The time has come to book your engagement session! We absolutely love offering engagement sessions to all of our wedding packages. There is a lot that can create the vibe of your session, so we’re going to chat about how to create amazing engagement photos.

Why We Include Engagement Sessions

There are a lot of reasons we include engagement photos in all of our wedding packages, here are a couple reasons:

• We get to capture this unique time in your lives! Being engaged is a really special time, and we want you to remember this time.
• We want to work out all of the nerves before the wedding. We want you to realize it’s not that scary to be a in front of the camera, and we can make it fun!
• We want to know your favourite poses, and we always want to know anything you didn’t love. We are open to your feedback! We want to chat about your photos, hear what you love about them – but also, let us know if there is something you don’t love. That way we’ll know how to create your dream wedding photos when it comes to your big day.

Planning Your Engagement Session

When we start planning your engagement session, there are a few things to consider:

• The season. Do you want your engagement photos in a different season to your wedding photos? Do you have a favourite season? Do you have a season you really don’t love? (If you’re always cold, maybe don’t choose a winter engagement session!) This will come down to how much time we have to plan. If you choose us for your wedding two years before your wedding, we have so much time to plan! If we only have eight months, we will be more limited in our timing.

• Do you have a favourite activity you want to include? We’ve photographed skating sessions, baking sessions, in home lifestyle sessions. We’ve gone into bookstores, had ice cream, and stopped for a glass of wine in downtown Edmonton.
• Do you have an idea you really want to try? Tell us! Chances are we will be up for trying something new.

The time of year will also determine locations! These gorgeous pink blossoms are only available for about a week every spring. Fall colours obviously only last for a bit of time in the fall. Things to think about!

There are SO many details that are noticed in engagement sessions! This the time we’ll show off your ring, which is on your hands! Hint hint – getting your nails done is a great idea! If getting your nails done isn’t your thing, just make sure your nails are tidy.

Makeup

A great idea is to get your makeup professionally done. Those makeup artists know how to apply makeup that shows up so well in photos. If you’re hiring a makeup artist for your wedding, talk to them about getting your wedding makeup trial done the same day as engagement photos. That way, you’ll be able to see what their makeup looks like in our photos. If you want to make any changes with them, you’ll have lots of time to do so. Talk to them! Give them feedback!

Cassie (see below) used Blush Artistry for both her engagement and wedding photos, so she booked them for their engagement session so she could see how her makeup would photograph.

Another example below – Ally did her makeup trial with The Makeup Parlour for her engagement session, and also for her wedding. These artists know what’s up!

Outfits

Now onto outfits! It can be really daunting to choose what to wear for your engagement session. I always suggest the girl chooses their outfits first, and then you can build his outfit after. You don’t want to be “matchy matchy” but you do want to go together. If she is in a dressy outfit, he should be in a dressy outfit too. If her outfit is casual – jeans or a cute summer dress – then he should be in a more casual outfit too. Some fast tips:

• Stick with neutrals or jewel tones (navy, emerald, plum). Try to avoid really vibrant pinks or oranges as they may take away from the photos.
• No graphics/logos/text. This is extremely distracting and really takes away from the focus being on the couple.
• Patterns are cool! If one person is wearing a pattern, choose a solid colour for the other person.
• Flattering outfits. Try your outfit on, take a couple photos, and have a look. Do you love the outline & shape it gives you? I want you to look your absolute best in your photos!
• Once you choose your outfits, or you have a couple of options you are debating, lay everything on the bed together and send me a photo – I will give you feedback and suggest any changes we may want to make.

When planning your outfit, you can add extras that we can take off and on for your photos – a hat, a jacket, scarf, mittens.

Below – she really thought about her boots, socks, and the hat, which we took off and on:

Some people choose two outfits for their engagement sessions – that’s cool! It’s nice to have some variety in your photos. Check out these outfit changes:

If you don’t want to choose two outfits, that’s totally fine! Some people choose outfits that they really love, so if you only want to do one look, that’s great with us!

Details will get noticed in your photos. A few things people don’t always think of:

• Shoes/socks/feet. They will absolutely be in the photos, so think about the socks that might be sticking out if you sit down. Think about your toenails, how clean your shoes are, and the bottom of your shoes (don’t leave price tags on the bottom!)
• Take those fitbits and Apple watches off, okay? I love mine too but they’re not the prettiest accessories (this is for the guys too!)
• Speaking of accessories – those details will help a lot too!

Pups are welcome in our sessions! If you choose to bring your dogs, we suggest you can either put them back in the car for part of the session, or else you can have someone meet you and take them away. It’s easier if you don’t have to worry about them during the rest of your session.

Time of Day

Almost all of our engagement sessions are done in the evening light. It’s the most flattering, it’s pretty, and it’s gives your photos a WOW factor. “Evening” will change depending on the time of year we book your engagement session – in the summer it’s pretty late (8pm ish), in the winter it’s a lot earlier, usually around 3pm.

Location

Location is pretty easy! Have a look through our photos, and see if there is a spot you really love. You may have a really specific idea, or you may just have a general idea: “I love naturey photos!” or “I really love brick” or “those downtown photos are cool!”

Don’t have a clue at all? That’s okay too! We don’t need a big plan or a big set up, we just need you! I can send you a few spots as suggestions, and you can choose from there.

This lovely lady wanted a picnic vibe, how beautiful are these summery photos:

Bring a cute basket!

These guys wanted to include car that he had built with his dad, so I suggested this dirt road which gave us multiple spots for their photos (check out their blog post here):

These two wanted a European vibe, and they brought along a Vespa to this very European looking location in Edmonton:

Bring a prop like bubbly to pop, or hot chocolate to share!

Gareth even photographed part of a session at a curling rink!

They changed and headed outside afterwards to give their session a lot of variety:

If you love our studio work, we are happy to use the studio for part of your session, or all of it if that’s the vibe you’re going for! Chat with us about making that happen.

That was a LOT of info hey!

Let it sink in, look through some of our blog posts of past engagement sessions, and feel free to look at other sessions as well! We are happy to hear your ideas!

At the end of the day, these photos are about capturing this special moment in your lives. Once all the planning is done, sit back, relax, and let’s just enjoy the evening together. If you relax and let us do our thing, we will create some photos that are unique to you! That can’t happen if we’re pulling out phones constantly to look at photos you want to recreate. We want to CREATE! So show us some photos you love, show us the vibe you’re looking for, and then put your phone down and put your trust in us.

When we get to your session, we will ask you to empty your pockets so we don’t have lumpy squares where your phone is or tubes with your lipstick. We can put anything you need into our camera bags! Just ask.

Remember you don’t need to stare at us during the whole session! We want you to laugh and interact and smile at each other so that we can capture you playing around and having a good time with each other. We will prompt you into poses, and then let you be natural together.

If you’re looking for inspiration, have a look through our blog with our engagement sessions here. Let us know what you like and we’ll make a great session happen.

Now let’s get planning!

Shauna