engagement photo style

[sillyberry]

Hey ladies - I am having the hardest time picking out something to wear for our engagement photos. Finding a wedding dress has felt stress-free in comparison (except for the price tag...)! It's like I can't decide the look I'm going for and how casual I want us to be. And then I get it in my head that I want to use the photos for the STDs and so I should wear something that goes with our color scheme... It's enough to make a girl tear her hair out, feel like a crazed bridezilla, and down a glass of white wine or three (the red wine won't help the teeth whitening process!). I asked FI what he wanted to wear and he responded "Slayer t-shirt." He doesn't even own a slayer t-shirt!

So I'm curious - what style did you go for? Jeans and a cute top? A little dress? More casual or more formal? Do you think there is something that photographs well or poorly? Pictures much appreciated!

 

[vc10um]

Hey SB...I had the same problems!

We ended up doing an outfit change, and our photog seemed to actually be surprised that we only had one outfit change! We did some pictures with him in suit pants and a solid button-down shirt, and me in a printed dress (not a busy print, just a nice bold graphic print that looked GREAT in black and white) and then our second outfit was jeans and him in a polo and me in a cute cotton top. I find myself really wishing we'd done more photos in the casual outfit because it's more "us", but I'm also happy we got the more formal-looking shots because, well, we don't really have any of those!

Our dressy outfits certainly don't "match" our color scheme, but just by chance, our casual outfit green and white tops) fits right in with our black/white/purple/green theme.

Just pick outfits that you're comfortable in. Shoes that you can walk around in and stand in for several hours on end. And pieces that you think represent YOU (and don't clash!) and you'll be good to go.

The only other suggestion is to try to go for tones that have differing degrees of saturation as those will give more tonal variation in black and white.

 

[Autumnovember]

I was having the same problem but I decided I'm going to wear a long sleeved white v neck shirt. I'm going to wear that with a pair of jeans and tuck the shirt into my jeans (a style I just recently got into) so you can see my brown belt. I'll wear brown boots. I'm going for a casual/clean look. Fiance is going to also wear a fitted long sleeved shirt with jeans. We're taking pictures in October so anything short sleeved is out of the question. We'll probably bring along our dressy jackets to put on if the pictures go into the evening time.

 

[Tigarlily1]

We got to do 3 different outfit changes. Our photos were taken by the water at an old lighthouse so we took that into consideration when picking out outfits. It was a hard decision! We tried on everything we were going to wear ahead of time to make sure it went together but didnt match. Here's what we wore:

Outfit #1 - Casual/Preppy/Nautical
Me - navy blue polo shirtdress with plaid slingback sandals
Him - plaid grey and blue shorts and a light blue polo shirt with slide on casual sneakers

Outfit #2 - Casual
Me - Dark Jeans and a cute teal tank with ruffles around the neck line with flip flops
Him - rippy jeans and a white button up shirt with light blue stripes with flip flops

Outfit #3 - Date Night Dressy
Me - printed purple and black and white v-neck knee length dress with black heels (photographer loved it)
Him - dress slacks and button up with tie BUT photographer asked him not to wear it because she thought the contrast between his casual outfit and my dress would be more modern... she was right! The combo was awesome and sexy somehow. Those were our favorite pictures.

 

[stepcutgirl]

I can lend a little advice here! I stressed out big time when deciding how to dress and in the end the pictures we loved were the ones where we were dressed as we normally dress. The ones where we were all dressed up looked good but we didn't like them because it didn't look like us. We did 3 outfit changed. We did nice jeans with nice tops and I loved most of those, then we changed into our respective college tee's (we are arch rivals) and donned our obnoxious football gear and those are the best ones then there was the fancy skirt, heels and top. Pretty pictures...but it looks nothing like me.

 

[IrisAccents]

My guy and I just picked our favorite outfits...my dress was a clearance steal for- no joke- $7 at JCPenny, and I wore my favorite red pumps. I enjoy 50's style dresses and they make me feel great! FH did the same, he loves his brown vest, so he put together an outfit he felt good in. We had to feel good since we were taking picture of ourself with a tripod

I say, go with what you like and what you feel like you in- it might already be in your closet. Costume changes are good because then you have a better chance of liking some of the shots.

Good luck- can't wait to see the pics!

 

[sillyberry]

Thanks for your thoughts!!! All of your outfits sound super cute!

One more question - how long were your photo sessions? We only have 1.5 hours, so I'm worried that we won't have time to do a costume change.

 

[nicoleben]

for our engagement photos, were doing one where we dress up.. like me in a nice dress, him in slack and shirt and tie.. then were doing the "EAGLES" photo with us in our eagles shirts haha.. The relaxed, jeans, sweater type of picture, and then a picture of something we'd wear if we were going out for a night out with friends to the bar or something.. I'm sure it'll be a long day of photos, but those are what we are doing.. It is nice to have a photographer that allows so many clothes changes..which reminds me.. I need to die my roots and get my hair trimmed :/

 

[Autumnovember]

for our engagement photos, were doing one where we dress up.. like me in a nice dress, him in slack and shirt and tie.. then were doing the "EAGLES" photo with us in our eagles shirts haha.. The relaxed, jeans, sweater type of picture, and then a picture of something we'd wear if we were going out for a night out with friends to the bar or something.. I'm sure it'll be a long day of photos, but those are what we are doing.. It is nice to have a photographer that allows so many clothes changes..which reminds me.. I need to die my roots and get my hair trimmed :/

Are you from Philly?!?! We're taking our engagement pics in philly!

Go Phillies and Eagles!

 

[AustenNut]

Has anyone done a bridal session with 2 outfits? My fiance and I are not doing engagement photos, but are doing a photo shoot the day after our wedding. But I don't know if that's kosher (or realistic).

 

[CharmyPoo]

We are having two engagement shots and each one the photographer expects us to change 3 to 4 times. I did a shoot today for a makeup artist / photographer that is trying to grow their portfolio. I wore a red dress and then changed into a wedding gown.

I suggest you pick 3 outfits and change! One casual - jeans/top. One a flirty dressy look - short dress. One formal - long dress.

 

[sillyberry]

Charmy, how long are your e-photo sessions? Ours is only 1.5 hours, so I don't think we'll have time to do three changes (plus we're not very formal people!).

I think we'll start with me in this dress (but in purple), him in jeans and a button-down. Then, about an hour in we'll both change into jeans and our Bears/Cowboys sweatshirts to run around and play in the grass.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

[wannaBMrsH]

We did two outfits for our engagement sessions with the opposite results of everyone else. We really liked our dressier photos way better than our casual ones.

Outfit #1:
Him: black slacks, striped button down, black dress shoes
Me: grey sweater dress, pink tank top, silver chain belt, hot pink stilettos

Outfit #2:
Him: jeans, black polo and black casual shoes
Me: dark jeans, fitted black polo and black closed toe heels

I think we liked the dressier photos more because we are always dressed for work and we are very rarely in jeans and polos. The dressier photos felt alot more like us. We are doing some family photos in November and although we considered doing casual again, we've settled on a dressier attire. I am wearing a red sheath dress with a grey tweed jacket and gray flannel platform pumps and he is wearing a black suit with a white shirt and red and grey tie. The kids are wearing black slacks and red button down shirts instead of the four of us in jeans and polos.

 

[CharmyPoo]

Charmy, how long are your e-photo sessions? Ours is only 1.5 hours, so I don't think we'll have time to do three changes (plus we're not very formal people!).

I think we'll start with me in this dress (but in purple), him in jeans and a button-down. Then, about an hour in we'll both change into jeans and our Bears/Cowboys sweatshirts to run around and play in the grass.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Anywhere from 2 to 3 hours but honestly .. 1.5 hours is enough especially if you are only going to one location.

I have found that colorful dresses and patterns tend to look better in photos than a black dress. It is a really pretty dress though.

This is my wedding photographer - she does a lot of amazing engagement photos in case you want to look at her blog for ideas.
http://www.impulsephotographyblog.com/

 

[kagordo4]

boyfriend is a photographer and has been doing a TON of engagement sessions lately. I always peak when he's done. All the one's I have seen lately have atleast three outfits. Something nicer, like NICE jeans and cute tops or a dress, then something casual and sort of matchy (jeans and a white/black shirt) and finally something fun they picked out just for them! One of my sister's he did is sporting full on USF (Go Bulls!!) jerseys, their cute matchy pictures were their jerseys from our sorority and his frat, and then she was a cute dress and he had on a polo.

Hope this helps? I'm sure you'll look amazing in whatever you decide. Sorry if this is scattered... sooo tired.. no more human anatomy.. so sick of the leg. : )

Opps ETA: I'll attach some pictures after SO blacks out faces and covers his copyright at the bottom. (I asked first, sister would be honored to share her pictures, lol).

 

[sillyberry]

I have found that colorful dresses and patterns tend to look better in photos than a black dress. It is a really pretty dress though.

Yeah, I tried to find something in a pattern, but wasn't liking anything around. It's purple, not black, though, it that makes any bit of difference! I wanted purple to match our color scheme for the STDs.

I'll probably keep looking a bit, but I'm at least happy to know I have a dress in my back pocket that I like and that is flattering. I'm sending an email to our photog to see what she thinks.

Thanks for the additional thoughts everyone. Kagordo, can't wait to see the pictures!

 

[Glitz]

I do some photography on the side and have shot a few engagement sessions, I've had couples that just wore one casual outfit to couples that changed 3 times and brought their own props. If you're concerned about the colour matching your theme consider converting the photo you would like to use for your save the date to black & white or sepia. I'm sure your photos will be great, just make sure to get lots of beauty sleep the night before.

 

[Amzizzle]

This is what we wore.I felt it was a nice compromise between being to "matchy matchy" and just showing up in whatever.