If you’re in the midst of wedding planning, or looking forward to that exciting season in the future, here’s something to consider when choosing your Engagement & Wedding photographer….

There are several benefits to choosing the SAME photographer to shoot your engagement session and wedding day.  Some things to consider…  

1. Being in front of the camera is hard for most people.  It’s a little uncomfortable at first, and you’re not sure what to do with yourself.  But think of your engagement session as a practice run for your wedding day!  It’s a learning experience for couples AND photographers on how to get the best images together in this unique client/artist relationship.  Couples can learn posing techniques during their engagement session that will make portrait time on their wedding day much smoother!  Every photographer works a little differently, so learning your photographer’s specific instruction really helps you feel more confident in front of the camera.  Your photographer is also learning what poses YOU look best in, so on the wedding day they know exactly which ones to jump into.
2. In addition to learning posing techniques, you also get the chance to test your chemistry with your future wedding photographer.  If you enjoyed yourself during your engagement session, felt comfortable and encouraged, and are happy with the final images, then you should feel pretty confident working with them again for your big day!  (*AS LONG AS you’ve seen a solid portfolio of how they handle shooting a wedding day in all lighting situations.  Engagement Sessions are a lot more controlled than wedding days!  So, while figuring out how good your chemistry is, it’s also equally important that you feel confident in their technical ability to photograph in any situation. ie. dark church, bright sun, dark dance floor, etc. )
3. If you’re using the same photographer for your engagement session & wedding day, you’ll end up with consistent images.  The style of the final edited images will feel cohesive, which is nice when framing photos around your new home together.  Using two different photographers MAY mean that you get two different shooting/editing styles.  It’s not a right or wrong thing, just consider what you’d prefer before making the decision.
4. Your wedding photographer spends about as much time with you on your wedding day as your significant other!  Weird, but true.  They’re with you every step of the day; from getting dressed, to romantic portrait time, and touching base throughout the rest of the evening.  All of that to say, it’s so helpful to achieve a certain comfort level with that person; to have spent time getting to know each other over the months leading up to the wedding day.  And the engagement session is the perfect time to establish that relationship.   (Just for the record, I don’t typically make people hold hands and skip. 😉  But these two are hilarious and their session was full of goofy poses.  So I love that black and white engagement image because it’s so specific to their quirky personalities.  Not everybody can pull that off.)