely shot in.
With that said…editing styles of photographers work better or worse in certain seasons depending on a number of things. Some people edit like it looks like fall all year round. Some edit like it’s spring all year round. Personally, my work is true to nature, and directly reflects whatever environment we were given. Super foggy for our photos? They’re going to look a little more moody because that’s the environment we were given. Same works for epic sunsets or cool mornings in front of waterfalls. I don’t play around with nature, that’s not my job.
- The Right Person (to take your pictures) -
I suppose you could argue that picking the right person to be in the pictures with you is important too. But I hope I don’t have to write a blog post about that!
Some people subscribe to the idea that your photographer is just there to take pictures, to do their job, to produce art. While I think that’s partially true, I definitely more so believe they should be someone you vibe with too. If you can feel completely comfortable in front of a total stranger taking your pictures then kudos to you, but for the 99% of us who don’t, you should get to know your photographer and how they work. Y’all don’t need to be best friends, but it should be laid back, relaxing, not high stress, and definitely not awkward. If you feel awkward or uncomfortable, it’'ll come out in the photos, almost guaranteed. That’s why I’ve worked on perfecting the many ways I can help my couple feel truly at peace during their session. It’s an art, but one I’ve worked hard at perfecting.
Long story short, talk with your photographer like you would a friend. Get to know them a little. They’ll be wanting to do the same most likely, and it’ll help everyone in the end.
- The Right Style -
Not everyone is good at picking outfits, especially us men (we’re getting better though! give us a little grace). Lucky for you, I’ve put together a little Pinterest board with some outfit inspiration for all my engagement session couples. As you may notice from the board, there’s a commonality here - solid colors, and neutral tones. You’ll see through almost all of these photos that it really works best to keep these things in mind so you and your partner are the focus of the photos, not the patterns on your dress or the bright-colored shirt you’re wearing. Obviously, if loud colors and lots of patterns is what y’all wear, then honor yourself and wear what you’d normally wear. But engagement photos are generally a little fancier, and therefore something slightly out of the norm wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
And along with clothing come hair and makeup. Engagement sessions are an excellent opportunity to have a trial run with your hair and makeup artist that you’re using for your wedding or elopement day.
And lastly, footwear. With most of my sessions occurring in nature, some of the locations require a small hike, and some do not. Comfort always comes first in my books when we’re talking about shoes, so wear your hiking shoes, and pack your heels. If we’re on the beach, forget the shoes altogether! And in winter, you have full permission to wear snow boots or whatever keeps your feet nice and warm. Always talk with your photographer about all of these things when planning your engagement session.
- The Right Mood -
Most people feel a mixture of emotions when they know they’re getting their photo taken. Excitement and nervousness are probably the big two though, but stress can creep in there, as well as confusion, and hopefully a little calmness too. As I said before, I’ve worked a lot on setting the right mood for my couples to feel comfortable in, but at the end of the day, no one knows you better than yourself. Want music playing in the background during the shoot? Call me Mr. DJ. Not comfortable with a certain prompt or pose? Communicate that with me and we’ll switch to something else. Truth be told, the first few minutes of every session are really just devoted to making you feel comfortable, hyping you up (lot’s of “Y’all look amazing,” and “That’s absolutely perfect.”) and walking you through some chill prompts and poses.
But with every session, a switch is usually turned on and I can tell you’re feeling more comfortable than when we all arrived, and that’s when the real fun happens. So set that mood, don’t be afraid to saying something feels weird or not right, and have comfort and faith in your photographer.
- The Right Props -
So personally, I think the best prop for your engagement session is each other. Cute, right?
But again, these aren’t my photos, they’re yours. So feel free to incorporate props that work for you! Maybe it’s a custom sign that announces your wedding date, or one for your pup that says “He still loves me more.” Or your fur baby. We love dogs and cats and all sorts of animals!
Your clothing is a prop too, as you can see from the photo above where the girl is holding the bottom of her dress. Motion is great for photos, so you might be asked to move your dress back and forth, or pull at each other’s sleeves or collars.
And of course, if there’s a special momento that you both hold dearly that you want to incorporate, bring it along.
From other photographers, I’ve seen people have a pizza delivered for their engagement session and use that as a fun and delicious prop. Or matching socks or tattoos. Or a journal or book of memories. Again, these are your photos, so whatever is important to you we can use.
- BONUS TIP: The Right Plan -
I ALWAYS take the “Better to be proactive than reactive” route, and this especially holds true for planning your engagement session. The biggest obstacle we face for engagement sessions is usually the weather, but we do the best job we can to keep an eye on the radar. Sometimes photographers have the ability to reschedule because of bad weather, sometimes they don’t.
Secondly, we have travel time, getting to the location, and if there’s a second location. Gotta think about rush hour traffic, any travel on foot such as if the session is in the mountains or at a waterfall that requires a hike.
Third, there’s how tourist-heavy is the engagement spot. Spots like The Biltmore Estate have heavy tourist seasons and specific days of the week and times of day, and the same goes for well-known mountain tops, waterfalls, beaches, parks, etc.
And last but not least, having a backup location. Fog can make some of the higher elevation spots not as glamorous, or maybe there are road closures or inclement weather. It’s always smart to have a backup location and a backup plan. All of these are great points to talk about with your photographer to make sure your session is going to run as smoothly as possible.
I hope these tips and photos were helpful in planning your engagement photo session. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message.
-Nick
