Planning a wedding is daunting. The task of coordinating an extraordinarily large event, replete with photographers, DJs, caterers, florists, etc. is no easy task. But while you’re out trying to hire a range of expensive professionals whose services you’ve never needed before and whose industries you probably aren’t intimately familiar with, many brides lose focus on the person with whom they entrust with their memories and will spend their entire day with: their photographer.
During your wedding day, your photographer will be the person with whom you interact with the most. It’s important that you connect personally, which you will be able to evaluate during your consultation meeting. But a one hour meeting can only build so much rapport.
Moreover, few brides have ever worked with a professional photographer before their wedding day. If they have, it’s been years and the experience is not fresh in their minds. Most brides aren’t models and they need to work with their photographer beforehand to feel comfortable.
There’s an easy solution to these problems: engagement photography or an engagement session. An engagement session is a one to two hour photo-op at a location of your choice where you can get comfortable in front of the camera, and take some great romantic photos.
Some couples think of engagement sessions only as opportunities to have a few more images of themselves. They think “We’ve got a decent picture we can use for our save the date cards, we don’t really need any more.” While this might be true, there’s much more to an engagement session besides a photo for your save the date card.
Besides being a great opportunity to get some great photos of you and your fiancée, an engagement session let’s you loosen up and be yourself around your photographer. In my experience, there’s no better preparation for your wedding day better than working with your photographer beforehand at an engagement session.
Most engagement sessions are fun and easy going. When choosing a location, the best places tell something about the couple. It can be a place where you proposed, went on a first date, or just a location that reflects something about your personality.
In the Seattle area, Alki Beach, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, and the Seattle Center area are all popular engagement photo locations that easily lend themselves to the creation of beautiful, romantic images.
So when preparing your wedding budget, strongly consider allocating a few hundred dollars to an engagement session. It will be a sound investment you will be glad you made.
. On one occasion, a fellow photographer referred to a mother of the bride as a ‘momzilla’, but hey that was him, not me 
).