This Ashland Oregon Engagement Session was an absolute blast! From the urban shots to the mountaintop guitar session- these two did not disappoint. I love capturing the personalities & vision of my couples & photographing these two while they visited Southern Oregon was such a pleasure. Can’t wait for their wedding later this year & creating more memories for them.

Happy Engagement you two!

Congratulations to A&B! Such a joy to capture your day!

Many couples wonder if having an engagement session with their wedding photographer is really necessary, especially if they have already had some photos shot by a friend or if the wedding is coming up shortly after they booked their photographer. Today I want to talk about why it is in fact really important and will actually make your wedding day a smoother, more relaxed day.

Your wedding day is a super exciting day, filled with joy and excitement, however, it can also be a day of stress and busyness ( is that even a word?) . Any good wedding photographer’s goal is to make this day as easy as possible so that you as a couple can enjoy the day and relax. The more qualified vendors you hire, the more the details will be off your plate and in the hands of experienced professionals. What does this have to do with an engagement session you might ask? Everything!

Engagement sessions have many purposes and I want to highlight a few wonderful benefits of what can be a really fun time with your photographer.

1. Comfort

On your wedding day you will be spending a lot of time with your photographer, and I mean a lot! From getting ready all the way to the reception, your photographer will be with you for most of the day!  A huge benefit of an engagement session is that you are meeting, getting comfortable with, and building a friendship with your photographer ahead of time. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve walked into an engagement session with a couple that has a good bit of apprehension on their side about taking photos, only to leave laughing and completely at ease. When this happens, it gets carried over to the wedding day. You now know your photographer a little bit and have established comfort. As a photographer I love showing up to the wedding day already feeling I know the bride and groom well and that’s good news for everyone!

2. Posing

Each photographer and couple approach posing differently. As a wedding professionals, it’s our job to learn how to pose and encourage natural interactions with each couple. Sometimes this is easy and sometimes a challenge depending on the ease that each person feels in front of the camera. During an engagement session some of this can be figured out and by wedding time you both feel comfortable settling into posing or candid moments because you’ve done it already!

3. Wedding Decor

Most every wedding where I’ve shot an engagement session prior has the images from the session displayed at the wedding. You can use your engagement session images for save the dates, invitations, or wedding decor ( most commonly a guest book or canvas to sign). This is a great way to show the fun and joy of your relationship and you can even display them alongside other snapshots you’ve taken throughout the course of your relationship together!

4. Because it’s SO fun!

Last but NOT least, engagement sessions are fun! Creativity can abound here and that brings so much joy. If your wedding is at an upscale venue try an engagement session at the coast or up in the mountains. If your wedding will be in the woods, why not do your engagement session somewhere with dynamic structures or an old building. So much planning and detail goes into wedding planning. let your engagement session just be fun. Laugh, make jokes, enjoy each other and just let that glow go straight on in to your wedding day.

I hope these four reasons why engagement sessions are so important before your wedding day were helpful to you! Even if your camera shy, all the more reason to warm your way into photos by doing an engagement session before your big day.

Congratulations, and I wish each and every couple a joy filled wedding and a beautiful love story as you start your journey together. 

xoxo

Rachel 

I had so much fun putting together this before and after editing video for you guys! As I mention in the video, I love editing videos and poured over them when I first started with photography . While I ultimately had to tweak and figure out my own editing style, watching videos like this really helped me on my journey. I love giving back and offering education to other photographers so I am more than happy to put this out there for anyone who would benefit from it.

Enjoy!

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Before and After:

This gorgeous La Jolla engagement session has definitely been one of my all time favorites! This sweet couple was SO easy to photograph and it was my greatest joy to photograph them.

I am so looking forward to their wedding in January! Congratulations you two!

What: Engagement session at Mt. Laguna

Who:Katherine and Jesse

When: Sunday, September 30th

Ive known Katherine for many years. I think the first time I met her it was about 6 years ago. She was barely a teenager and from the minute I met her I loved her.

I’m a mom of four kids and for those of you that have kids you know that there us a special joy in knowing someone that loves your kids and treats them like humans. Katherine is such a person. For a time she would come to my house while I homeschooled my older kids and she would watch my littles. She has always shown such love for my oldest daughter and even as she grew older when most teenagers would have thought it wasn’t cool to hang with little kids, she continued to be the same. Fast forward to now. Katherine is a gorgeous, kind, fun, and fabulous young woman. I knew the guy who would snag her would have to be pretty great,

The day of this gorgeous engagement session was cloudy and I was a tad disappointed to have no sun at all, normally I love a cloudy session but Jesse was really hoping for the sun and I do like me some sunlight filtering through pine trees!

From the start I knew Jesse was a winner. Funny and gentle and extremely mature, I was impressed from the get go. We talked about how we wished the sun would come out and as we traipsed through the mountains we started to see evidence of the clouds pouring down rays of light. By the time we were finished we had gorgeous sunlight and this couple was so easy to capture. You can’t fake that stuff guys! It was really me just sitting back and documenting what came so easily to them.

Congratulations sweet Katherine and Jesse. May your marriage be filled with the same joy and laughter that you brought to our session and may you cherish each other in the same way even after one hundred years.

xoxoxo

I had the pleasure of photographing Molly and Neil shortly after they got engaged. We met at Windandsea and I am pretty sure we all laughed the entire time. The love and fun this couple radiates makes this one of my favorite engagement sessions to date and Im so excited to share some of my favorites here! Congratulations you two :)