Ducklings In A Row - Hair + DIY Tutorials: One Shot Deal - Making the Most of your Engagement Session

W. Scott Chester via Brooklyn Bride

I love engagement shoots for many reasons - first off, it's usually free, as it's often included in your wedding photographer's package. Secondly, it gives you and your fiance the chance to get comfortable in front of a "real" camera. Win Win. Throw in the added personal bonus of me being able to pore over the wedding blogs to check out the more creative and intimate (as in endearing, not boudoir) sessions, and you've got yourself a triple threat.

What I tend to love the most from all the sessions I've seen are the shots that are a direct reflection of the couple's daily lives together. Sure, I can appreciate seeing a bride and groom barefoot on the Brooklyn Bridge holding a three foot white balloon together, but whenever I see them I always wonder how timeless these will be, as in will your future teenage kids ceaselessly tease you about them and pull them out of storage everytime they need a gut-busting laugh at your expense?

I guess being a new mom has caused me to start applying the question, "what will my child think about this when they are older?" to things I previously thought inoccuous, and in turn I now see most things with this new added perspective. Add to this the question we've all asked our parents, "What was your life like before you had me?" or "Wait, you had a life before you had me?", and you have the opportunity to create photographic evidence to prove to your future kids that you were once, in fact, really cool.

So, that said, think about staging your engagement session in your neighborhood, in the local park where you got engaged, in your apartment or even in the coffee shop you two religiously visit every Sunday for coffee and the New York Times crossword. Then imagine how much these shots will mean to you down the road, being able to revisit "a day in the life" back in time when you were young and fancy free. Here's some eye candy to support my case.