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Photography: Engagement session necessary?

Jdunk2008Jdunk2008
in Budget and DIY Weddings
Anybody on a budget cutting the engagement session?
Any previously married people feel that the engagement session was necessary?

I'm having a small wedding (80 people) in September of this year and just wondering if the engagement session is really necessary?
I think it is great to get to know the photographer and feel comfortable...but I'm just not sure!
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Re: Photography: Engagement session necessary?

  • bdmweddingbdmwedding
    I think this really just depends on whether or not you feel the need to have a bunch of photos of yourself prior to your wedding, when you're gonna just have a bunch more photos of yourselves a few months later. Personally, I don't.

    I am however paying a pro-photographer friend $100 to spend long enough to capture one good shot for our Save the Dates. If we weren't having a wedding out of state for half of our guests and a really long engagement, I'd probably skip those too, but they're necessary to give everyone time to book flights.
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  • kerbohlkerbohl
    I nixed the engagement shoot to save some money.  I have a photographer friend who took some wonderful shots of us way back when we were only dating for a year, and they are more than good enough for engagement photos, so I saved myself a couple hundred dollars by not getting a package with the extra shoot.  Some people warned me that then you don't get to know your photographer and his/her style, but I can think on my feet, so I should be able to adjust on the wedding day.  I really don't think it is that big of a deal to not have a shoot with a photographer beforehand. 
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  • scribe95scribe95
    It never occurred to me to do engagement photos and I haven't missed them once.
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  • AddieL73AddieL73
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_budget-weddings_photography-engagement-session-necessary?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:665Discussion:66c553fb-6e02-496d-a319-3509a5f7ebc0Post:db8c330a-9d83-4164-81aa-ef63f37da806">Re: Photography: Engagement session necessary?</a>:
    [QUOTE]It never occurred to me to do engagement photos and I haven't missed them once.
    Posted by scribe95[/QUOTE]


    Ditto this.
    photo 2pics_zps4cff3adc.jpg Daisypath Anniversary tickers
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  • yellowdaisies84yellowdaisies84
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_budget-weddings_photography-engagement-session-necessary?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:665Discussion:66c553fb-6e02-496d-a319-3509a5f7ebc0Post:d7ea9ec8-4c94-4132-a415-8496ebdfc4fa">Photography: Engagement session necessary?</a>:
    [QUOTE]Anybody on a budget cutting the engagement session? Any previously married people feel that the engagement session was necessary? I'm having a small wedding (80 people) in September of this year and just wondering if the engagement session is really necessary? I think it is great to get to know the photographer and feel comfortable...but I'm just not sure!
    Posted by Jdunk2008[/QUOTE]

    <div>My fiance and I are on a budget and we are not doing an engagement session. We think that it's optional, not necessary. We'd rather save that money and put it towards our wedding day photography, which is expensive. </div>
    "It's always better when we're together." -Jack Johnson
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  • Erikan73Erikan73
    We didn't do engagement photos. We weren't going to put an announcement in the paper and weren't going to be using the photos as part of our "Save the Date" announcements so didn't see the need.
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  • KimandByronKimandByron
    We are only doing them because the package we have chosen for our wedding day includes it. We are doing photography and videography
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  • Jdunk2008Jdunk2008
    In Response to Photography: Engagement session necessary?:
    [QUOTE]Anybody on a budget cutting the engagement session? Any previously married people feel that the engagement session was necessary? I'm having a small wedding (80 people) in September of this year and just wondering if the engagement session is really necessary? I think it is great to get to know the photographer and feel comfortable...but I'm just not sure!
    Posted by Jdunk2008[/QUOTE]

    Thanks everyone. I probably emailed back and forth with 10 diff photographers my options. Finally settled on one that is giving me tons of stuff including engagement photos for free. I got a great deal and I think the photos will be great.
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  • JordanF13JordanF13
    The engagement session was included in the package we picked from the photographer.
    <a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="D
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  • KnottieKnottie
    I actually cut the professional photographer right out, period. There's only one shot we're worried about being good, and that's the family group photo. Too often, I've seen wedding albums just collecting dust to the tune of a couple thousand dollars, it just didn't seem worth it to me.
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