As a wedding photographer for over 6 years, I’ve helped couples document their wedding day moments. And during that time I’ve learned a ton about what it actually takes to truly be there for my clients. There’s a lot of helping out with planning the day, carrying the train of your dress around on the wedding day for you, learning how to pose you and then get you to interact naturally with each other, and so many other little things, but none of them compare to the importance of an engagement session. Do you know why an engagement session is so important for you and your wedding photographer to experience together? There’s 3 main things that I’ll discuss in this post as to why having an engagement session with your wedding photographer is so important:
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It deepens the relationship between the two of you and the photographer
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Allows you guys to get comfortable in front of a camera
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Let’s you see what the photographer is like leading a session
Deepens the relationship between the photographer and you.
Now you might be thinking “Why do i need to get to know a wedding vendor on any level, they are just providing a service to us.” And while you are correct for most vendors, your photographer is the exception to the rule here. A wedding photographer can’t capture who you are, the moments of the day that happen in a split second if that photographer doesn’t know anything about their clients.
Your wedding photos are a one time event. If you have certain expectations about what you want captured, or certain people you want to make sure are in some photos and none of that happens, then you’ll likely be upset or regret not having those memories.
This is our main focus at Love & Legacy Studios when we do an engagement session with couples. We want to make sure that we are paying attention to things you say about the wedding so that we can help you plan accordingly and know how to capture your wedding day to meet, even exceed, your expectations with what we capture.
This does 2 things for you – it builds trust in us as your photographer so that when it comes to positioning you for a moment, you know it’s for the best. And confidence in us, that no matter what happens on the day of the wedding, that we’ve got it and your memories are safe with us.
Our Engagement Session experience starts way before the actual session. It first starts with a meeting over zoom, or in person if we can make that happen, to go over every step of what to expect. We are listening and paying attention from the start to what you value, want, and need from your time with us!
Being Comfortable in Front of the Camera
Just about every couple that I’ve worked with has said these words to me in some fashion, “We are really awkward in pictures and don’t know what to do.” And I always tell them that they feel that way because they haven’t had an expert in posing work with them before. Not knowing what to do for pictures is absolutely normal and actually my preference for my couples.
When we work together to capture your engagement session we’ll spend the first 15 minutes or so going over the foundational poses, things that I want you guys to keep in mind, and what you can expect from me. This allows for you to relax, knowing that the pressure is not on you to know what to do for each pose. That pressure is on me to communicate to you what I want you to do and how to pose or interact with each other.
See How the Photographer Leads the Session
But knowing what to do in photos for posing isn’t the only thing you guys need to know. You’ll want to make sure that you like how I direct you guys through each moment of the shoot and how I get you to interact with each other. This really starts before the session at the meetings and through the upfront info that I send to you. My goal is to set you up for as much success as possible before the day of the shoot so that you aren’t worried about a thing leading into the session.
The last thing you want is to have a photographer photographing your wedding day memories that makes you feel awkward and uncomfortable. Because that’ will show through in your photos more than anything else.
Conclusion
After photographing hundreds of engagement sessions I’ve learned a thing or two about how and why an engagement session is important for every bride and groom to go through with their wedding photographer. Seeing what it’s like to work with that photographer, how comfortable you are in front of the camera, and most importantly deepening your relationship with each other are the three crucial steps to ensuring that your wedding day photos are exactly how you envision them being!