We do engagement sessions for nearly all of our wedding clients, and none of them ever pay us for it. We don’t advertise it around much, because it’s not a gimmick to get you to sign a contract. It’s something important to the way we produce the images we do.
Why We Shoot Engagement Sessions
When someone books their wedding with us, we shoot their engagement session in order to build a highly beneficial foundation for the wedding day itself. And because people are fascinating and it’s important to enjoy those that life brings our way.
A good photographer, who is also a good friend, is going to have a sense of what matters to you much better than someone else. Not everyone has a good friend who’s also a good photographer. The engagement session is our opportunity to lay some of that foundation. An opportunity to really laugh and really smile, and make some real memories that can bring energy and enthusiasm to our time with you on your wedding day.
Why We Won’t Put It On The Your Contract, Even Though We’re Going to Do It
There is a business relationship formed when a client hires us to photograph their wedding, just like any other wedding vendor, or business for that matter. But your accountant can still do her job well, even if you never crack a smile in her presence.
In order for photographers to capture the images–the real images–of you and your soon to be spouse, it’s necessary to transcend that business relationship into something more personal. Something that allows you to be yourself.
If you look at how relationships are formed, we first make an acquaintanceship with someone. As in our case, the signing of a contract and the shared goals of making your wedding day awesome and having something awesome to show for it. But in order to do that, the relationship must continue into something with shared personal trust.
The engagement session becomes our first opportunity to trust each other in some small personal way.
There are no special contracts for the engagement session and almost no formalities. We’ll pick a place, and a time and we’ll talk about some ideas for the images. And then we’ll do it, and enjoy it, just like any other personal relationship. The difference is subtle, but significant. Neither party has to be there. But both parties are there.
Why We Don’t Do it Like Everyone Else
Because we aren’t like everyone else. We consider ourselves the caretakers of other people’s memories–not something we take lightly. And, we charge enough. When a client comes under our care, it is no longer money we are concerned with. Our concern is in preserving their brand new family history, right from the start. And, doing something we don’t have to do, but want to do and choose to do, is one of our first opportunities to prove that.