Engagement Photos

I don't think it's wrong! Keep in mind that some photographers include engagement photos in the wedding photography package. When you find a photographer in Pittsburgh for your wedding, if they include the engagement photos in the package, try to negotiate a lower rate or different package without the engagement session to save some money, since you won't need the engagement session with them. You should be able to easily find a photographer to do just the engagement photos in Texas.

There is nothing wrong with having separate photographers! We had originally planned to have my sister (who has a photography minor) do our engagement photos and then have a pro photographer do wedding ones (since sister would be in the bridal party). However, our photographer had an engagement session included in our package so we just had him do them.

Going along with pp answer, I would look for your wedding photographer first and see if they have an engagement shoot included in your package. Then you can ask about lowering the rate or decide to go with them. After you have that figured out, you'll have more peace of mind finding your engagement photographer.

We had two different photographers.

A friend's husband is a well-known photographer, but offered to do our engagement pictures. He was unavailable for our wedding, so he recommended us to a colleague.

This isn't as uncommon as you'd think - sometimes schedules don't work, sometimes you want different things for the different events... and a gazillion other reasons.

Given your location issue, this makes the most sense.

No it happens quite often.

The package my venue has includes a photographer, so I will probably go with a different photographer for engagement pictures if we do them.

Nope! It's what I did. I already hired my photographer for my wedding in Upstate, NY. I live in NYC and found a photographer to take our pictures in Philly. When they asked if I needed a wedding photographer, I kindly told them that I had already booked one but would recommend them to any of my local friends looking for a photographer in the Philly/NYC/NJ area.