A pre-wedding photography shoot or some would call it an engagement session is a photoshoot that you can have with your wedding photographer or Videographer before your wedding. Many of our couples book a photoshoot with us to get comfortable in front of the camera, and they will often use their images to add an extra personal touch to their big day. Here are reasons why booking a pre-wedding photoshoot with your wedding photographer is absolutely essential.

Get rid of camera nerves.

Starting off with the most important one is the camera nerves. Making a booking for a pre-wedding photo shoot with your photographer / videographer will give you an opportunity to get to know each other as a couple in front of the camera and get rid of the awkwardness and nerves. It’ll give you an idea of what to expect on your wedding day. You’ll gain trust and an understanding of how your photographer will direct and work with you on your wedding day to get the best photographs and video.

Create a guestbook

You’ve probably been to some weddings and seen a plain guestbook with ruled lines and nothing else in it.  Your pre- wedding photographs would give you an opportunity to create a beautiful personalised signature guestbook.  We give you the high resolution photographs way before your big day so you can get your guest book printed off . The signature guest book becomes a keepsake which you can flip through and remember your day and the well-wishes of the people who were with you.

Get photos in a different location to your wedding day

On your big day it’s always a good idea to choose a location that is somewhere between the ceremony location and the reception venue, so that you can maximise time for your location photographs. At times you may also be limited to location choices because of what you’ll be wearing (for example, you may not want to wear your wedding dress down to the beach or to a location with heavy winds).

A pre-wedding shoot is perfect for getting photos done somewhere completely different to your wedding day. For example, you may want to get some photographs at a certain spot where you often spend time together, or where the proposal happened. Some couples even have their pre-wedding photoshoot at night for a moody, intimate vibe.

Guide your photographer

You can use the photographs from your pre-wedding photoshoot to get an idea of what suits you best and what type of photography you’d want on your big day, either posed , reportage , traditional or  fun quirky  type of photography. This will help ensure you get the photos you love and expect on your wedding day.

Have I convinced you how important a pre-wedding shoot is? If not for any of these compelling reasons, book a shoot just to have some much-needed time out with each other. I often get emails the day after from couples thanking me for giving them some forced chill-out time (with the added benefit of a set of gorgeous photographs to keep forever).