Engagement Session Advice

Caitlynmk

Hey ladies- FI and I just traveled to get our engagement pictures done.. and I feel a little disappointed in them Our photographer is highly recommended on the Knot and has glowing reviews, but she didn't give us much direction. We look awkward in most of them- although she did pick out probably the least awkward ones to put on her blog.

I just wanted to give some advice to those of you who haven't gotten yours done yet, I think ours would have turned out better if I had done this stuff. Definitely talk to your photographer about what kinds of shots you like. Even if they are great at what they do, don't assume they'll get the types of shots you like. (For example, I had to ask for a shot with my ring and us holding hands.. didn't turn out that great and you can't really see the ring in any of the other pictures). Also if you aren't sure how to stand, ask for direction. For us, telling us to stand or sit in a spot and look cute and kiss resulted in awkward body positions and us not knowing what to do. haha maybe that is just us- but I like to think we are somewhat photogenic.

Hope this helps!

jennipea382

Sorry your session didn't go as you hoped :-( That's one thing I love about my photographer - she has a questionnaire for us to fill out to get an idea of what's most important to us, what style we like, and what our personalities are like. She does a lot of photos with models so I think she has a good idea of how to direct people. I think that's a VERY important skill to have. I've considered doing photography more seriously but directing people is my downfall.

Thanks for the advice! I think it's very important to have a good communication with your photographer. Are you thinking of redoing them at all?

Caitlynmk

Thanks. That questionnaire sounds like a good idea! I had a Pinterest board with my favorite engagement pics, I'm wishing I had shown that to her. Things like that are helpful- you're spending so much on a photographer, you might as well communicate with them what you like.

Our photographer has a more photojournalism style, which is why we chose her (and she really is talented, I'm obsessed with her pictures!). I think that kind of style translates better for wedding day pictures than engagement though. We knew we didn't want your typical "posed" pictures, but now we know that we do need a little bit of help in that department... haha. I think we found 2-3 that will work for our save the dates. Thats really all we needed them for so we're not going to redo them. I'm still confident in her ability to take gorgeous pictures for our wedding day, so that is really the most important thing

kaceymarie

our photographer was amazing. i am so picky about photos and he got some amazing shots! but there are definitely some i dislike (i look eh). 

you sure you're not being too hard on yourself? they probably look great!