Engagement

You are currently browsing articles tagged Engagement.

Why I Don’t Feature Many Engagement Shoots…

November 9, 2011 in Engagement, Personal Rambles | 38 comments

Photography Credit: Blue Lily Photography (Full shoot coming up soon!)

I’m often asked by wedding photographers what I look for in engagement shoots. You see, unlike many wedding blogs I actually feature very few pre-wedding shoots – in fact since January this year I’ve actually only featured 30 (out of approximately 780 blog posts in total!)

So why do I feature so few? Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE engagement shoots and I am a strong advocate for every single one of you having one before your wedding. They not only help you to get to know your wedding photographer before the wedding, but they give you a practice run for what it will be like to be photographed on your big day. For most of you, your wedding will be the first time you’ve been professionally photographed so you’re likely to be nervous. A pre-wedding shoot will help you to a) see that it’s actually not that scary and b) relax you about the whole thing before the wedding.

Now, don’t kill me, but the thing with engagement shoots is that often they are a lot more interesting to the actual couple and their close friends and family than to anyone else – i.e having a simple shoot of you and your beau is amazing for you guys and will give you some fabulous photos to put on your wall (or display at your wedding – I love this idea!) However to people that don’t know you, or anything about your relationship, seeing yet another anonymous couple frolicking in a field or enjoying a vintage picnic is, forgive me, a little dull.

…OK maybe ‘dull’ is the wrong word actually…overdone would be better. On Rock n Roll Bride I want to inspire my readers with new ideas, and let’s be honest, we’ve all seen these kinds of photo shoots before haven’t we?

My job as a wedding blogger is to share inspirational and aspirational wedding related images and not all engagement shoots fit that criteria. (Again, I am going to repeat myself on this one because the last thing I want to do is offend anyone that’s having a vintage picnic engagement shoot…seriously, at the end of the day, who cares what I think!?)

This is actually quite a hard post to write without making you think ‘Oh Kat’s an engagement shoot snob and if it’s not good enough for her shes not going post it.. that must mean that my engagement shoot is crap. My God she’s such a bitch…’ So I’m just going to reiterate one more time that this is the not the case at all and the only reason I’m actually putting this down on paper is because I’ve been asked the same question by wedding photographers so many times.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , ,

‘Caravan Of Love’ Engagement Shoot at The Photography Farm: Heather & Rob

October 12, 2011 in British Brides, Engagement | 6 comments

Before my shoot at The Photography Farm, the ‘farmers’ (as they’ve become affectionately known) were treated to a beautifully styled engagement shoot with Heather & Rob. The couple have booked Lisa to shoot their wedding in April and very bravely agreed to have their engagement shoot at Photography Farm. They told Lisa of their love of camping so the styling team ran with that theme! Hazy Days lent them ‘Sandie’ the caravan, Paper Pom Poms made some well…paper pom poms and Hannah of The Tea Set brought everything together!

“Its hard to express how amazing this whole experience was.” Lisa writes. “Photography Farm had been in planning for so long with me and Jayne talking about nothing else and obsessing over caravans and tractors. When it finally came round, I think a combination of the great photographers and brilliant team that took part, the beautiful light and the way we were looked after by the staff at the Farm made the whole experience quite magic.”

Aren’t these just beautiful shots? Oh Heather & Rob you are such gorgeous creatures!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

A Zombie Attack Engagement Shoot

August 22, 2011 in Engagement | 27 comments

So I saw a few of these images on various forums late last week, and then people started emailing me to tell me I had to check them out…and I’ll be honest, at first I was like “Huh? I don’t get it!” But then I received an email from Amanda Rynda, the photographer behind this engagement shoot, and I realised I hadn’t seen the full story.

A zombie attack engagement shoot? Eff yes!

Amanda told me all about the idea behind this crazy shoot. “I went to college with Juliana (we both studied animation at CalArts) so when Ben & Juliana got engaged and had the idea to do a zombie themed engagement session, I was so excited to be a part of it. They wanted to put their personalities into it and do something a little quirky. Quirky is right up my alley so I knew we’d have a great time pulling this idea together. Juliana told me ‘We want to survive a zombie attack and then hug because we’re in love!’ Who wouldn’t jump to do an engagement session like that?!”

“We didn’t do much to prepare. Our zombie (and fellow CalArts alum) Jason Boesch arrived with Ben & Juliana. Juliana styled the shoot and did the makeup. We just grabbed a shovel from my garage and headed out to have some fun. When we arrived at the location (just off the side of the road in Valencia CA) we just had to touch up Jason’s make up and then we ran with the idea making sure to just enjoy ourselves.”

“I knew I had to focus on the story unfolding so during the session, I tried to imagine I was a storyboard artist as I shot the photos. When I got home and looked at all the photos, I started sequencing my images. Then I color scripted them not unlike a feature film might. For the final touches, I had some fun zombifying Jason a little further using photoshop.”

Enjoy! (and try not to have nightmares…)

Be sure to check out the full set after the ‘jump’ (includes many unseen images) and flick through them chronologically for the best experience!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

A Simply Beautiful Brooklyn Engagement: Rebecca & Ben

August 4, 2011 in Engagement | 8 comments

The idea behind Rebecca & Ben’s engagement shoot was a simple one – to capture them in some of their favourite places in their own neighbourhood in Brooklyn.

“We went to their local bookstore, record store, and a fantastic hand crafted furniture shop (in the beginning of the set with the horse and cool stuff) called From The Source,” photographer Evangeline Lane told me. “ Some of my favorite shots are those in the elevator…which was a spontaneous spur of the moment decision.”

Rebecca’s beautiful hand-stitched dress came from her favourite boutique, Meg.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , ,

WIN An Engagement & Video Shoot with Assassynation Photography, Sassy n Frank & Elbie Van Eeden!

August 2, 2011 in Competitions | 9 comments

Rock n Roll Bride regular and favourite Sassy of Assassynation Photography, along with Frank from her sister venture Sassy n Frank, would like to offer one lucky reader of Rock n Roll Bride a free engagement shoot including professional (and erm… awesome) hair and make up to by another Rock n Roll Bride favourite Elbie Van Eeden (whenever I have a photo shoot or event to go to I always ask Elbie to make me up – she’s the BEST!)

Sassy wants to shoot the most awesome engagement shoot idea, so you’ll have to come up with something good! She wants to be challenged (tip: as does Elbie so come up with some awesome hair and make up ideas too!) The shoot can take place anywhere in the world but travel costs must be covered for Sassy, Elbie and Frank…

Oh yeah, did I mention you’ll get a video of the shoot too?! I know…we’re too good to you. The video would make a perfect digital invitation so we’d like the winner to not have sent their wedding invites out yet so you can burn the video to disc and include it to show it off to all your friends and family!

You’ll get two versions of the video – a ‘clean’ version and a copy with all your wedding info on to send out as part of your wedding invitations.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , ,