Zimmerman Engagement Shoot With Katie Julia Photography

My clients often ask me if it's worth having an engagement shoot before their wedding, and my answer is always a resounding "YES!"

Hopefully the images from this photo shoot with luxury photographer Katie Julia show exactly why that is, but I thought it would be useful to outline my top reasons for having one!

1. A Chance To Meet Your Photographer

It's lovely to meet your photographer over zoom or even in person, but seeing how they work in action is super useful in understanding how they will be with you on the wedding day itself. Will they offer you direction? How long is spent capturing each look or pose? How do they make you feel when in their company? Remember your photographer spends the most time with you all day (other than perhaps your planner!) so it's super important that you find someone you genuinely feel a connection and good fit with.

2. They Help You Feel Relaxed

Knowing and trusting your photographer, and getting used to their style of shooting, really helps you relax more in front of the camera. Not just the actual feeling of being followed around and captured, but also when you see the final images from the shoot. Almost all couples feel a bit awkward in front of a camera, but recognise they want some portraits on the day... what better way to get over the initial worry than to have an engagement shoot where you get used to the process and see knock out images afterwards so you *know* you'll feel and look good.

3. It Will Improve Your Wedding Day Images

Genuinely, it will. Your photographer will learn your best angles and how to get the best out of you, they will take your feedback on images from an engagement shoot and use that to guide how they capture you on your bid day. You'll be taught how to pose and interact together in advance, you get to trial hair or makeup looks to understand how it appears in final images and make changes accordingly.

4. They Have a Use!

Use your engagement shoot images on a bespoke wedding website linked to in your save the dates or invitations, frame them as a reminder of what's to come and that super exciting time in your life beforehand, create a beautiful coffee table style guest book with a knock out cover, save them in an album.

Finally.... I always advise my clients that planning a wedding should be as much fun in the process as your wedding day itself. When else do you have an excuse to step away from life to focus on each other, have fun, and capture it all forever as a special memory?

Images by Katie Julia for Studio Sorores