What to Wear for Your Engagement Photos 💃🏻

A frequent question I get asked is, what to wear for an engagement shoot. So, let's break it down!

Comfort is key

This is the main thing to think about when you are considering outfits for your engagement photos, or any photos for that matter. When you are comfortable in what you are wearing, you will naturally exude confidence which will show in your photos.

If you are uncomfortable your body language will say it all no matter how relaxed you might feel. Your shoulders will be tense, or you will be fidgeting with certain aspects of your outfit. Your mind will be on how you are feeling in your clothes rather than in the moment having fun with your soon to be spouse and photographer!

Patterns, patterns, patterns

I love me a good pattern, but when it comes to your engagement photos, you have to be a little bit more careful. The rule of thumb is that only one person can be wearing a pattern at a time. If you are both wearing a pattern, the outfits will be competing for dominance in the photos and both will end up losing.

We want you both to stand out individually and as a couple during your photo session! So if you both have a patterned outfit that you absolutely love, bring both outfits as well as a simpler, solid print outfit that you can switch out with.

The more the better

Some photographers will have you cap your outfits at one formal and one casual, and while I do agree that a casual and a formal outfit are the simplest option, I believe that you should be able to bring what shows off your personality. Im not saying show up to your session with your whole closet, but bring a couple of your favs as backups. Sometimes the two outfits are all that are needed but stuff happens, and it's always best to have a backup.

For example, I was with a couple recently who brought three different outfits. We were doing a shoot outside where there wasn't a place to cover the clothes, so I offered my bag for them to at least sit on to not get dusty. We went about our session and after the second outfit change we were thinking maybe we'd give the last one a go. Turns out, a bird decided to leave us a little gift. 👀

Needless to say, we had a quick laugh about it and moved on because they were satisfied with the two outfit changes they had already done. So, have backup's for your backup's and maybe a plastic bag to store them in if you are doing an outside shoot! Hey, I might even learn from our experience and keep one in my camera bag from now on because you apparently never know when you might need one!

Show off your personality

Your engagement photos are a time to have fun! You have just gotten engaged and have started into the wedding planning process. With that will come some stress, and the engagement session is a time to take a breath and have some fun with just you and your soon to be spouse.

I recently sat down with a couple and asked them about what they were thinking as far as outfits and they mentioned they wanted to do a couple with a pair of matching track suits. I laughed and asked what the story behind that was and they said they had bought matching tracksuits on one of their early dates so it would be nice to capture that memory during their engagement. I couldn't agree more!

Your outfit can say a lot about you and can hold memories between you and your fiancé, so why not show it off during your engagement photos! This is a time for you two, so have fun!