One of the most common things I hear from my clients before a session is “we’re SO awkward in front of the camera.” It’s totally normal to feel uncomfortable in front of the camera, but luckily I have a few tips to help you and your fiancé overcome any fears you have before your shoot. Camera shy friends- these tips are for you! 

1. Focus on each other!
The best thing you can do during a session is to focus on your partner. Focus on your connection- laugh, kiss, booty bump, whatever feels natural to you! When it comes to your engagement session, there’s no right or wrong way to show off your love! It’s normal to get nervous or feel awkward in front of the camera at first, but remember your fiancé is right by your side feeling the same way so laugh your way through it together and soon you’ll find the laughs are genuine!

2. Choose an activity you love for the engagement shoot
Tip number two is to pick an activity you two love to do together. The possibilities are endless: cooking, hiking, dancing, cuddling on the couch- anything goes! An activity you two love is the perfect way to loosen up those nervous jitters so you can look and feel natural during your engagement session.

3. Make the poses your own! 
Throughout photoshoots, I always suggest poses to my clients but I always encourage them to make it their own. If your photographer suggests a pose that doesn’t feel quite right, make adjustments that fit your personality and what feels right to you. Feeling comfortable in your poses is the first step to looking natural in your photos. Another BIG pro tip to looking natural is to pay attention to your hands. Are they dangling awkwardly by your side? Are they floating in the air Ricky Bobby style? If your hands are doing something they normally wouldn’t in your everyday life, odds are it’ll feel awkward and that’ll translate in the photos. A great way to keep your hands occupied and looking natural is to interact with your partner- hold hands, hug, caress their cheek, etc.

I hope you found these tips helpful to looking and feeling natural in your engagement photos!

Woohoo! You’re engaged!! This season of life is such an exciting time in a relationship, but it also can come with a seemingly never-ending to-do list before the wedding day. As you go over your to do list you may have “schedule engagement photos” listed, but now comes the big question: when should you take your engagement photos?

• How will you use your engagement photos?

In the hopes of helping you determine when an engagement session will work best for your busy schedule, I suggest asking yourself these three questions:

Will you and your fiancé be sending a Save the Date card that features your engagement photos? Are you setting up a wedding website? Or do you two want to use the photos personally as a memento of this time in your lives? If you plan to feature your engagement photos on a Save the Date card, I’d highly recommend scheduling an engagement session farther in advance. Save the Dates are generally sent to guests between 4-6 months before a local wedding or 6-8 months prior to a destination wedding. In either case, taking your engagement photos one to two months before sending your Save the Date card is ideal to allow time for your photographer to deliver the finished gallery to your inbox and give you proper time for printing. If your photos will be displayed on your wedding website, you’ll also want to consider when you’d like to publish the site for your guests. Once you know when you’d like to publish it, I suggest giving yourself a week or two beforehand to upload the images to your site. Lastly, if your images will be for personal use only, you have much more flexibility as to when you can take them- even a month prior to the wedding could work in that case.

• What season will be best for your engagement photos?

Weather is a BIG thing to consider when scheduling any photography session if the shoot will be outside. Do you live somewhere it rains or snows frequently? Is it windy, cloudy, hot or somewhere in between? Imagine your perfect engagement photos- what does it look like? Surrounded by snow? In a lush green field? A sunny desert? Once you have an idea of what scenery you’re hoping for, you can determine which season will best accommodate your vision. For example, if you live in the always sunny Phoenix, Arizona- the summer is a tough time for engagement photos since it is so dang hot. In order to work with the Arizona heat, a summer shoot here may entail traveling to cooler weather for the photos or being up and at ’em for a sunrise shoot. Considering your local weather during each season is a great way to narrow down a timeframe for you.  

• What is your availability and your Photographers?

A busy schedule comes with the wedding planning territory so I suggest considering multiple dates that would work for you and your fiancés schedule and then coordinating with your Photographer to set the perfect shooting date. When it comes to wedding planning, communication as well as organization is absolutely key! Booking your session well in advance will ensure securing your ideal date, time, location, and of course-photographer, so you can be sure you’ll receive engagement photos you’ll cherish for decades to come!

I hope these tips will help determine when to schedule your engagement session!

There are so many ways photographers can use Pinterest to add greater value to their business.

 For starters, photographers can use Pinterest for inspiration when they’re running low. It’s easy for photographers to get in the habit of doing the same exact shoot at the same places and soon enough they feel like they’re in a creative rut. Pinterest helps fix that creative halt by providing inspiration for anything and everything. Photographers could search for inspiration such as locations, lighting use, photo styling, poses, editing techniques and more! With Pinterest, inspiration is endless.

Photographers can also use Pinterest to serve as a style guide for their clients. One of the most common questions a client will ask their photographer when they book is “what should I wear?” Pinterest can help you answer that question by putting together various style boards with different shoots in mind. Providing style inspiration for your client will be beneficial on both ends because your client will have something tangible to guide them as they choose what to wear and the style guide assists the photographers by ensuring their clients will be dressed to fit the photographers creative vision.  

Another great way photographers can use Pinterest is to add value to your clients experience by creating Pinterest boards your ideal client would like. Not only can you provide them with stunning images, but you can also give them inspiration in all areas of their life. For instance, if you are a wedding photographer it’s a great idea to have multiple boards dedicated to different aspects of a wedding. Chances are if your client is booking you as their photographer, they like your style and would benefit from the boards you’ve carefully accrued with your ideal client in mind. 

Click here to follow along with me on Pinterest!

My husband and I had been TTC so in preparation I started taking prenatal vitamins a few months before we started trying (I was taking Honest Company Prenatal Vitamins because they’re organic and made without artificial flavors or dyes, which gives me a piece of mind) and I was tracking ovulation to help increase our chances of getting pregnant. Since we were trying to conceive, we knew there was a chance we could find out I was pregnant on our honeymoon trip to Europe so I packed a pregnancy test I had on hand just in case. While we were in Paris, I took the test and saw one solid line and one VERY faint line. The pregnancy test I used was given to me as a gag gift from my bachelorette party so it didn’t come with any directions or explanation on how to read the results. It simply showed one solid line as “not pregnant” and two solid lines as “pregnant”. What I didn’t know at the time was that any two lines, no matter how faint, means pregnant, so I was extremely upset when I thought the test was negative. I was so sure I was pregnant because I had been extremely hungry the last week or so and I experienced what I was pretty sure were ovulation cramps.

A few days passed and I was still convinced I was pregnant so we picked up another test (First Response Early Result) while in Ireland (this time the test had actual directions and explanations to read the results accurately) and we planned to have me take it in morning. The next morning I woke up early while Keaton was still

asleep and took the test. While I waited for the results Keaton woke up and we read the results together. When I saw the two tiny lines I instantly started balling tears of joy and we both could not stop smiling as the news sank in. I really was pregnant and we were going to be parents!!

This post may contain affiliate links however opinions are my own.