5 Tips to Help You Prepare For Your Engagement Session

Fun, urban Engagement Session with Monica and Jhanisus at Angel’s Flight in Downtown Los Angeles

Engagement sessions are so much fun and we love photographing them because our couples are relaxed, they’re looking good, we’re at a fun location and the time we have together allows them to just be themselves and enjoy each other. Did I mention we get to have fun?!!

Kimi and Daniel in Switzer Falls for their adventurous, romantic engagement session

Tip #1: Why should you book your Engagement Session?

Yes, it allows you to get comfortable with us, in front of our camera and as nerve-wracking as it sounds, at the end of each session our couples always tell us how much fun they had. It’s also a really good time to test out your hair and makeup artist that you’re thinking of using for your wedding.

I may be getting ahead of myself, but if you think about it, most of our engagement sessions are finished by evening on a weekend so since your hair and makeup are done, you’re dressed fashionably casual, it usually makes for a really nice date night!

As with everything we do, whenever we photograph we look at our sessions and weddings like game days. We plan and prepare beforehand and then we rock it out and play as much as we can. We want you to look your best, feel the most joy and be blown away when we show your photos to you!

Silhouette of Sabrina and Leo for their wilderness Carbon Canyon Engagement Session

Tip #2: How should you use your engagement photos?

Sometimes couples ask us if an engagement session is necessary and I always let them know that a lot of our couples use their engagement session photos for Save the Date Cards to let their friends and family know ahead of time to set aside their wedding date. This always gets everyone really excited!

You can also use your engagement session photos for your wedding guestbook so everyone can sign in and leave their best wishes for you. This is always a good idea as you can use it as a wedding keepsake to look back on.

We’ve also had our couples create a canvas to use at the reception table and it also doubles as beautiful wall art to display in their home. If anything at all, we encourage engagement sessions to balance out their gorgeous wedding photos with some casual and fun engagement session photos.

Melissa and Adam in Santa Barbara for their romantic beach engagement session

Tip #3: When should I book my engagement session?

The best timeframe to book your engagement session is about 6 months before your wedding date. You can definitely book it earlier or later but if you’re planning on using them for Save the Dates you want to book your session at least 2 weeks ahead of when you’re planning on sending them out.

Jandy in her red dress and Wilson in Downtown LA for their urban engagement session near Vibiana

Tip #4: Where should we go for our session?

Ultimately we suggest booking your engagement session in a different season than when you’re getting married as it adds a different look to your wedding. If you prefer to use the same or similar seasons, we encourage you to think about holding your engagement session in a different location to balance your wedding day location.

Speaking of locations, if you ask us one of our favorite locations is in urban settings such as Downtown LA Art District, Downtown Fullerton, or Downtown Santa Barbara. If you love taking adventures, we can always head to the mountains or a wilderness vibe. And you can never go wrong with holding your session at the beach. Wherever you decide to hold your session we always encourage you to think about where you enjoy to hang out with your Love. Some might see us as being indecisive but ultimately, these will be your photos and we want you to be as comfortable as possible. You won’t be your best if we were to push a city vibe when you love walking barefoot in the sand. We want you to be as carefree as possible and just enjoy each other to the fullest so we can highlight your relationship in the best way!

Melissa and Adam at Arroyo Burro Beach in Santa Barbara for their beach engagement session

Before we give you Tip #5, check out more from Melissa and Adam’s romantic engagement session in Santa Barbara

Tip #5: What should I wear for our engagement session?

As far as fashion is concerned, we want you to look and feel your best. Think about what you would wear if you were going out to a nice dinner date. If a cute dress and heels are your thing while your love wears some slacks with a blazer then feel free to rock that out! If you like jeans and a cute top while your love is a collared shirt and jeans type, then show us what you’re working with! Haha! I think you know what we’re trying to say here. If you need some extra help, we always provide our Style Guide, so make sure to check it out once you book.

Lawrence just proposed to Melissa at the Hollywood Bowl Overlook in Los Angeles

How do I book our engagement session?

If these tips helped you out and want to check our availability for your engagement session, I encourage you to fill out the info below today and we can get the ball rolling for you.

We’re looking forward to highlighting your relationship and we’re excited for what’s in store!

Romantic engagement session in Pasadena with Michelle and Daniel

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Are you thinking about booking your Engagement Session?

Feel free to fill this out and get in contact with us to get the ball rollin’!

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Engagement at Carbon Canyon Regional Park | Rachel and Aaron

If you missed Aaron's surprise proposal at LA Live in Downtown Los Angeles he got one knee on the ice. Once we photographed their engagement session, it was pure fire. 

The love the have for each other is so evident and we're so excited to have front row seats to watch their lives blossom together. On a personal level, Rachel is my third sister and as she becomes the beautiful young woman she is, And as far as we can tell, Aaron definitely brings out the best in her. 

They both have a promising road ahead of them and we're so excited to see them get married in a few months. As a lover of travel and living a bohemian life, they're going to do things their way and we can't wait to see what they will incorporate for their wedding day.

Enjoy these images from their session and make sure to send them your blessings!

Switzer Falls Engagement Session | Kimi and Daniel

Kimi and Daniel are one of the funnest couples we have met to date. And if you looked up Infectious Energy in the dictionary you would see their images.

Infectious Energy (adj): spreading energy from one to another.

And they absolutely Brought. It. ...all that and a red umbrella!

Kimi definitely brings out the love and energy out of Daniel as he came out of his shell and they were inseparable the whole time. You see, he was the one to pursue her with the idea of reconnecting via Facebook. Kimi obliged to accept his Facebook friendship and before long, they were going out and held conversations for longer than they realized. As their colleague turned friendship was in the beginning stages of a relationship, they realized how much they had in common and as they grew to know each other better Daniel had no choice but to propose for Kimi to marry him.

As lovers of the outdoors, hiking and nature they wanted to hold their engagement session at Switzer Falls as it's one of their favorite places to hang out and enjoy each other. And as avid lovers of the great outdoors ourselves, that's when we knew we clicked with them. If it wasn't for the cool temperature and chance of rain, we could have spent all day up there!

We're so excited for their wedding at La Canada Flintridge Country Club as we know they are going to infuse their own elements as Kimi did on her engagement session. With the love and support of their families, we're anticipating everyone to be celebrating Daniel and Kimi with the fullest of hearts. 

Check out their engagement session highlights and give them your blessings in the comments below!

Best of 2015 - Engagement Sessions

This past year has definitely been one of the most fun years we have had photographing couples for their engagement sessions and weddings. We couldn't be more grateful to have the pleasure and honor of photographing and creating awesome images for each and every couple. 

We have also had the exciting honor of being awarded with Wedding Wire's Couple's Choice Award for 2016 which means we were chosen as the top 5% of wedding professionals in Southern California! How exciting is that!! Check out this awesomeness!

Again, we are so ecstatic to be able to provide our talent and creativity to every couple that we work with. We continue to keep working and getting better and better so we can continue to provide the kind of service and inspiration to our past, current and future clients. 

With that, I would like to put together a 2015 recap on some of engagement sessions and weddings we photographed last year. Next week, we will put together our recap of our weddings. For now we will leave you with these images of awesome couples who got engaged. There are a few surprise proposals in there as well, which was a first for us! We definitely had a blast photographing the reactions and emotions of each proposal! 

Once again, Thank You for an awesome 2015 and enjoy these images!

I hope you enjoyed these as much as we enjoyed photographing them! If you know anyone who is engaged, I encourage you to share this link on Facebook, or via email with your friends and family. 

Or if you're recently engaged we'd love to hear about it by letting us know below!

Thanks again so much!

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Los Angeles Arts District Engagement Session | Danielle and Michael

Los Angeles Skyline + Love + 6th Street Bridge + Excitement + Metro Train + Anxiety = One Awesome Engagement Session!

Danielle and Michael chose to have their engagement session in Downtown Los Angeles and it was flawless. We encourage couples to choose their engagement session location in places they enjoy. Places they are comfortable with. Places that define them. 

They asked to rock their session out in the Arts District in Los Angeles and we took them to one of the iconic spots to make sure we could capture as many elements of Los Angeles in their images. They told me they had never taken professional images and were pretty anxious. As the day went on, I realized they lied to me. They were not anxious at all!

If I can be biased at all, they were so comfortable and knocked their engagement out of the park!! Besides the 6th Street Bridge, we found some nooks and crannies to use throughout the Arts District and we couldn't have been more excited for them!

They're getting married in a few weeks, so if this was their engagement session, I can only wait for their wedding!

Congratulations to you guys and we can't wait to rock out your wedding!

In case you didn't know, this building serves as the backdrop for scenes for "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". 

For some reason, we absolutely love photographing with this building as a backdrop. We love the texture and different layers that this provides for our images. Apparently, so do Danielle and Michael! :)