After 18 years of shooting weddings, I decided the wisest thing to do was to include the engagement portrait as part of my wedding package. Meaning – my wedding packages cost the same with or without the portrait session. Why, with so much experience under my belt shooting weddings, would I give my time away for free?
This is why:
- It’s Wedding Day Insurance: The engagement session gives me a chance to figure out how to make them look their best and a chance for them to get to know me and feel comfortable with a camera in their face. Also once they see the portraits they have ultimate faith in me on the day of the wedding – which makes them more relaxed, which makes my job much easier and the photographs much better.
- It’s Word of Mouth Advertising: My clients love the experience I create during the session – and they love the photos. This means they will share the photos online and talk about me to their friends and family long before their wedding. Often I book another wedding of one of their friends, based just on engagement portraits.
- I’m Batting 1000: All of my clients who have submitted their engagement portraits to the NY Times Wedding Announcements have had them published. This gives me a bit of bragging rights and is a good selling point.
- Added Value: Weddings are expensive. My rates fall in the mid to high range. Being able to say something is “included” makes my potential clients feel like they are getting a good deal. And who doesn’t like to feel like they are getting a good deal!
My wedding photography style is artful documentary, meaning that my clients hire me because they are looking for a photographer who can “capture the moment”. Of course, they want beautiful portraits, but they want something more too. And since marriage is an adventure, so I like the engagement shoot to be one as well. While I will sometimes take my clients to the “classic” NYC locations (Central Park, Bethesda Fountain, The Highline, The Brooklyn Bridge), I prefer to take them to locations that mean something to them personally. I have taken couples to the place they met, or where they had their first date, their favorite coffee shop etc… Mostly I want the photo shoot to be fun and to create an atmosphere where they are relating to one another in a loving way. So rather than focus on the location of the shoot or how I pose the couple, I focus on creating an environment that will produce “moments”.
This past week, I had an engagement portrait scheduled and the weather forecast predicted rain. At first, I told them, “Don’t worry. It will be a fun adventure. Bring umbrellas, a little bit of rain is romantic”. Then the day arrived and it was a deluge of water. I asked if they wanted to re-schedule, mentioning that the sky looked more moody than romantic. They replied, “We are moody people and up for the adventure.” We had a great time and the rain stopped just before the photo shoot leaving shiny streets and beautiful light. I am always up for an adventure and I feel super fortunate that most of my clients are, too.
