What to Wear for Your Engagement Session
This blogpost is going to answer the questions you have about the type of clothing, colors, style, patterns and outfit paring that will look best in your engagement images! Here we GO!
OPTIONS GALORE
First off, I always recommend bringing options with you to your engagement session. To get the best results, I’ll pick and pull from the options you bring for you guys to change into for each location we shoot! This way I can make sure the outfits compliment the environment so that the focus is on you two, not on any distractions, which yes, can be your outfits. All you have to do is make sure you bring stuff that you feel like a million bucks in that we can pick and pull from!
Don’t bring your whole close though. It will take too much time to go through everything and will take away from your session. Most people bring about 3-4 pairs of bottoms and 4-5 tops each, then you can bring dresses, accessories, jackets and whatnot as well. Also, just know that depending on where we are shooting, you’ll most likely be changing in the back of the car on the side of the road or in my hand dandy pop-up changing tent. If you aren’t down with that, that’s totally fine and you can just bring one outfit! Just make sure to text me a few photos of the outfit options you have and we can pick it out together beforehand.
MAKE SURE IT MAKES SENSE
Think about the conditions and locations we are going to be shooting in and plan around it. If we are going to be hiking the mountains, bring shoes with good grip and won’t twist your ankles in. If we are shooting on a sandy beach, it would look weird if you’re wearing shoes (ps heels are almost always a bad idea in most scenarios, unless you’re freakishly good at walking in them). If it’s freezing cold outside, bring lots of layers and warm clothes with wool socks and boots. If it’s going to be hot, bring clothes that can breathe more so you don’t have sweaty pit stains in the photos. Be as comfortable as you can be!
MOVEMENT
Like I said, make sure that the materials you wear will keep you comfortable during the shoot not only for temperatures but also for being able to move around in. If you’re in brand new jeans that are stiff and tight, you might be distracted during the shoot trying to make sure everything stays in place as well as lets you sit and run and move around in. I recommend bringing clothes that are ‘broken in’ so that you’ll be as comfortable as possible. I also love when people bring clothing or accessories that can show movement by catching wind, because it adds energy to the photos and looks so rad!
COLORS
I typically stick to recommending neutrals with earthy tones. Neutrals doesn’t mean just grays and browns, there’s neutrals of every color (mustard yellow, forest green, navy blue, burnt orange, etc). Stay away from bright, fluorescent distracting colors. The only specific colors I typically recommend to stay away from are pinks, bright oranges and reds. if you have dark or olive tone skin it might be an exception with the light conditions, but a lot of the time it results in people looking really pink and weird in photos. So just Try and stay away from those colors if you can, but if you really want to wear something that’s pink, orange or red just check with me! If you’re still felling lost, look through some of my past galleries for more color scheme inspo or click here to check out my Pinterest beloved session outfits vision board!
PATTERNS
Avoid big, loud, chunky, crazy patterns. The smaller or more subtle, the better! If the pattern is too loud, it will distract from your faces. Flannels are always a yes in my book! I usually try to avoid pairing too many patterns together because, you guessed it, it makes the photos feel a little hectic and distracting from your faces and the location. Also, be sure to iron your clothes before so there’s not huge wrinkles distractiNg from your faces either!
If you only take away one thing from this Wedding Pioneer educational blog post about What to Wear for your Engagement Session, let it be this: wear neutral, earth toned colors that compliment the feel of the location for your session. If you can at least pick out outfits with that in mind, you’ll be doing just fine! As always, we’re here to answer any questions you have and help you been 100% confident in your engagement session outfits!
Cheers!
-Allison
Allison Slater is a guest blogger for Wedding Pioneer. She’s a Traveling Wedding and Adventure Elopement Photographer based in Arizona. Allison is super passionate about the outdoors, her ten pound fur baby, being a wife and all about being Real, Raw + Authentic.
Allison is also a part of the Wedding Pioneer team as a photographer, curator and creative team member.
