Around 3/4 of my wedding clients have an engagement session, but now and then I'll have someone ask me why they should do engagement photos. There are actually quite a few good reasons to do an engagement session. Let me share them with you…

They help you get used to being photographed

It's a bit like giving a wedding speech. Most people are nervous about their speech, so they practice what they're going to say, or even write it down. It's the same with the photography. Engagement sessions are a great way for you get used to being photographed. If your photographer is lovely and puts you at ease then you'll realise that it's actually a lot of fun being photographed.

This means that on your wedding day you'll be relaxed about the photography as it will no longer be a scary unknown. This means your wedding photographs will be more natural and won't feel stilted.

Just like public speaking, it gets easier the more you do it. Trust me, the first time I had to photograph 150 wedding guests I was sweating like a chainsaw juggler on a trampoline! But now I actually enjoy it because I've got better and better at it over the years.

They show you how amazing you are

Most people don't like being photographed because they feel they're going to look terrible. However, with a good photographer you'll look fantastic. when you see how great you look you'll be so much more confident on your wedding day.

They give you a good understanding of the kind of photographs you want

When you see your engagement photographs you'll see the kind of images that work really well and maybe there will be some you're less keen on. You and the photographer can learn from this and ensure that your wedding photographs are even better than your engagement ones.

Do you remember the song by Baz Luhrman - Everyone's free to wear sunscreen?

There's a line in it that says

" Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth
Until they've faded, but trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back
At photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now
How much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked"

I'm short, bald, grey and funny looking these days. When I was in my prime I was still short and funny looking, but I love to look at photographs that show how much fun and life I had inside me. As for my beautiful wife - well I treasure the photographs of her more than anything. Photographs that show you looking fantastic are really tools to help you recall how fantastic you life actually is and how lucky you are. When you look back at these images you'll be hit by a hurricane of wonderful memories and emotions.

No worries, No limits!

On your wedding day you'll have a lot going on inside your head. There will be strict time constraints too as your romantic photographs will be limited by the fact that you need to get back for the wedding breakfast.

An engagement session with me has unlimited time and can be in any location you'd like. We can be creative and have fun. It's a wonderfully indulgent and enjoyable day out. You can just be young, vibrant and carefree for a day.

You're dressed normally

Your wedding day is incredibly special. Everyone looks glamorous and the setting is delicious. An engagement session is a little different. It shows the normal you looking fab and full of life, happiness and love. You can go out and rock your favourite clothes, chill on a motorbike, lie in a sea of bluebells... ...whatever you'd like. We all like to feel amazing now and then. We owe it to ourselves to respect ourselves enough and be brave enough to shine brightly now and then.

"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
From the book 'A Return To Love' (1992) by Marianne Williamson