What shall I wear?
Where is the best location?
How shall I pose?
I hate having my photo taken!
And most importantly, how do I look nice in the photos?!
It’s not just you
Firstly, let’s get one thing straight. The majority of people don’t like having their photo taken. It’s natural to feel self-conscious in front of the camera and 9/10 of our couples say this to us. Most people are not models or Youtube personalities! It’s the job of a good wedding photographer to make you feel at ease and let your personality shine through. One of the benefits of having an engagement session is that it gives you the chance to get used to being photographed before your wedding day, as well as you and your photographer having the chance to get to know each other a bit too.
Speak up
If you don’t feel comfortable doing something the photographer has asked you to do then feel free to say no! It’s our job as photographers to give you a bit of direction when required, but if you wouldn’t normally hold hands or kiss in public then let your photographer know. If it feels unnatural to you it will probably look unnatural in the photographs too!
What to wear
It sounds obvious but we always suggest wearing something you feel comfortable in. There’s no need to dress formally unless that’s your usual style. Your wedding day is your chance to get dressed up so it’s totally ok to be more informal in your engagement style attire. If you love wearing jeans, wear jeans! These are your photos so think about how you’d like them to look.
Location
You may want to suggest somewhere that holds some significance for you – perhaps where your partner proposed, where you went on your first date or where you first met. But there’s no pressure to do this, if you just want a nice set of photographs then leave the location planning to your photographer. But you can also use your engagement session as a chance to get a bit more creative and design the look of your images – perhaps you want to wear bright colors against a backdrop of grey urban architecture monotones and colorful graffiti, or city style with a soft countryside backdrop. Of course there’s no reason why you can’t have your engagement session in your own home too if that’s where you’re most comfortable.
When
While there are no rules when it comes to pre wedding photography, there are times of day when the light is better so let your photographer provide guidance here. During the summer months we will often schedule our sessions for the hours just before sunset, or just after sunrise – as this is when the most beautiful light comes out to play!
Have fun
Sometimes there’s no getting away from the fact that having your photograph taken by a stranger is going to feel a bit awkward, at least at the start of the session, but our best advice is to embrace it and try to have a bit of fun. Hopefully you’ll find that your pre wedding photography session is not nearly as nerve-racking as you might have thought and by the time your wedding comes you’ll be much more comfortable in front of the camera.
To see more examples of pre wedding photography sessions, head over to: