Are Engagement Pictures Really Necessary?

[mark21]

As I think, it's not necessary to have engagement ceremony if you are in a tight budget. You can have this ceremony before the engagement within your family before the wedding ceremony.

As I think, it's not necessary to have engagement ceremony if you are in a tight budget. You can have this ceremony before the engagement within your family before the wedding ceremony.

[diadiamond]

I'm so glad you asked this question!  I have the exact, same question.  I live in Canada too and the cost for an engagement shot is so pricey!  Most photographers want about $450.00 (before taxes).  That's like the cost of my ceremony lol.  I don't think they are necessary unless you want them or are planning to use them for your invitations or something.  Personally, I would rather just have my wedding pictures.  We're still on the fence with having them done, but if we get them done it would probably be by a friend or a student to cut down costs. 

[CurlyKristen]

I don't think it is necessary, just that it depends on how important photography is to the couple. We plan to take engagement photos at our fair in June because it will kinda be a throwback to our first date that was at an amusement park. We also are having one of my friends from work take the pictures. He is way into photography and has done lots of engagements and a few weddings so we are saving using him.

[bicoastalimages]

Special offer for Canadian couples in Toronto (GTA) or Southern Ontario...My hubby & I are Canadian wedding photographers living in Cancun/Riviera Maya, Mexico and travel throughout the Caribbean shooting destination weddings. We spend our summers back in Toronto shooting weddings & also engagement sessions throughout southern Ontario for our future beach brides & grooms. 

 

Kind of a nice bonus to offer our clients...pro destination wedding photography PLUS engagement sessions in Ontario (and yep we have packages that include E-sessions and/or Trash the Dress sessions) It's also a great way for us to get to know our couples ahead of time!

 

 

 

[mysticjade]

I love engagement photos but originally didn’t want them because the cost of wedding-related photography really bothers me, and I thought my money could be better spent somewhere else. But my FI thinks they’re a great idea, so we’re going to get some done once it’s not so cold and gross outside. ;P We’re going to use them on our wedding website, and also just keep them for sentimental reasons; we’re not the type of people to take a lot of photos of ourselves so we have a surprising lack of “couple photos”.

 

We will probably pick the same person to do our wedding photos and the engagement photos, it’s a friend of a friend who’s done destination weddings before, and we’ve even seen her in action so it’ll work out pretty well I think.

 

But by all means, if they’re not important to you, don’t do them! It’s your wedding and your budget, do what’s right for you.

[Kyliewylie]

we're only doing them becauswe we got them for free when my finace bought my enagagement ring - otherwise I don't really see the point, especially if you are having a photographer and videographer at your wedding

[tygrrlily]

i've been debating this too. I actually really like looking at people's engagement pics even more than their wedding pics because you see people more in their natural element. That being said, a lot of people's pics do look super posed and cheesy. I would like to get pics done of my fiance and I, but I don't think he will want to. I also already made our save the dates and website just using regular vacation pics. I do plan on doing a trash the dress shoot though - I love how they look!

[kmk2016]

Nope! We aren't doing them! We have lived together for 3 years and have 3 kids between us (my second wedding)... We have plenty of pics taken over the years. It would feel weird for us to get engagement pics done I think! Our parents only care about pics of the grandkids at this point so I would feel cheesy doing them only to put up around our own house!

[TinkerSofi]

I agree with a lot of your guys' posts. We looked around and the price of decent engagement photos is around $400. This just seems insane to me, especially when you factor in the crazy prices of the wedding pics themselves. We did decide to splurge on the photography and videography for our wedding but that meant we needed to compromise somewhere else. Some of our friends got their engagement session for free when they booked the photographer for their wedding but they had a local wedding so it made total sense. I also shopped around for local photographers who also did destination weddings but they still charged the accommodations plus some percentage of the package that you wanted. It ended up being more expensive than hiring someone at our destination. 

 

We've been dating for 6 years so for our website we will use pictures of us throughout the years. I think that would be pretty cute. 

[csho]

@@kmk2016 I laughed at your mention of the grand kids... not that I have any children of my own yet but my sister has a daughter and my parents just love her so much. We get "neglected" now and shes the centre of attention lol!