What the heck do I wear for my engagement session?

Hello beautiful ladies !

One of the many benefits of hiring an experienced couple’s photographer as myself, is that we love to help our couples with the tough choices! I get asked all the time ” what should we wear?” and I love that my couples value my experience.  Here are a few suggestions to help you with this process, feel free to contact me and ask any other questions. I sincerely love getting to know my couples 🙂

1- Location

First, think about your location (you can always refer to my post on Nashville, TN and beyond engagement session locations). Is it the country natural setting, urban-chic, artsy? You can either pick outfits that fit that vibe, or completely go rouge! There is nothing saying you cannot wear in evening gown on a farm! This is your session to have fun, and to shine.

2- Go Fancy

There has certainly been an increase of couples really dressing up for their engagement sessions, and I love this idea! Get out your fancy dress, heels, and men grab your suits, go shopping if you don’t have anything like this in your wardrobe… you deserve it 🙂 Imagine a sunset session in your best clothes? Screams Romance! These photos are meant to last a lifetime and is an incredibly special occasion. If buying a designer outfit is not within your budget, try a rental subscription. Sites/subscriptions such as Rent the Runway make it easy and more affordable to access high end clothing that you probably would not wear again.

3- Complimenting outfits, not matching.

Complimenting your partner’s outfit is a great idea, but totally matching has become a bit tacky. So instead choose hints of color pops, for instance you have chosen the blue floral sun dress from Michael Kors (image below) your partner can pick a color that appears in the floral pattern. Its is OK to both be in blue, but different shades of blue, for example navy and light blue. Complimentary colors always look good together. Remember the color wheel that your learned in art class. Red and green are complimentary ( opposite on color wheel ) so naturally burgundy and dark green are a perfect combo, and one of my favorite combos are mustard and navy. Mustard photographs amazing and navy is a great compliment to it .

4-Choose clothing colors that compliment you

You know when you put on a new shirt in a certain color, and everyone tells you how great that color looks on you? For me its royal blue, never fails. Are warm colors or cool colors the best for your skin type? What colors look great on just about everyone? The following article from Stitch Fix  will help you if you are stuck on what colors flatter you best!

5- Accessorize

Ladies, adding a hat, scarf, chunky necklace, fashion watch, can all certainly change the look of your outfit, try to have at least one accessory per outfit, as it adds more visual interest to their looks. These chunky necklaces from Nordstrom can compliment any color top while giving your outfit a little spark! This scarf from Coach is also the perfect accessory for solid color top or dress as there are many hints of color included in the flowers. I absolutely love shopping at Marshalls and TJ Maxx to get bargains for name brand clothing and accessories.

Hats !!! Oh Em Gee I love hats !

For guys, I recommend layers of clothing, that can easily be taken away, for example a blazer or coat, a long sleeved button -up, then a T-shirt, three complete different looks.

PLEASE PLEASE remove your fit bit or smart watch (unless its classy) Although I love watches and feel they are a perfect accessory for your engagement session, fit bits and fitness trackers do not look good for your portraits. I love classy watches that can dress up your outfit choices ,  like these watches below, these are from Coach and  Michael Kors .

6- Figure flattery clothes

We all tend to think that an over-sized sweater will hide that little extra weight, when it fact it just makes you appear larger. The same goes with clothing that is too tight, too low cut, or too short. The focus is on relaxing and having a fun tie during your session, with clothing not fitting properly we will end up wasting time fixing clothing malfunctions.

7- Stick with two outfit choices

There is no need to have multiple outfits, I usually tell my couples one semi dressy ( something you would normally wear just a little dressier, and one really dressy. This goes for guys too, changing outfits constantly bites into our session time and flow. Instead as mentioned above accessorize to have different looks.

Make sure you love both outfit choices, its tough when a couple will say I like that pose, but I wish I had worn xyz. It is impossible to recreate every pose and every reaction identically. You do not want to have any regrets. As a photographer I try to incorporate poses that flatter your outfits, for instance a dip when your are all dressed up !

OK so I hope these suggestions and examples helped you decide what to wear… remember you can always search Pinterest too, they always have good ideas.