McArthur,Ohio Engagement: Rebecca and Mitch 2012-02-11

I am really excited for Rebecca and Mitch’s wedding tomorrow afternoon!! Yay! We did their engagement session back in the summer/fall time in McArthur, Ohio where they are also getting married.  It was pouring down rain that day and there was no end in sight! Luckily, the property that we were on had a gorgeous, old barn.  We spent almost the entire time shooting every angle in the barn and then headed outside in the rain for a couple shots.

Enjoy the shots below from the day!

I hope you enjoyed their engagement session!

All about engagement sessions 2012-02-02

Engagement sessions!

I always get tons of questions about engagement sessions every wedding season.  I love working with my couples for their sessions – we always have a blast.  All of my couples that I work with during the year receive a complimentary engagement session in their wedding package.  I see this session as a must for all my couples.  The session lets me get to know both of you guys on a more personal level, see how you guys react in front of the camera, and you see how I work! Yay!

I recieve a lot of the same questions from my couples on the engagement session.  Some of these questions are:

What should we wear?

Where should we go?

Can we go to multiple locations?

Can we bring our dog/cat/rabbit/random other animal inserted here?

Do we get the images on a disc?

What time should we start?

What day can we do the session?

Most of these questions are covered during the wedding consultation that I have with each and every client when we talk about their wedding and photography needs. Most of these questions are also answered in the flyer that I give my couples with their welcome packet during the meeting.  My out of town/state couples receive this information through emails and of course everyone can always call me with these questions or similar questions before their engagement session.

I developed a great resource to help with the engagement session process.

http://engagement.pipersphotography.com/

At the above link you will find a wealth of information about locations for engagement sessions. That is usually the number one question I get is locations.

Here are my answers to the questions above:

 What should we wear?

I have a small guideline flyer that I give to my couples.  Mainly it says to wear what makes you feel good about yourself – aka when you look in the mirror you know you are lookin’ freakin’ amazing.  Those will be the best outfits for the session.  When you are 100% comfortable and feel amazing about yourself in the outfit that will show off in the photographs.  It is best if you are not messing to much with your outfit ( adjusting a low cut shirt, worrying about a short skirt flying up in the breeze, tripping on shoes, etc).

Always bring 2 outfits – I always say one dressy, one casual. If you are more dressy then casual then bring 2 of those and vice versa.  Whatever works for you!  Make sure you can sit, jump, lift your legs, etc in these outfits.  It is best to try them on a couple days before and make sure you are comfortable sitting in the outfits as well as standing.  Several of my couples are sitting, standing, walking, running, jumping during their sessions.  This does not mean that we are going to do all of these activities in your session, but it is good to not be limited due to clothes restrictions.

I will do a follow up post on outfits an clothes for an engagement session later this week.

Where should we go?

I always say if there is a location that is meaningful to you two, lets go there!  Favorite park, first place you met, first date, first place where you said I Love You, Fav coffee shop, etc.  If you can not come up with any locations that work then go to http://engagement.pipersphotography.com for tons of information on all the locations thatI have been to.  I love trying new locations and that is how I have found several of these locations. I am always open to new ideas!   Let me know if you like more rural or urban spaces, what you guys like to do in your free time together, your favorite activities.  All of these answers help me to give you some good ideas for your engagement session.

Can we go to multiple locations?

Yes, We can go to multiple locations for your engagement session.  I suggest keeping the driving time between these locations to a max of 5-10 minutes.  Normal engagement sessions last about 1.5 hours and by keeping the driving time down to a minimum then we are not spending all the time driving to the other location.  Several locations are big enough that there are tons of options to use for backgrounds and to interact with. Let me know what you are thinking for locations and multiple locations and I can help advice you on what would work the best.

Can we bring our dog/cat/rabbit/random other animal inserted here?

Please do!  Any animal that can not be put on a leash I say lets try to do those animals in a controlled environment.  Animals that can have leashed on them are more then welcome to come as long as the place we are going to allows animals. Make sure a babysitter comes along to take the animal when we are finished working with them.

What time should we start? 

2 hours before sunset is the best time to start. If we are unable to do that time, then I always say early morning is good especially in the summer.  Winter engagement sessions we can usually do any time as the sun is usually under cloud.

I hope that helps!

Engagement session outfits 2012-02-03

I know I could easily spend at least two hours if not more picking out outfits for a photo shoot. I change my mind, decide to buy something new to add to the mix, then end up going back to the original outfit I picked out to begin with. Ah, the craziness…

One main question that I get is what do we wear for the engagement session.  I touched on this briefly yesterday in the all about engagement session post.  In a nut shell, wear whatever will make you comfortable and feeling amazing.

Make sure you are able to move around, sit, jump, stand, dance and twirl in the outfit without to much fuss.

Make sure it all fits well and that you will not be readjusting your outfit every 10 minutes.

Don’t forget accessories! Matching shoes, belts, jewelry, etc.

Those above tips apply to both guys and girls.

Also – have the location picked out before the outfit! It helps if you do not blend in to much with the scenes.  I have done super cute pictures with couples wearing browns/blacks during a fall wood scene and had people look amazing in brightly colored tops in summer vines. I can help you out with the locations and what colors might work the best for what you have picked.  No matter what, I can work with whatever you give me!

It is great if you guys match a little bit or at least have the same style of clothing on.  You can wear the same family color between the two of you – but make sure they are different shades/tints of the color.  You in light blue, him in dark blue, etc. If you guys are in the same shade then it looks way to matchy matchy.  It is good to go with bright, happy colors if you do not know where to start.

Insert pinterest for inspiration.   Here are a bunch of super cute outfits that are good for engagement sessions.  All of these are listed with perfectly matching accessories which aren’t needed, but these are good jumping off ideas for you to browse through your closet for ideas.  I tried to go with outfits that have some basic essentials that most people would have in their closet.

Whoever came up with these clothing ideas need to serious help me and my closet!

Here are a couple highlights from the above lightbox

The Green dress!  The reason why I love this is because it is the perfect style of dress for running around in a photo shoot.  It doesn’t look like it would need to be adjusted to much and depending on what coverup you put on it – it can be casual or dressy.

Make sure you bring some comfy walking shoes if you plan on wearing heels!

Simple and cute.  Working with layers is always a great idea – it gives us tons of options without fully changing outfits

I want to own this dress and belt.

 I am on the fence about it though for a photo session. It is super cute, but I could see a lot of time spent adjusting.  This would be good with maybe an extra jacket added to it so that if something does happen to slip on one side, it isn’t noticeable . Windy day might be bad with this dress.

Don’t be scared of wearing shorts and a cute top – simple is always best.  We want your clothes to accent you, look cute, but not take over the picture

Cute, simple, clean. Love the concept.  I might have a cute sweat/jacket instead of the sweatshirt style – but this kind of has a ” I’m about to go to the beach” feel to it that I enjoy and if it fits your personality then rock it.

Hopefully that gives you girls some ideas! I had every intention of doing guy style in this post as well… but I really can’t find any great online pictures for guys!  Most of the guys I have worked with have had great style – head over to the engagement site to check out what my past girls and guys have worn for more ideas!

Mondays breakfast: Dogs! 2012-02-06

Happy Monday!

Did everyone enjoy the Super Bowl? Or rather the commercials?   I think my favorite commercial was the dog that was to big to fit through the doggie door – so he worked out and then was able to run out the doggie door and chase the car.  All of the coke and polar bear commercials were pretty great  as well.  I found all of these pictures off of either pinterest or various websites – they are not mine

Since my fav commercial was the dog one – enjoy these dog pictures! 

I can see Bentley thinking the pillow popped and I crack up each time I see this picture.

Bentley needs to learn this kind of patience. I am lucky if I get one on his nose

The look kills me

That’s all!

Enjoy your monday!

Mini session special! 2012-02-06

Februrary mini photo session special!

This session is perfect for families, children, or getting a session of you for your valentine!

Check out the details below – I will only be have a select number of these sessions at this price.

The package includes

1 hour mini portrait session at either my studio near Lancaster, Ohio or anywhere in the Central, Ohio/Columbus Ohio area – This can be at your house if that is easier for the young ones!

30 edited high resolution images on disc

Please book early so I can make sure your session gets scheduled.  I am only doing a select amount of sessions for this price .

Retainer amount to hold your scheduled booking is $35.00 and the remaining $40.00 is due the day of the session.

Book your session now!