Preparing for your engagement photo session
Hell yeah, you're engaged! Congrats!
Engagement photo sessions are the perfect way to commemorate your engagement, and it's essentially a practice shoot to get comfy with being in front of the camera before your wedding day!
We have a good hour for a cruisey shoot to photograph a variety of poses, and utilise locations around golden hour.
Read on for guidance and recommendations on how to prepare and what to wear to your engagement photo session!
Before your photo session
Tell me about yourselves
Before your shoot I'll ask you via email if you’d like to share a few photos of you two together and to tell me a bit about yourselves, such as your clothing style, vibe, dynamic, and what you envision for your shoot.
The perfect location
Once I've got some information about you two, I can suggest some locations that I think will work with your vibe and vision! I have a list of gorgeous locations within Melbourne and a little further out. City-streets, beaches, forests, gardens – there's so much to choose from.
If you already have an amazing or sentimental location in mind, we can head over there!
Create a moodboard if you have something specific in mind
I love receiving Pinterest boards, mood boards or written ideas to get an idea of your vibe and vision if you’ve got something specific in mind. I’ll take inspiration from what you send me while tailoring your poses to be authentic and unique to the both of you.
A moodboard or inspo photos are not necessary though, feel free to leave it all up to me!
Bring along props (or pets)
Feel free to bring along props like flowers, champagne, or anything that is significant to your relationship, your engagement, or your vision for the shoot.
Fur babies are also welcome to come along and are a great way to break the ice and help you to feel comfortable in front of the camera.
The little details
Avoid getting a fake tan too close to the date of your shoot in case it needs time to settle or wash off, and to avoid patchy hands and fingers.
Moisturise your hands, heels (if wearing open shoes), elbows and lips the night before (it’s tricky to photoshop cracked skin, and the less photoshop needed, the quicker you receive your photos!).
There may be close-ups of your rings, holding hands etc so you might like to consider having your nails painted or trimmed, and make sure they're clean.
Bring only essentials with you
Such as your phones, keys, a water bottle and a comb, this way we can put your belongings in my camera bag so that your stuff isn't distracting in your pockets. If you need to bring other things (like dog treats, wallet etc), try to pack all your belongings in a small bag that I can carry while we shoot.
How to dress for your engagement photo session
Be your beautiful authentic selves!
My photography style is candid and natural. This means I photograph you as authentically as possible with a lot of fun and laughter thrown in.
If you’d like to wear clashing prints or come dressed in Halloween costumes because that’s your thing as a couple – I’m all for it!
If you’re looking for more guidance however, I have a few suggestions you might like to keep in mind when it comes to choosing your outfits:
Try to coordinate, rather than match
When wearing the same colours, choose very different outfits to each other.
Consider opting for complementary colours and fabrics – e.g. one of you in black, the other in grey. However, an exception to this is that both of you in all black always works!
You could both wear different clothing items with one similar item (for example, both wearing a denim jacket but different style bottoms).
Wearing different tones (one of you in hot pink, the other in pastel pink).
Dress in the same formality – both casual, both formal, both semi-formal etc.
Keep the weather in mind
A summery dress is lovely, but if you’re going to be covered in goosebumps with chattering teeth, you will find it difficult to relax. If you're set on a particular outfit on a cold day, bring a coat and we'll take some breaks to warm up!
When in doubt, go with neutral colours/tones
If you’re stuck for ideas, you can’t go wrong dressing in neutral colours – black, beige, cream, grey, nude, olive, light blue, pastel pink, etc.
Just avoid bright green and bright orange tops/dresses if your shoot is during the day, as these colours can reflect onto your face.
Feel free to send me some snaps of your outfit options if you'd like another opinion!
Bring an additional accessory
Feel free to bring a clothing item or accessory that can be easily changed into or added to your outfits to change up your look mid-shoot, for example: a jacket, different shoes, a hat, heart-shaped sunnies etc.
Choose an outfit that is 'you'
Choose an outfit that is ‘you’ – it's usually best to avoid choosing vastly different items and accessories to how you usually dress or what you usually feel comfortable in.
Dress for the occasion – or don't! If you want to be in your very best formal dress for an urban street shoot, or a super casual outfit at a mansion location, you do you!
Camera-shy? No worries.
My photography style is candid, natural and relaxed
I’ll be gently directing and creating “prompts” for you both to respond to throughout the shoot in a way that will encourage you to feel comfortable and natural with each other. You won’t even need to look at the camera/me for a lot of the shoot!
I love to prompt laughter, smiles and sometimes a bit of silliness, but I also make sure to tailor prompts and poses to each couple.
PDA without the PDA?
If public displays of affection (PDA) is something you’re shy about but you’d still like that kind of intimacy photographed, we’ll make sure to keep to less populated areas, and take a quick pause from the shoot whenever people walk by or whenever you need a break. I’ll always ask first if you two feel comfortable to give each other a kiss etc, with no pressure or expectation at all.
Hair & Makeup
Professional H&MU
Treating yourself to an appointment with a professional hair and makeup artist can make your engagement photo session feel all the more special.
They can also help stylise your hair and makeup to your outfit and chosen location, and can serve as a wedding day hair and makeup trial.
Hair and makeup artists will also make sure that everything stays pretty perfect throughout our shoot (unless the wind is particularly strong) – but it isn’t essential.
Doing your own hair and makeup
If you’re comfortable doing your own hair and makeup, I recommend doing it how you usually do and what you’re confident with.
If you’re thinking of trying something new, make sure you practice well before your shoot and have your partner take some phone snaps so you can look back at the makeup with ‘fresh eyes’.
If you feel more comfortable and more ‘you’ bare faced, or with just a hint of lip stain or mascara for example, consider sticking with that!
Bring along a comb and makeup just in case you need a touch up.
Weather
Your photo session has likely been planned around golden hour (about 1.5-2 hours before sunset) so that we have the most flattering and gorgeous lighting.
While a little bit of rain is okay, I am flexible with session dates so that if the weather is dreary and not how we envisioned it – we’ll reschedule for a better day, free of charge.
Book a session!
