I know this is my fourth engagement picture post but you know I couldn’t end this topic without giving you guys some tips and hints.  I am by no means an expert but from my experience here are my humble tips.

Often times in the wedding blogland, brides feel pressured into styling themselves a certain way, especially when it comes to engagement shoots.  For the most part, the couple takes pictures in one “casual” outfit and one “fancy” outfit.  Casual usually equates to jeans and a t-shirt, while fancy is a dress and a suit.  This gives the couple a variety in terms of the appropriateness of the pictures and allows the photographer to take different shots. 

It works for this couple but not for us

So I decided that we should pick a version of casual that we felt comfortable with.  When I think of summer, casual, flowy, cotton dresses always come to mind.  And with that image in mind, I went shopping and happened upon that great plaid dress.  If I had been stuck in the jeans and t-shirt box, I never would have thought to pick such a fun vibrant dress.  So don’t been inhibited by the norms, think outside of the box and find something that suits you (pun intended ).

Once I had our outfits picked, I was really nervous that they wouldn’t work for our shoot.  In order to ease my fears (or calm my type A obsessive, compulsiveness), I sent our photographers pictures of our outfits a few weeks before our shoot. This saved us a lot of trouble in the long run.  Originally, we picked out khaki shorts to go with Mr. A’s casual outfit.  When Cicely emailed me back about our outfits, she mentioned that shorts might not be the best idea because we would be sitting in those outfits for the shoot.  Mr. A, however, did not have any khaki pants that were photo appropriate (aka his current pair of khaki pants had a hole in the crotch…attractive I know).  But since I sent these pictures to Cicely before our shoot, we had time to go buy new pants.  I can only imagine the panic that would have set in if we had this conversation the day of our shoot.  See being obsessive compulsive pays off sometimes. 

This shot wouldn’t be nearly as cool with shorts

I know, I know, I’m being shallow.  But honestly, just pay to get your hair and makeup done.  You will feel 100 times more confident and be a billion times less stressed out.  For me, there was never a question about whether I would get my hair and makeup professionally done.  I have persistent acne that especially enjoys make a surprise appearance on special occasions.  Our engagement shoot was no different.  I had a huge honker on my cheek.  I can’t imagine the stress I would have put myself through if I relied on my total lack of makeup skills to try to cover that baby up.  Thank goodness, I had Carla.  You can’t even tell that there’s anything wrong with my face.  So just splurge on the hair and makeup, if not for the practicality of covering up imperfections, do it for the confidence and serenity that comes with being pampered.

Yea, that’s a box of gum in his pocket.  Apparently, using the phrases “keys” and “wallet” weren’t enough. (Boys never cease to amaze me with how specific you have to be to get them to do something.)   I didn’t notice this the first time we looked at our pictures.  But when we got our DVD of the pictures, it was hard to miss on our 40 inch TV.  Mr. A can attest to the fact that I almost killed him right there.  To avoid a similar gum induced rage, make sure to do a second check of your fiancé’s pockets right before you begin your photo shoot.  The picture is funny now, but if he messes up our wedding pics with gum or other miscellaneous pocket items, I’m going to have to hurt him. 

Laughing like always

Luckily, it doesn’t take much to get us laughing.  Cicely would tell Mr. A to say something funny and he literally just had to mumble to get us laughing.  And our favorite pinkie shot that’s ever so popular on my blog was a happy accident.  We were trying to hold hands and it was just really awkward.  We made mention that we usually hold pinkies, not hands, and that’s when Cicely told us to go for it.  The best pictures come when the couple is just having fun and being themselves.

Hopefully, these cheesy and practical tips are helpful.  And if not, I hope I made you crack a smile at least once.  Thanks for letting me blog about these pictures so much.  I’m really proud of the way they turned out, not because we look like rockstars (in my humble opinion of course ) but because they are completely and totally us and there’s nothing better than that.

What are your tips for engagement pictures?

*Unless otherwise noted, all pictures taken by Procopio Photography*