Wedding Wednesday is a weekly feature discussing all things wedding-related! To suggest a topic or question, contact Gwen at info@gwendolyntundermann.com.

Last week, we discussed what to wear to your engagement photo session, so I thought this week it would make sense to follow up with more information about the engagement session!

When we plan an engagement session with a couple, we begin by sending them a fun little Q&A that helps us get to know more about their personalities. Engagement photos should be a reflection of your relationship, not just a beautiful portrait. We do some of those, too, but we really love to get couples in their element where they will forget that the photos are being taken. Sometimes through the Q&A we discover something really unique about the relationship and it gives us an idea for the photo session!

This is one of my favorite stories! Sheba & Nolan’s first date involved wine and great conversation, so we shot the first part of their engagement session at a wine bar. We also learned that not only do they both love poker (and they are fun to watch because they are both competitive) but Nolan is so good at poker that he bought Sheba’s gorgeous ring with his winnings from a poker tournament! You can see more from their engagement photo session in St. Augustine by clicking the link, but I thought I’d share one of my favorites here:

Sheba & Nolan's St. Augustine Engagement Photos

It’s definitely fun to come up with something unique for your engagement photos! Some of the craziest locations make the best backdrops. If you don’t believe me, check out this shot I took at a Jacksonville shootout:

Jax Shoot Club

That shot was taken underneath a plain looking overpass, but it ended up being a killer shot. So never underestimate the potential of a location. It’s the different locations that can really be the most interesting!

Another suggestion is to find a location that has really unique decor (like a hotel) but that usually requires permission. Every photographer has a different policy, but our policy is that when we are commissioned for a photo session it is the responsibility of the couple to get all permissions for use of anyone’s property. However, outdoor locations are generally fair game, especially if no one is around to kick you out. Not trying to break the law, but I’m just sayin’… : )

Another way to make your photo session unique is to do a shoot at night! Our favorite is to schedule something around sunset so we can also do a few at night, and a lot of times couples tell us that they didn’t realize they could do photos at night! Uh, heck yeah we can take photos at night! In fact, we have some great ideas that might only work at 3am (okay, let’s not get TOO crazy!).

I also want to throw in there the idea of doing an early morning session. I am not a morning person by any means, but I will absolutely get out of bed and grab a quad espresso coffee in exchange for beautiful light and no people around. Think about how lovely and quiet a 7am session would be! No one to stare or walk in the middle of the shot… definitely worth waking up early for!

Okay, I’m going to share one last image. This is from Christie & Mike’s St. Augustine engagement photo session. Mike wrote a song for Christie, so he brought his guitar to the shoot and sang for her. We ended up in front of the Castillo de San Marcos for what ended up being one of their favorite shots of the session:

Christie & Mike's St. Augustine Engagement Photos

These are just a few suggestions to help get you thinking about how you can make your engagement session fun and unique! It really doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you have fun with it! : )

Next week, we are going to talk with some featured guests about ways to look and feel your best leading up to the big day!