Engagement Session | What to Wear - Outfit Inspiration
YOU’RE ENGAGED! Even if you still have many things left on the “to do” list before you even get to your engagement session, its more than OK to get all the education early!
I’m so excited to start this series for my BRIDES! This post is meant to be a helpful tool in planning your outfits for your engagement shoot! Some of these ideas you may love, and some not so much, so dont think you have to go by ALL of them! This is just a way to help you narrow down all the choices in your closet! :)
So here are my TOP SEVEN tips and recommendations for making decisions about engagement session outfits!
1. Most of my couples have 2 outfits for their engagement session. One outfit normally is more everyday casual, and the other is on the dressier side!
TIP: start with the dressier outfit first!
2. If one of you is wearing something with a lot of color or a pattern, sometimes it’s best if the other wore a solid color or something more neutral!
3. Make sure you are equal when it comes to how formal your attire is. If the bride is wearing a dress the groom probably shouldn’t be in shorts and tennis shoes :)
4. Keep it simple and don’t overthink it! Some of my favorite images have came from keeping outfit colors not busy and light! Sometimes all you need is a solid color tee shirt, and your favorite hair do :)
5. If you’re wearing plaid, the bigger the print the better, and the other should wear a lighter solid color! This is honestly just a preference, but it does have some technical truth behind it :)
Sometimes depending on the light it’s hard for the camera to pick up those tiny little checkered patterns opposed to bigger ones from far away and that can sometimes cause Chromatic Aberration (which is a weird green or purple haze in an image that throws the overall color off).
Also, it makes the image look less busy and gives your eyes a chance to breathe when you look at it!
6. All of these outfit tips are great, but one important thing is - DON’T FORGET TO BRING YOUR PERSONALITY! This is HUGE. Ultimately your photographer will do a great job making you feel comfortable in front of the camera, but when you are choosing a location or outfit, make sure it’s YOU! If the locati0on yall chose involves you willing to get messy in the end, make sure you remember that with your outfits! You get engaged once, make sure you are going to your engagement shoot confident in your outfit choices and it’s something you are comfortable in, and I promise you will love your photos 10X more when you receive them!
7. Lat but not least, this tip I feel is the most important and highly recommend paying attention to when choosing an outfit: Wear clothes that are flattering to your skin tone. I know I know, your like “SAM, I know that”, but I’m guilty of it all the time. Just because I see something “cute” doesn’t mean it always looks cute once I get it on haha.
We all know that everyone has certain things that looks great on them and things they feel confident in, and then there are colors that really aren’t made for them.
For example, im on the paler side…with naturally strawberry blonde hair and honestly there are some truths I have accepted because of that haha. Like, I would never wear a sleeveless shirt that is pale or neutral color because it would just not look good with my skin tone! Also, I have come to the realization I’m not a huge fan of the way my arms look in photos (welcome to my life haha I LOVE my arms and I’m so thankful I have them, they just aren’t super photogenic in my opinion). So, I wouldn’t wear a sleeveless dress, shirt, or spaghetti strap because I instantly know when I look at the image I’m going to be self-conscious. If it’s not something you are comfortable wearing on a day-to-day basis I wouldn’t recommend wearing it for your engagement photos! If your self-conscious about your legs, don’t wear a mini skirt or short dress! Basically, make sure you wear something that is comfortable for YOU!
Yes, I’m going to teach you how to pose and give the most flattering angles, but you will love your images so much more if you feel confident taking them, and that honestly starts with an outfit choice! Trust me, confidence photographs well :)
Thanks for reading!