We recently hired a Minneapolis wedding photographer that we are very excited about! The package we bought came with a free engagement session. If we had not purchased this package, I had no intention of getting engagement pictures taken at all. In my mind, we had plenty of pictures of us already, and I did not want to spend the time or money on engagement photos.

Photograph by Taylor O'Brien Photography

At first, I was not excited about taking engagement pictures.

We set a date for our engagement photos, and quite honestly I was not looking forward to them at all. Imagining getting a bunch of pictures taken of me was just not appealing. The idea of getting positioned in cheesy engagement photo poses was sickening to me, and picking out coordinating outfits was stressful. However, as we got going into the photo shoot, it turned out to be much more enjoyable than I had expected!

The best engagement photo poses aren’t ‘poses’ at all!

We chose pretty simple outfits that could go with almost anything. Our fabulous Minneapolis wedding photographer had all the ideas of where to go and when. We simply showed up at our meeting place, then he lead us to where we needed to be, directed us into some pretty simple engagement photo poses, and interacted with us. It turned out to be mainly him capturing actual moments more so than posed ones. He made the night extremely fun for us, which made it very easy for him to capture beautiful, candid moments. We had an amazing night and are extremely happy with the photos we got from it.

Photograph by Taylor O'Brien Photography

Our engagement photo shoot helped us bond with our Minneapolis wedding photographer.

What I realized from this night is that engagement pictures are an extremely important part of the wedding planning process. It helps a couple get to know the photographer and his/her style. It also helps the photographer get to know you, the couple, which in turn will lead to much better pictures on your wedding day. I highly recommend to everyone who thinks they don’t want engagement photos to just go for it! Check out the rest of Sammi and Jake’s engagement shoot!

Do you think engagement pictures are a must-do? Share your thoughts below!