Written by Melissa Woods

Chances are, booking an engagement shoot or a couple’s portrait session, is something you’d never thought about until you started looking to wedding photographers, right? Maybe you’d never even heard of the sort but now it’s been presented to you as an option, you don’t know is it’s necessary or not?! Ok, let’s work through it, together!

What is an engagement shoot?

First up, what is an engagement shoot anyway? You might have already been engaged for quite some time and now it feels like the moment has passed and you don’t need one. Well, an engagement shoot, also known as an engagement session, or couple’s portrait session is a photo shoot that takes place before the wedding. It is an opportunity for you and your partner to have some professional photographs together, which can be used for save-the-date cards, wedding invitations, and other wedding-related materials or, they can just be nice to have.

An engagement shoot could be something you decide to do off your own back, or it could be something that is offered to you by a photographer that you’ve contacted to enquire about shooting your actual wedding.

Should you have an engagement shoot?

Whether or not you book an engagement shoot is a personal decision that you and your partner should make together. Some couples want the opportunity to have professional photographs taken together, while others couldn’t think of anything worse because even the thought of being photographed on their wedding day is already giving them anxiety! Disclaimer: I personally fell into that bracket. I saw wedding photography as a must of course, but the idea of having some casual but professional photos of me and Ben really made me cringe so, we didn’t bother.

How to decide if an engagement shoot is right for you?

Think about your budget. Some engagement shoots might be part of your wedding photography package but some can be expensive, depending on the photographer you choose. If you are planning a wedding on a tight budget, you may want to forgo an engagement shoot in order to save money for other wedding expenses.

Do you like having your photo taken? If you genuinely like having your photo taken then, an engagement shoot is te perfect opportunity to fill up those photo albums and make some great memories. On the flipside, even if you don’t like having your photo taken, an engagement shoot could serve as an important ice-breaker or practice run for your big day.

Your personal preference. We try to avoid the word ‘should’ at The Un-Wedding! Ultimately, the most important factor is whether or not you and your partner ‘want’ to have an engagement shoot. If you are excited about the idea and have the time and resources to plan one, go for it! If not, it's perfectly fine to skip it.

But I do have something personal to add for this one….

We didn’t have any engagement shoot. I’m not even sure if we were offered one or if we just didn’t want one because it felt a bit cringe. However, I kind of regret it because I personally felt so uncomfortable having pictures taken on my wedding day, and I felt as though an informal couple’s portrait session beforehand would have prepared us more. I didn’t like a lot of the angles of me in our wedding photos but the photographer wouldn’t have known that because they didn’t know me. And that’s another thing, having an engagement shoot provides couples with the opportunity to spend a bit of time with their wedding photographer, getting to know them and how they work. We didn’t meet our photographer until our wedding day and I didn’t really warm to them or their way of working. Chances are, if we’d met beforehand, we might have decided on a photographer that was more suited to us. That’s just my personal experience.

If you do decide n engagement shoot is something you’d like to experience then why not get in touch with some of the wedding photographers in our Book Of Love directory to see what they can offer you!