If you’re looking for engagement photos that feel effortless, are honestly candid, and true to your relationship, you’ve arrived, my friend. No stiff poses. No forced smiles. No rules. A truly alternative and candid approach to documenting who you are in this moment (because let’s face it, who you are all dolled up on wedding day or otherwise doesn’t showcase who you are every day, and the every day deserves to be cherished).

1. What Makes Engagement Photos Great

For a long time, I offered engagement photos exclusively to current wedding clients, and this is because of how important they are to me, but also to my approach as a wedding photographer. I’ve opened them back to the general public now, but have done so with an alternative approach: an open-ended 1-2 hour timeline, with a primarily analog approach in a mix of 35mm and super8 film (yes, that means you’ll receive a video, too!).

Your engagement session is one of the only opportunities for us to spend extended time together ahead of wedding day, and this is invaluable to me. All of my full-day wedding collections include a complimentary session, because it’s just that important. Beyond the art we’ll create together, allowing some time for us to truly hang out without pressure establishes the connection we both need going into wedding day, and as someone who won’t leave your side on that day, ensuring that you feel as comfy as possible is worth every minute spent together ahead of time.

Even if you’re not a wedding client for me, and you’re booking a storytelling engagement session as a stand-alone service, I take the same approach: an emphasis on art and true memories, to time capsule who you are right now, honestly.

2. Choosing the Best Location for Your Engagement Photos

Your location sets the tone for your engagement session, so pick a place that means something to you. Instead of a random park or a landmark that’s “pretty”, think about places that are part of your story:

• The coffee shop where you had your first date
• A quiet rooftop where you love to watch the sunset
• The campground you drive to together on long weekends
• Your favorite record store, bookstore, or bar
• Your home—because sometimes, the most meaningful moments happen in the place you feel most comfortable

The best engagement photos happen when you feel at ease, so choose a setting where you can relax and be yourselves. And more, choosing a space that intimately reflects you will be a meaningful reminder when you look back on these photos. Maybe you’ll really want those memories of your first apartment together, when 15 years have gone by and you’ve moved cities away.

3. What to Wear for Your Engagement Session

Your outfits should make you feel confident and comfortable, but I also do encourage you to add the zusch if you feel like it (that bright outfit you have no where else to wear?–let’s use it). A few tips:

• Coordinate, but don’t match – Stick to complementary colors rather than identical outfits (ie, if you both wear all black, you’ll just blend into each other when close together)
• Avoid big logos and super trendy pieces – You want your engagement photos to showcase you more than the company you’re wearing
• Think about movement – Flowy fabrics, layers, and textures are ways to add interest, and layers will help you have options throughout the session
• Stay true to your style: If you wouldn’t wear it in real life, don’t wear it for your photos.
• Make sure you’re comfortable: you should be able to sit, stand, walk around, and lay down in whatever you choose to wear!

At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you feel good in what you’re wearing, because that will come through your images more than anything else! If you need help, I also keep an ever-changing look-book of ideas here!

4. Engagement Photos without “poses”

If the thought of posing makes you cringe, you’re in the right place: I take a movement-based approach to engagement photography. That means no stiff or awkward posing, just prompts and interactions that create natural moments that showcase emotion. Instead of saving “inspo” online, I ask that you lean into each other, the moment, and your trust in me as I guide you through your session.

Instead of worrying about doing things “right,” just focus on your partner. Sometimes folks will ask me, “if this is documentary-style, does that mean you won’t guide us at all?” and that’s the furthest from the truth. My approach leans on the storytelling aspect of our session, so I might ask you to do a few things and prompt you through them, but I’m looking for your interpretation of what I ask you, so there’s no way you could ever get it “wrong”!

5. Why Documentary-Style Engagement Photography Feels More Real

A documentary-style approach to engagement photography feels more real because, well, it is. If you look around for inspiration, you’ll see a lot of folks doing things “for the save the dates”, following trends just because: standing looking away from each other under big mountains, maybe martinis at a bar they’ve never been to… Instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing, your session will be unique to you because it’ll be real.

Think of it less like a photoshoot and more like hanging out together while I document the way you naturally connect. The result is a collection of actual memories that time capsule who you are in this stage of life, with actual moments that will connect you back to these images years from now.