7 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE ENGAGEMENT PORTRAITS TAKEN

You’re getting married!  Congratulations!  In a little while you are going to be a bride, plan a wedding, research your photographer, pick out a venue, and most importantly make your wedding the most enjoyable day of your life.  The wedding day should be a reflection of you. Tell a story!  Your friends and family have gathered to celebrate with you.  Let them be a part of the story by seeing the two of you as he proposed. Take your photographer to the place it all happened!  Rein-act the first date or the proposal with your photographer or choose a place that has meaning.

This article will encourage you to have professional engagement photos!  It will show you the many advantages to having your portraits taken prior to the wedding.  I promise you will be inspired!

1.  Firstly, a good reason to have engagement portraits is you have beautiful creative portraits of the two of you prior to the wedding, in the clothing you normally wear to hang on the wall, display on facebook, put in the newspaper, send along with the announcement, or display at your wedding.  It’s a portrait that tells a story.  Portraits are works of art, much like the beauty of the relationship between you and your fiancé.  

2. Also having engagement portraits done by the photographer who will be photographing your wedding gives you a chance to know your photographer and vice versa. If your photographer has been in business for a while, he may have photographed a wedding already at your venue and can give timeline ideas or ideas as to where the most photographic spots are at the church or venue where your ceremony will be.

3.  Having an engagement session will enable you both to become more comfortable in front of a camera and with your photographer.  After all, he wants your images to capture you when you’re relaxed.  He wants to capture relationship pictures that show the joy and love you have for one another.  If you are not sure where to look or what expression to have, that may show up in the wedding day images.  

4.  Engagement photography captures a time of your lives that is fleeting.  It’s  the glow before the sunrise.  There’s nothing like being newly in love.  When you become married, the depth of your love increases.  However, your life may become busier with children, jobs, or just plain life.  The engagement should capture the youth of your new relationship, your style, your memories, and the fun of finding love.  So express yourself!  Be creative!  Come to your photographer with all your fun ideas.

5.  Engagement sessions can be a really wonderful way to bond with your future husband.  You can rein-act the proposal, or just choose a place that is fun!  It can be an unexpected bonding experience for the two of you!

6. We at Tim Ray Photography absolutely love when a bride comes to us with a Pinterest board of ideas. We can get to know the bride’s style. Does she like black and white photography? Does she like sepia tones? Does she like unusual poses? Do vibrant colors enthuse her, or is she more into a pale vintage style photography? We have our own style, but a professional photographer is eager to please. He can cater poses to suit and please the bride and groom. He is more than excited about being creative with her! Is she and her fiancé nature or animal lovers? With a Pinterest board, we can work to please you in our poses or postproduction work.

7.  There are a million places at which to take engagement photos.  You can go to a national park or forest such as Valley Falls State Park, Coopers Rock State Park, a pond with a boat or pasture.  We have photographed engagements at restaurants where the groom proposed to the bride, on mountaintops, at the stadium at WVU, or a college campus, at the Capitol building in Charleston, WV or at a farm.  The possibilities are endless! Often newly engaged couples will have an antique car or their furry friends to accompany them.  These are just a few ideas!  We would love to hear yours!