The goal of wedding planning is to limit the unknowns and make sure your wedding day is as smooth, enjoyable and memorable as it can be. The photographer you choose to cover your wedding will be right there with you for the entire day and can be very involved in how the events unfold. Being comfortable around your photographer is extremely important and can impact how your images turn out. This is why we always recommend an engagement, or familiarization, session with your photographer prior to the wedding day. Here are a few of the benefits of such a session;
Being Comfortable
When you reach out to a photographer, unless it was a family friend or someone you already knew, most likely you have never met that individual before. Your only knowledge of them is from their website or social media. By meeting in person and taking pictures together, you eliminate the unknown of a stranger showing up to photograph your wedding day and the awkwardness if your personalities don't mix.
For a lot of couples, their wedding day is their first event that they are having professional pictures taken together. Many times, mostly with grooms, (sorry dude's, it's true) there are reservations and a lack of enthusiasm about taking pictures. If the photographer has already provided the couple with some great images together, and gotten to know the couple prior to the special day, everyone becomes more comfortable and the photographer arrives to the wedding not as an unknown, but as a friend.
Get to know and become familiar with your photographer prior to your wedding day.
Know the Work
Photographers have their own unique editing styles and artistic choices. Having a gallery of images from a couples session can serve as a preview of how your wedding gallery will look. It also allows you the chance to work with your photographer and let them know things you might like or dislike before editing your wedding images.
You can also think of an engagement session almost as a test drive for purchasing a new car. If you and the photographer just don't click, and you are unhappy with the images, you have time before the wedding to find one that is a better fit. On the flip side, if you have a great experience and love the images, when it's time for your actual wedding day, you will have that much more confidence in your photographer and eliminate a potential stress/worry on the day.
On your wedding day, your photographer arrives as a friend, not a stranger.
When it comes time to choose a photographer for your wedding, I encourage you to plan an engagement or couples session for the reasons above. If you are traveling or far away from your photographer, and this is not possible, at the very least you should connect over a zoom / FaceTime to become familiar with each other prior to your day. Weddings have enough stress, and by establishing a relationship with your photographer, you can help reduce those stresses, at least a little bit. Happy Planning!
