Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families! I wanted to share some of the top reasons why it is a great idea to do an engagement session with your wedding photographer. Here are just a few!

1) If you haven't already, you get to meet and spend time with me in person and we have the chance get to know each other during the shoot in a casual setting. It is great to work together before the big day since the wedding day is on a timeline and there is always a lot going on!

2) You get used to the poses and way I photograph before the wedding day. The first few minutes always feels awkward, but then by the end of the shoot you feel like a pro-model! And there aren't any surprises on the wedding day with the way I photograph.

3) It is a fun time to get dressed up and love on your fiancé! I always tell our couples to pretend like they are on a date and nuzzle in close, whispering sweet things to one-another and having fun together. We encourage our couples to go out to eat after since you are both dressed up. Also if you have a pup, I love to include them in a few pictures of the session! As you will see below, many of our couples included their fur babies in their engagement session, especially if they won't be a part of the wedding day.

4) You get beautiful pictures of the two of you in clothing that isn't your wedding attire. It is always nice to have professional photos of the two of you to use in your future home or online. They are also great to use for save the dates!

5) You can choose a location that is special to the two of you that is different than your wedding venue. Some couples want to do their engagement session where they got engaged, some want to do it by the water since they are having a barn wedding, etc. It is totally up to you!

6) It is complimentary to the wedding package so it doesn't cost anything extra! I love getting to know our couples during the session and delivering the images to give them a taste of what the wedding photos will be like.

All that said, enjoy some of my favorite images from our 2016 engagement sessions!