Engagement shoots are always hard to prepare for. What to wear? What to bring? Colours? Pets? You want to look your best, you want to be yourselves and you want images that truly reflect you as a couple. A lot of the choices that you will make for your engagement shoot will be extremely personal to you, such as any props that you decide to bring or what the style of your hair and makeup will be. Even your clothing choice is going to be personal to you. I have a few tips that I can give you that will hopefully help you as you prepare for yours.
1) WEAR CLOTHES THAT REFLECT WHO YOU ARE.
Don’t feel like you have to dress up in your smartest clothes if that’s not you. There is nothing wrong with showing up to the engagement shoot in jeans and a t-shirt. However, if you always dress up to the nines then by all means come in your fanciest ball gown. Having your photo taken can be unnerving at the best of times and adding extra discomfort by wearing a clothing style that you wouldn’t usually wear won’t help. Wear that beanie hat!
2) WEAR PASTELS, COOL COLOURS AND NEUTRAL TONES.
This may go against number 1 as I’m now telling you what sort of colours to wear. However, these point are just to guide you, so if you don’t feel comfortable wearing pastel colours you don’t have to. This list is just to give you some ideas to get going with. The reason that I say to wear pastels, cool colours and neutral tones is because colours like orange and red are bright and so the eye will be drawn to them first and you want all of the focus to be on you rather than your clothes. Having said that, red is worn in the photographs in this post and it works quite well contrasting with the woodland greenery. Art is subjective!
3) INCORPORATE AT LEAST ONE ACCESSORY or bring props & Pets.
Adding an accessory, such as a scarf or large necklace for the ladies and layers for the guys add extra visual interest to a photo and therefore photographs well. Props are also useful. Got a save the date card? Bring it! Engagement ring? Wear it! Love your dog? Walk it! Matching welly boots? Put them on!
4) DON’T MATCH OUTFITS (BUT COMPLIMENTING EACH OTHER IS OK…IN BOTH SENSES OF THE WORD)
Don’t wear matching prints, such as stripes as these will clash and make your photos look awkward (think of a herd of zebras!). However, it is perfectly ok to colour match (for example if the lady is wearing a lilac scarf then the man can wear a lilac t-shirt).
5) CHOOSE OUTFITS THAT ARE CLASSIC RATHER THAN TRENDY
How often have you looked back at photographs from the 1970’s and 80’s and thought what on earth were they thinking when you look at their outfits? Well this could be you in 30 years time so my advice is that you wear a classic, ageless outfit rather than something that is ‘in’ this season. Your future self will thank you!
6) DRESS FOR THE SEASON
If the shoot is taking place in the Autumn then wearing shorts and t-shirt probably isn’t the most sensible of ideas (unless you are a person who wears them all year round!) for two reasons: firstly, you’ll get cold very quickly; and secondly the Autumn colours and your clothes will clash. Also if you are struggling for outfit colours then match them to the season as well. For example, if the shoot is in the summer then light blues and yellows are a good way to go.
I hope that these tips have given you some ideas on what to wear for your engagement shoot. All that’s left now is to book one or if you already have I look forward to making the two of you on the day!
