Labor Day weekend, we traveled up to NYC to have our engagement pictures taken at Coney Island. First off, Coney Island is a hike and a half from Manhattan. I will also say that the DC metro, for all of its faults, spoils me with air conditioning. Once we got there, we were faced right away with hordes of people. Somehow in my mind it was just going to be us at a major tourist spot, silly me. We had never met our photographer before (he is J’s sister’s friend) and was recommended to us because he was in photography school. We saw some of his homework photos and thought they were good.
Never having done an engagement session and working with an inexperienced wedding photographer, I would like to present my lessons learned:
1) Come prepared with poses in mind and don’t be scared to be cuddly, otherwise you will not be touching your SO in any of the pictures.
2) Even if you are feeling nervous, remember not to babble the whole time. Your mouth will be opened in every picture (like me).
3) Make sure to take lots of pictures. J hates getting her picture taken so she wanted to cut the session as short as possible, but I wish we had shot at more than 3 rides/games.
Over all, I wish we could have a do over, where I smiled nicely, kept my shoulders back and touched J. I have looked at so many gorgeous engagement photos in the past couple months, that my expectations had been inappropriately raised. It is like looking at Martha Stewart Weddings and expecting my wedding to look like their staged ones. This is my first instance of getting wrapped up in what things should look like as opposed to reality and it was a good wake up call.
Did anyone else have a discouraging first meeting or was it photographer love at first sight?