Engagement session
Two hours, two locations, and the photographs that become the save-the-date.
What’s included
- 60 retouched photographs
- Two locations, including travel between them
- Outfit change included
- Save-the-date crops sized for print and for email
- Private online gallery within 5 business days
- Print release for personal use
Portfolio
Engagement session portfolio
A selection of engagement session shots to inspire your shoot.
Book Engagement session in your city
Available in 2 US cities and destinations. Choose yours.
About this session
Six to nine months before the wedding
- $450
- 2 hours
- 60
- 2
Save-the-dates typically go out six to eight months before a wedding, which sets the timing for this session rather than taste does. Booking six to nine months out leaves room for the print run and — more importantly — means photographing in a different season from the wedding itself. Two sets of photographs taken in the same park in the same month is one set of photographs, and couples who book their engagement session for the month before the wedding usually regret it for exactly that reason.
What separates this from a couple session is length, output and purpose. Two hours across two locations with travel between them and an outfit change, against ninety minutes in one area. Sixty retouched photographs cropped for a save-the-date, a wedding website header and a phone screen, against forty that answer to nothing. Price it against what you need the pictures to do: if there is no save-the-date and no website, the couple session is the honest recommendation and it costs less.
The outfit change is what makes two hours worth booking rather than ninety minutes. One set dressed the way you would want to be seen on a mantelpiece, one set in what you actually wear — and the second set is where the photographs that look like your relationship come from. Bring the dressed-up option for the first location while the light is highest, because it is the one that needs the better light and the tidier background.
This session is also the rehearsal, and couples who have done one are noticeably easier to photograph on the wedding day. You find out how you look together, which side each of you prefers, and what it feels like to be directed — so the twenty minutes of portraits between the ceremony and the reception is a thing you have already done rather than a thing happening to you in front of a hundred and fifty people. From $450, delivered within five business days.
Frequently asked questions about Engagement session
How far before the wedding should an engagement session be?
Six to nine months out. That leaves time for save-the-dates, which typically go out six to eight months before the wedding, and it means photographing in a different season from the wedding itself — which is the point, since two sets of photographs in the same park in the same month is one set of photographs.
What is the difference between an engagement session and a couple session?
Length, output and purpose. An engagement session runs two hours across two locations with an outfit change and delivers 60 photographs cropped for save-the-dates and a wedding website. A couple session is 90 minutes, one area, 40 photographs, and answers to nothing but itself. Price them against what you need the pictures to do.
What should we wear for engagement photos?
Two outfits across a range of formality: one dressed the way you would want to be seen on a mantelpiece, and one in what you actually wear. The dressed-up set is photographed first, at the first location, while the light is highest and the background is tidiest. The second set is usually where the photographs that look like your relationship come from.
Do we need an engagement session if we have already booked a wedding photographer?
It is not required and it is the best rehearsal available. Couples who have done one are noticeably easier to photograph on the wedding day: you have found out how you look together, which side each of you prefers, and what being directed feels like — so the twenty minutes of portraits between the ceremony and the reception is something you have done before rather than something happening to you in front of a hundred and fifty people.