I love doing a review at the beginning of each year of my favorite engagement pictures from the previous year because it gives a little preview into what’s coming up for the year! All of my wedding collections come with engagement sessions because I believe they are important to the wedding experience and prepping for wedding days.

Why are engagement sessions so important? First, they allow me to meet the couple if I didn’t meet them during the booking process. Second, engagement sessions are at least an hour long so it’s a great time to connect with my couples and get to know them even more.

Believe it or not engagement session will also help prep my couples for their wedding day. It’s essentially like a trial run. Wedding days can be so busy and the bride and groom can be pulled in so many different directions, but during engagement sessions, it’s just me and the couple. That means I can take the time to help them get comfortable in front of my camera and I can learn what poses or looks they like the best. (It’s important to know what makes them laugh and which side of her face the bride prefers for example. ) So on the wedding day when I only have 30 minutes for portraits (usually also shared with the videographer) I already know what my couple prefers, they’re already comfortable in front of my camera and I can reference what we did at the engagement session if necessary.

And most importantly, don’t forget that engagement sessions are for the pictures! A lot of couples use them for their announcements, save the dates and decorations at the wedding. But they’re also great to just print and have around the house. It’s not very often that couples hire a photographer to take pictures of themselves in regular clothes (although it may change once kids are in the picture). As much as I love our wedding pictures, I also really love our engagement pictures because it’s the more normal, everyday us.

This year as I went through my engagement sessions I also noticed some common themes. First, the color maroon/burgundy was really popular.

Second, floral dresses are really making a comeback!

And third, I still love shooting in front of doors 🙂 hahaha

Now I’m just waiting for the weather to warm up to start engagement sessions in 2019! Of course, I also shoot engagement sessions in the winter (Snow sessions are so much fun!), I just feel bad for how cold it can get for the couples during the session while I’m all bundled up 🙂