E-pics question

[DMBFiredancer]

forgive me for being so clueless...
i got engaged in september and looking to get married in summer 2009.

when do people usually do engagement pics? is it something that is usually included in your photography package, or is it a completely separate thing?

i see that many people use professionals for their e-pics...anyone just have a friend take a few nice pictures? how did that turn out for you?

also, what exactly did you use the e-pics for? in your newspaper announcement? just for framing / photo albums? something else?

as you can tell im quite clueless and curious about the whole e-pics thing...thank you very much!

 

[Octavia]

Firedancer, I''m sort of confused about the photography thing, too. It seems like a lot of wedding photographers will do engagement pics as part of their package, I guess so both the couple and the photographer can have a "trial run" with each other. But I think you''d have to ask each photographer you''re thinking about hiring whether they do this or whether it''s a separate fee.

My FI and I probably won''t use a pro for our engagement pics, since one of his good friends is a serious amateur photographer and he''s pretty amazing (and has a pro camera with all sorts of lenses and stuff, not just a point-and-shoot). Awhile ago, he took a few quick snapshots of us that we absolutely love, so we''d definitely be comfortable using him for this. I''d love to have him shoot our wedding as well, but I''d rather have him be a guest and enjoy himself, so I have to find someone else for that. I don''t think we''d do this with just any friend, though...but if you know someone who really knows their way around a camera, why not?

We probably won''t have him take a ton of photos, just enough to have a nice record of this time in our lives. If there''s one we particularly like, it might go on our save-the-dates, though.

I hope that helps a little...and that people who know more about this will chime in!

 

[KimberlyH]

We didn't take engagement photos, we did have a family photo session that included my sister, BIL, nephew and parents the month after DH and I were engaged as a b-day gift for my mom and during that session we got a few shots of just DH and I. We used one to make the framed photo guestbook replacement thing, it now hangs on our family room wall. I'm glad we have the picture, it's very nice, but we wouldn't have had engagement pictures taken if the two things hadn't coincidedl, I don't regret having only one good professional shot of us, and don't think I'd care if we didn't have any at all.

I think a lot of times it's comes with or in addition to the wedding photography package, and it's a way of testing the photographer to see if you like his/her work and style for your wedding. It's also nice if you want to place a newspaper ad, or if you want to send an STD with a picture included.

If your friend is a great photographer and you aren't concerned about having a professional engagement session I'd say go for it.

 

[Sabine]

We did not do an engagement session. It was included in our photographer''s package, but we traded it to get unlimited time with her on the day of the wedding. I do wish we could have done both, but it wasn''t in our budget. We would have used the epics for a newspaper announcement and our save the dates. We''re going to do a marriage announcement instead of an engagement announcement, and use a wedding pic for the newspaper, and we took our own picture for the save the dates.

 

[partyjewels]

We didn''t do an engagement session... but it''s true that a lot of photographers seem to offer them as part of a wedding photography package. Some people I know have said it was nice to have that because it was nice to meet with their photographer and see what their style is and see how well they work with them so they can get used to it before the wedding.

We had a picture on our Save the Date postcards that went out, and everyone loved the picture, it was something I had my mom take of us when we were all at an apple farm one day. It was gorgeous out and you can see the sun in the tree (and on our faces) behind us, and it''s a good shot! My mom is far from a professional photographer, but it was the only one I asked her to shoot of us that day and it was great! We''ve got tons of comments on what a nice picture it is

If we get a photographer that has an engagement session included with the package and we can''t trade it for something else, we''d probably just use it as a chance to get some nice non-wedding photos of us as we don''t have many.

 

[flutterby]

I had e-pics done by a professional, only because we were moving to LA from Chicago shortly after our engagement. We took the opportunity to get some great pics of us in Lincoln Park with some skyline views!

I''m not sure if we would have done them otherwise. Her package was $300 and it came with 24 4x6 photos in a little album. We purchased some for our parents for xmas that year and used one in the paper.

They are far from necessary, but is a nice way to have nice pics of you as a couple that are not wedding pics! You usually have to book a photographer pretty far out, so thats why they are offering e-pics more often, but a friend could do just as well!

have fun being engaged!

 

[karasue91]

our photographer doesnt include engagement pictures, but she only charges $150 and we are definitely doing it.

we had a friend who does photography as a hobby take a some pictures of us in the hopes of getting one that we could use for our save the date. we had seen our friends work before and were really impressed. however, i think the girls she shoots are amateur models already, because when she shot us it was really awkward. she didnt give us any kind of direction on what to do or how to pose or anything like that. so most of the pictures are of me and FI standing around looking uncomfortable.

so for us, we learned our lesson. we are clearly not so great in front of a camera together, so we are getting the engagement pics as more of a way to get more comfortable in front of the camera and with our photographers. and to hopefully get some pointers!!

another lesson we learned from taking pictures with our friend: we stopped for a couple drinks and then took a few more pictures. we were so much more relaxed with a little buzz!! hahaha

 

[DMBFiredancer]

thank you everyone!

your responses are very helpful!

 

[dani13]

DMB-

Our engagement pics were done by our wedding photographer. She included the pics in her total package. We could have had them done anytime after we booked her (a yr before the wedding), but we were so busy with grad school/life, that we didnt end up getting them done till 1 month before the wedding! I am so glad we got them though, and totally reccommend it to others. Its just nice to have some pics of the two of you in non-wedding gear, you know? We have several of the pics displayed around the house....They were taken at a local park....just beautiful, and we will always treasure them....