Why, thank you for asking. We get this question here and there, and I’m here to tell you why it’s a really good idea to book an engagement shoot with us before your wedding.

Number one answer? Because they are fun.

Seriously, they are. That’s the main reason we include them with all of our packages. Basically it’s like, you guys are on a date, and Mike is the weirdo ninja paparazzo in the bushes snapping away furiously as you guys are canoodling and schmoopying and doing all that stuff that maybe you haven’t done together in a while. 

Going on a date, with just the two of you, focusing on each other and just…feeling each other’s energy, and hearts and enjoying each other’s company. And then having awesome pictures to remember it with for the rest of your lives? It’s perfect! 

You two are in love. That’s why you’re getting married.

And your wedding day is going to be all sorts of amazing, but that day is extra special, which is why you dress up all fancy-like.  You’re probably not going to spend too much more time after your wedding day in your wedding clothes. (Unless you’re like me who likes to wear her wedding dress for Halloween, because why the heck not.)  There is really only a short period of time where you’ll identify as ‘the bride’ or ‘the groom’, but you’ll always identify with being ‘each others’. So capturing you guys as who you are, how you belong together in everyday life, is so important because it’s who you’re going to be for the rest of your lives.

It doesn’t matter if you still want to ‘lose weight’ before the wedding (just gotta add in here, do not put this kind of pressure on yourselves…!) or maybe you just got a less than fab haircut or your future husband looks stiff and silly in pictures. Forget all this stuff. We are professionals, and our job is to bring out the beautiful in you both, by making you comfortable, and letting you guys do what you do. 

And if you’re sitting here thinking, “what if we don’t DO anything?”, believe me, you do. We’ll step in if we need too, to get you guys loosened up a bit, suggest some poses maybe or Mike will tell terrible jokes.  Actually, the terrible joke part happens regardless of what’s going on.

To see more of Richard & Maria's engagement shoot, click here http://www.zekarphotography.com/blog/2013/10/richard-maria---van-wagners-beach-engagement-shoot-hamilton

(wanna see more of Richard and Maria's shoot? Click here!)

Anyways, so then, when the big day rolls around, you guys will not only have amazing pictures to show on your welcome table and in your guest book, you’ll know exactly what it feels like to spend time with Mike, to have a big crazy-ass camera pointed at you and to not even care because you’ve been there and done that.

 You’ll know how amazing you look in the pictures we take. So you don’t have to worry about making sure you have your model lips on, or you are tilting your head just so, because all that stuff is baloney and you’ll have had real time practice looking fabulous without even knowing it.