You’ll notice that some wedding photographers offer wedding engagement photography to their wedding clients.

Most people think of the wedding engagement photography shoot only as something you do to mark the occasion of getting engaged, and many of my wedding clients often say “It’s OK we got engaged ages ago, so we don’t want an engagement shoot”, which is fine.

However once I’ve explained a few other benefits of doing a wedding engagement photography shoot, some clients think again.  Here’s a few other benefits of having an engagement shoot.

Getting used to the camera

Most people aren’t keen on having their portrait photo taken, and are even less keen to have a professional photographer take many of them. They sometime feel uncomfortable with a big camera pointing at them, and without direction of the photographer, are unsure how to behave, how to stand, where to look and so on.  That’s where an engagement shoot can be beneficial. It’s a great opportunity to spend a couple of hours with your wedding photographer and get used to him or her taking your photo. You’ll become familiar with how he will work on your wedding day.

Getting to know the photographer

You’ll get to know the photographers personality better, so that when they arrive on your wedding day, you’ll feel like you already know them and will already be familiar with working with them. It’s one less thing to worry about on your big day, knowing you’re already comfortable with the wedding photographer.

Confidence that you photograph well

Some people are nervous that they aren’t great subjects for photography, that they wont look good in their wedding photos. This is another problem that the wedding engagement photography shoot can help with. Once you’ve seen some great shots from the engagement shoot, you will get the confidence that your wedding photos will also look great, and this means you’ll be more confident, relaxed and smiling in front of the camera on the actual wedding day itself.

The photos can be feature at the wedding

You can put the pictures from your engagement shoot to good use.  Get a large picture frame and put one of your engagement pictures in the frame. Leave the frame near the entrance to the wedding photo with some pens, so your guests can all sign the cardboard mount around the picture. Then after the wedding, ask your wedding photographer for a professional print, and swap the engagement print in the frame for a wedding print. And there you have a large framed picture from your wedding, signed by all your guests! Or just print and frame a few smaller pictures and place around the wedding venue for decoration.

So do you think you would benefit from wedding engagement photography?

So an engagement shoot isn’t just about celebrating your engagement. It also gives gives you familiarity with working with your wedding photographer, you get to know your photographer better, you become more comfortable having your photo taken, and last but not least, you come away from the engagement shoot with some great pictures to use for your wedding or just to display at home.