You’re engaged, now what? To do or not to do an engagement session? Santa Barbara Wedding Style member, Julia Franzosa, shares her professional opinion with us today why engagement sessions are definitely a must!

From Julia Franzosa Photography:

Let’s have a little chat about why engagement sessions are important. Not only do you come away with beautiful images to share with your friends and family, but engagement sessions allow you to connect, reminisce upon and enjoy this special time in your lives. You are young, engaged and in an awesome city. Time flies by, and this is a really special time to savor! Here are a few reasons why engagement sessions are important:

It gives your wedding photographer time to get to know you

If you chose the same photographer for your engagement session and your wedding (which you totally should!), your engagement session gives the photographer an opportunity to see how the two of you interact with each other in front of the camera. This helps your photographer figure out the best angles and poses for you so they are even more prepared for your wedding day!

You get to know your wedding photographer

On that same token, engagement sessions also help you connect and get to know your photographer better. I have found that I create my best work when I have a genuine connection with my couples. We all feel more comfortable and it shows through the images.

Test hair & makeup

Your engagement session is also a fantastic opportunity to test your hair and makeup for your wedding! Schedule your trials right before and see how it all looks in photos. Then go get a drink after because you look gorgeous. 

You’re in your element

Lastly, your wedding photos are going to be completely amazing, but you may also want some sweet pictures of yourselves relaxed and just being you. This is my favorite part about of engagement sessions! Your engagement photos are more relaxed and place you in your natural element . That could be your neighborhood park, your backyard, or favorite vacation destination, etc.!

Cosmo and I took photos with the amazing Abi Q Photography. We technically weren’t engaged yet, but they are pretty much engagement photos and I just printed them and put them all over our house. This is my FAVORITE image from our session and it proves to me how important engagement sessions are!

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