Engagement Photoshoot 101

I think the engagement photos are a great opportunity to test out your hair and makeup trial! For the location, I would recommend working with the photographer to come up with a location or two. If there's a spot that's meaningful to you and your fiance, ask if it's possible to take the photos there! Otherwise, ask about what locations they like to shoot at, and also mention what types of scenes you like (Beach? Forest? Garden? Coffee shop? Home?). From there, you and your photographer should be able to come to an agreement on where to take the photos.

I googled photographers in my city, looked online to see if they specialized in engagement/couple shoots and inquired. On thé inquiry form I noted the preferred time, date and location(s). The photographer responded to my inquiry confirming that she could do that requested day and time. She offered different locations that she usually shoots at, and I’m sure would have accommodated (maybe for an additional fee) to go outside of her normal locations. We read & signed our contract (be careful about weather stipulations) and made our deposit. Our photographer had a list of preferred hairstylists, online clothing stores our outfits, makeup artists, etc. I actually chose my dresses based off a website she recommended. We requested to use props she offered free of charge and were also able to pick different sites in the general location of our shoot to take pics at. I did my hair and makeup myself, and also asked if I could bring someone to our shoot to fix my hair and apply more gloss in between shots (which was fine). At the end of the shoot we gave her the remaining balance plus a tip. Got our pics back in 4 weeks from the day of the shoot.

We did a 1 hour long engagement photo session with our photographer. She sent us a list of locations in our city that she recommended, and we picked the one we liked the most. I did my own makeup for the engagement photos, but I went to a random blow-dry place down the street for my hair.

Wish I could help but we’re opting to not do engagement photos. Our venue has an all inclusive package that we signed up for & that includes photographer. He’s slotted for 6-8 hrs that we can use however we want. Plus a $100 credit that can be applied towards a wedding album or the flash drive of all the pics. We want him for the entire wedding plus the getting ready photos.

I used my engagement shoot as my trial for my MUA before I hired him for my wedding. I just curled my hair, so no hair stylist needed there. My photographers gave us an extensive list of places they’ve shot before for engagement shoots, and we ended up choosing one of those locations. Do you already know who you’re using for your wedding pictures? The engagement shoot is a fantastic time to work with your photographer or to vet a potential photographer for how they work, edit, etc.

My photographer chose our location and I used the same MUA that would be doing my makeup for the wedding as well. I had my hair professionally done as well.

It's 100% your decision. For my engagement shoot, I got my hair and make-up professionally done. I also got my underarms and legs waxed.

Your photographer should have answers to all of your questions! They know the good spots to take pictures, and will ask you if those locations are okay with you, and if there are places you really want photos taken at. Often times, your wedding venue allows engagement photos to be taken onsite (that's what we did for ours!). We also requested our photographer to take some pics of us and our dog at our alma mater, and she was more than willing to do that.

As far as hair and makeup, that's completely up to you! I did both on my own because I wanted our engagement photos to be as natural as possible when it comes to beauty. If you want to try out looks, having a hair and mua for your engagement shoot is a great idea!

Your photographer will also have tips on what outfits are best and worst to wear during your shoot, and sometimes they can refer you to a good hair and mua that they may have worked with on previous shoots/weddings/events!

Many wedding photographers include engagement photos in their wedding package or will add them on for less than booking a whole separate photographer, so you should definitely start there. Your photographer should be able to recommend some locations for pictures, but you can also research online or even just drive around looking for pretty spots.

As far as hair and makeup, you probably won't want to wear your exact wedding style for engagement photos. Also, you will probably want to take engagement photos at least 8-10 months before your wedding so that you can use them on your save-the-dates, invites, and/or website. HMU trials should be done much closer to the wedding so you don't end up changing your mind later. That said, you certainly could plan to use the same person for your engagement photo HMU just to get a feel for them! Or you can go to a different salon or DIY. I ended up doing my own because we took our photos right as things started to close down for covid and I didn't feel comfortable going into a salon. I basically took the money I would have spent on the professional makeup and bought a few high-quality makeup products to use myself.

It is totally up to you! Here's how we picked:

* I want my HMU trial closer to the wedding date, so I did my own hair and makeup.

* We chose location based on what we like as a couple...like our vibe, or you can do based off the wedding theme/vibe. Thing for example...do you guys have a favorite park you go to? Or a favorite part of the city? Often photographers have a list of places they know photograph well, you can ask for suggestions from them.

View Quoted Comment Perfect! Thank you so much!!!

View Quoted Comment Perfect, thank you so much!!

We just did our engagement shoot a few weeks ago with our photographer for our wedding. For location, we let her know our vision and she found a great spot. For hair and makeup, I went with someone who I was thinking of hiring for my wedding to test out how she does. And she did so good! So we'll be booking with her soon.

For outfits -- I just used Pinterest to find cute, Fall outfits that worked well together and then my FH and I went to Target. We got a couple sneak peeks back but should have all of them back soon.

We are doing our engagement session next weekend and I can’t wait! Our photographer offered an engagement session with our package and told us we could pick wherever we wanted or ask for assistance. We picked a local park that means something to us as we’ve visited it and made memories there, plus there’s a castle there and the architecture is just stunning.
As far as hair and makeup, I think that depends on what you’re going for. Some people use their engagement photos to get really dressed up and in that case I’d probably hire a hair and makeup artist. We have chosen to do a more casual session and want to look like ourselves so I’m doing my own hair and makeup.