Wedding Planner Abbey Nims Shares Her Planning Journey: Having an Engagement Session
By Abbey Nims
Last week, we discussed selecting your photographer, so, today, let’s talk about your engagement session!
First off, what is an engagement session? Sometimes, people will recruit help from a photographer or planner to plan their actual engagement. It typically involves some grand gesture, the knee, the question, the crying, you know what I’m talking about. The photographer captures the actual proposal and often takes portraits of the couple directly after. This is often what you see videos of on TikTok. This is not an engagement session. It’s more like event coverage and porto, if you will.
An engagement session is more like a photoshoot celebrating or honoring your engagement. These portraits can be used tons of ways! Save the dates, invitations, wedding website, day-of signage and displays, Christmas cards, home decor, etc. It’s your chance to express yourselves and your love in a purposeful and successful way.
Your engagement session is the perfect time to see if you mesh with your chosen photographer. You can test out their vibe, but, most importantly, you can see if you like the way they photograph you. Your wedding is a day you are going to look back on forever!
It’s also a chance to get comfortable in front of the camera! Most people don’t often get formal portraits taken of them or any photos at all. It’s totally normal to be uncomfortable in front of the camera. But you also deserve to have good photos of your wedding and your wedding experience. So, take this as a chance to do a little practice. Do some research on posing or scroll Pinterest for inspiration of specific shots or aesthetics.
I think the hardest part about planning your engagement session is your outfits. I usually suggest asking your photographer. They know how specific colors will look in their editing style, and can help you determine a direction to go in. If you are a bride, please know, you don’t have to wear white! There is no rule that says so, not even on your wedding day.
Next up is the vibe, do you and your partner like to hike? Take your photographer up a mountain! Love long walks on the beach? Head to the coast! For me and Jeremy, our favorite thing to do when we want to spend quality time together is pick a neighborhood or city in the greater Portland area and just go explore. Because of that, we plan to spend the day with our photographer (my friend Emily from last week!) going to our favorite bakery and going to a coffee shop and getting ice cream and really capture who we are as a couple. If you are getting married in the summer, but fall is your favorite season, plan a fall engagement shoot!
As always, your wedding and your wedding experience is whatever you want it to be. And no matter your budget, there are people out there that can help make you dream day come true.
Until next time!
Get to Know Abbey, The Wedding Planner
