Yay! Congrats! The question was popped and you said yes!! So the planning begins for your wedding day. But one of the first things that may happen is your engagement photos. So you may wonder, “When to take engagement photos?”
Why engagement photos? Well, many reasons. For one, this is a time to celebrate what has happened. Your partner proposed and you said yes!! It’s celebrating that this person is going to be in your life, your partner, for hopefully forever. And the second reason is, maybe you want to announce and send out save the date cards for your wedding and want to include photos with that.
So again the question is asked, “When do we do this?”
Most people take engagement photos 3-9 months before the wedding. This is a wide range I know, but some people are planning weddings quickly after the engagement or maybe well advanced. If you are planning on photographing engagement photos for the Save the Date cards, then according to Bride.com, engagement photos should be photographed about 6-8 months from the wedding. If you are having a destination wedding or you are planning for a lot of friends and family come from out of town, you may want to get those Save the Date cards out within 8-12 months before the date so people can plan their trip and to give extra notice. If you aren’t sending your photos out on your Save the Date cards, then you definitely have extra time to document your engagement.
Now, as an Arizona wedding photographer, I do have to say one thing about this. The first thing you need to do is find your wedding photographer for the actual day. I know – this is a big ask, but finding your wedding photographer is one of the first pieces of wedding planning. The reason for this is task though is that you may run into someone like me, who offers an engagement session with your wedding package. AND…it’s really best to have your wedding photographer capture your engagement photos. It truly does make a difference on the wedding day when the same person is behind the camera. I know this from experience with the couples and my wedding experience. It’s why I now offer an engagement session with every wedding package I have, no matter how big or how small the package is that you choose. It’s so important to get comfortable with one another, getting used to how the photographer directs you, getting used to their personality, and making sure you like the photos before the actual day of your wedding.
