Holding hands, gazing into each other’s eyes, sneaking a kiss here and there – are all key elements to an engagement session.

A few weeks ago, Tracy and I did just that – this time not in front of our own lens but with up and coming photographer Stephanie Miller. It wasn’t until then we had photographs taken of ourselves. It was nerve wrecking and exciting at the same time. I think we were just excited of the fact that there wasn’t just photographs of our FACES! You all know the self-portrait shots that we all like to post on Facebook – where you just see some forearm and ALL FACE! Like this photograph below that was taken in 2009 during our visit to the Philippines.

Anyhow during our shoot, we were talking to each other about how it felt to be on the other side and thought that this is probably how our couples feel in the beginning – awkward, shy, and just plain curious on what is being snapped at that moment. And as the session continued, we began to lock eyes, sneak kisses, and know that Stephanie was there to capture those in-between moments for us. Not only was the shoot just a session to get photographs of the two of us, it made us reconnect and excited for what is to come when we get married next fall.

So like every couple after the shoot, we experience the anticipation of our photographs – and when we received them earlier this week we were just stoked and realized the importance of doing an engagement session and why one must not opt out of it.

• First, you get to have awesome photographs of yourself that you do not normally take!
• Second, you begin to build a relationship with your photographer who will be taking the rockstar photographs of you and your fiancé. It gives you an opportunity to know your photographer’s style of directing and the photographer gets to know what makes you comfortable.
• Third, when you look back at your photos you begin to notice the quirks that you may want to fix – like your one eye squinting in a funny way or the way you smirk. By doing your engagement session, its such easy way to fix those things that didn’t look so hot in photographs during your engagement session to ensure you look FABULOUS on your wedding day.
• Lastly, its just fun! As photographers we love going on engagement sessions with our couples – from the awesome lighting as the sun sets, going to different locations, and taking rockin’ photographs of them. Every single time we photograph a couple they discuss how nervous they are at first and at the end say that couldn’t believe how much fun it was – and this was the groom talking!

So, Stephanie – THANK YOU for an awesome time, we adore our photographs and we thank you for taking your time out to capture a small moment of our love together – especially at the place where we first met.