How To Ace Your Engagement Shoot...

Engagement shoots. Get the right photographer, and you’ve got gallery-wall-worthy images of you and your love. Something to truly treasure for the rest of time. Often an engagement shoot might be included in your photography package or you might want to conduct it separately. But if you have yours coming up, you might be wondering how those couples look that effortless and loved up. Well, listen up as we’re about to share all of the secrets with stunning images to prove it…

The engagement shoot can be just as important as your wedding pictures!

Dress to Impress

You will want to feel comfortable and like yourself, but also confident in front of the camera. If getting your hair done makes you feel better, go and get a blow-dry! If wearing jeans and a t-shirt is your go-to, then wear that! The worst way to feel in front of a camera is self-conscious, so don’t go out and buy an outfit totally different from your everyday style. On the flip side, if you’ve been searching for a reason to get all glammed up then this is a great excuse to dress to the nines. And it’s a given that the same applies to your other half! Don’t try to be people that you aren’t, these images are a celebration of you and your love, just the way you are.

Location, Location, Location

There are two ways you can go about deciding on the setting of your shoot. You could choose somewhere close to home where you feel comfortable and that is familiar to you (great for natural images of you just doing what you do at the weekends). OR make your engagement shoot an adventure and head for somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit or somewhere with spectacular scenery (great for striking, once-in-a-lifetime images). Don’t forget you may have to cover your photographer’s travel fees if they aren’t based close to where you’d like to shoot.

Electric Chemistry…with your photographer

If your photographer is also shooting your wedding, then this is a great time to get to know each other and for you, as a couple, to see their style and their way of shooting in action. We’d always recommend meeting your photographer (or at least speaking to them on the phone or via Zoom) prior to this anyway. A great relationship with your photographer should feel like they could be in your circle of friends, don’t be afraid to keep hunting until you find that person you just click with. There will be nothing worse than feeling uncomfortable around someone who will be capturing such an intimate time.

Forget about the camera

So much more easily said than done, but if you can, try to forget you’re having your photographs taken. The photographers we recommend here on Rock My Wedding won’t ask you to do silly poses or put you in ridiculous positions so just try to enjoy the walk/drink/adventure you’re on together and let your photographer sneakily snap away in the background. Of course, there will be moments where you need to stand in a certain place to nail a gorgeous shot – but you can still laugh, kiss, and chat as you would normally.

And relax…

The key to a gorgeous engagement shoot is feeling and being relaxed. The camera will pick up any tension and awkwardness. It’s entirely natural to feel that way for the first few shots as you slowly warm up to it, or who knows you could be completely at ease! Before your shoot, try to do things that relax you. Whether that’s exercise, meditation, getting glam or even having a few drinks beforehand. Remember that the images you’ll end up with will likely be from the later part of your session when you’ve relaxed into things.

Engagement shoots are the perfect way of capturing that raw feeling of love…aww!

And lastly, enjoy it! With the right photographer, you’ll end up with a set of images that are utterly beautiful and really capture the essence of you as a couple. For inspiration we have a whole range of engagement shoots for you to browse through, so you can see how the experts do it…