#.1 Do an engagement session!
I know, I know, honestly hardly anyone likes to be in photographs right? I actually LOVE when I have couples who say they “don’t like being in photos” because I love making it fun, amazing, and enjoyable. Challenge accepted! Be sure to hire a professional photographer that includes an engagement session because they understand how important building trust and a relationship before the wedding is. If you especially don’t like being photographed even more the reason why you should do an engagement session! It’s a great “practice” session for the wedding day so you are comfortable and already know what to expect.

#2. Schedule your hair/makeup trial the same day as your engagement session!
You have to pay for it anyone so you might as well use it in photos right? It’s also a great way to get comfortable with the makeup and see what it looks like in photos. Generally it’s more makeup than you would wear on a daily basis so if you try and get comfortable with it and see how amazing it looks you won’t be worrying on your wedding day that it’s too much. It also gives you a chance to adjust your look for the wedding day.

#3. Location Location Location
I said that 3 times but guess what? The location itself isn’t really that important, the engagement session is really about you guys, and showing your love and personality. We always like to talk through and see what each couple likes to do together, if there’s a special place they love, or maybe a location that they wanted to the wedding to be at but it didn’t work out. Sometimes the venue itself where you are getting married at has so many beautiful places we’ll do the engagement session there in completely different spots than we’ll do for the wedding. Timing is also important. If it’s a location on the water and you want those beautiful sunset photos then we usually suggest about an hour before sunset, for an outdoorsy spot where the sunlight coming through we’ll do 2 or 3 hours before sunset.

#4. Be Yourself - Everyone else is already taken!
I love that quote by Oscar Wilde! Believe me EVERYONE is always super nervous about doing an engagement session. Unless you are a professional model it can be kind of scary but don’t worry, by the end you will be loving it! Choose clothing that fits with your personality and what you are comfortable wearing. Take a look at pinterest and see what kind of poses you like, not to recreate the exact photo but to get an idea of what you like. Many times we will have a few poses we’ll show you that keep it fun and creative and also it’s super easy to pose when you can see what it looks like. If you need a little liquid courage, that is totally fine as well!:-)

#5. Use Pinterest for inspiration for poses and ideas.
Pinterest is a great visual for you to use to see what you like, what clothing looks good, and to see some posing ideas. What it’s not good for is replicating someone else’s moment which is a whole notha article I wrote a while ago which you can read here.