Guest post by Meghan Elizabeth Photography
A few times a year, I’ll get an email requesting information for an engagement shoot but not requesting info for the wedding. Often times, brides think about the save the dates and getting those out before locking in the wedding photographer. Of course, to send out those save the dates, they need their engagement portraits captured to use!
So, who should photograph your engagement portraits?
The short answer: your hired wedding photographer. But, why is that? Why does it really matter?
And, honestly, it’s really a very simple answer: engagement portraits are a vital part of the entire process. During your engagement session, you’ll have the chance to get to know your wedding photographer, experience how they shoot, as well as how they handle posing and lighting.
Also, during your session, your photographer will get to know you as a couple. They’ll arrive on your wedding day knowing how you two interact, what your best poses are, and how to photograph you in a genuine way. This session will make a huge impact on how the wedding day flows. What they will learn about you during your engagement session is invaluable!
Plus, you walk away from the engagement session being comfortable with your photographer. The three of you have just spent a good hour or so together, talking and getting to know each other. As a result, the images they can capture on your wedding day are more genuine to you as a couple and as a person because you’re more open to being yourself with them around.
After your engagement session, you will feel like such a pro in front of the camera because of the great practice you had, which means you can rock the camera in your wedding day images!
Lastly, there's a good chance that by having your wedding photographer photograph your engagement portraits, you will save money! A large number of wedding photographers see the value in an engagement session and will therefore include the cost of the engagement session in their packages.
So, instead of hiring someone for engagement portraits and paying them a couple hundred dollars plus hiring and paying your wedding photographer a few thousand dollars, do it all in one go! You can hire your wedding photographer for, say, $3,500 and get your engagement portraits included in the package.
In business since 2013, Meghan is the owner and lead photographer of Meghan Elizabeth Photography. A photography team serving Maryland, Pennsylvania, and beyond who documents weddings and portraits for the joyful, timeless, and elegant.
