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When Mr. Guinea Pig and I first got engaged, we decided we would ask his local friend P to take some photos of us as ’engagement pictures’. Mr. GP stalled and stalled, never asking P, always saying, “he’s busy, I’ll ask him next time.” Finally August came around, and Mr. Guinea Pig had to move to California until the end of January (boooo). So now we don’t have engagement photos, and we don’t even live on the same side of the country!
A month or so ago, Mr. Guinea Pig came home for a visit, and I made him stand in front of the camera with me while I snapped a few photos with my remote trigger just for fun. I messed with a couple of the photos in Photoshop and loved the result of one in particular:
(you can actually sort of see the remote in my hand behind Mr. GP)
This was taken against a deep green wall in our kitchen, and then I ran a Seventies action on it from an action set I downloaded from The Pioneer Woman. We snapped a whole series of photos but unfortunately my camera had a hard time focusing if the green wall behind us was in the focus spot. My other favorite photo (completely unedited) is this one:
(a little blurry, but Mr. Guinea Pig’s so cute!)
These photos just strengthened my resolve to have some kind of engagement pictures taken (other than by me with a remote in my hand, which can be seen in 90% of the photos… oops!). I have a good friend who is a great wedding photographer (Mrs. Apple Cider’s cousin, Dorsett Clark, in fact!) but she lives far away from me, so I thought perhaps I could ask my sister who is also an excellent photographer to snap a few photos of Mr. Guinea Pig and me. Neither Mr. GP nor I love having our photos taken, so I’m hoping that a photo session before the wedding will help us figure out how to relax in front of the camera - especially since I’m usually behind the lens!
Did you have someone other than your wedding photographer take your engagement pictures? How did they turn out?
Did you take engagement pictures? Do you recommend them, or do you think they’re conceited (as Mr. GP has hinted to me)? What are your tricks for relaxing in front of the camera?
I loved ours. For me to get comfortable in front of the camera, I sort of did what y’all did: I took my tripod out and just did self-portrait shots. (That were the non-cheesin’ smile variety). It helped a lot. Plus, our photog was/is awesome, and he had us comfortable in no time.
I say go for it, even though you can do some great things by yourselves. 
Engagement photos are so much fun, and totally worth it! They definitely help you get more relaxed in front of the camera–they can also help you decide what to do differently about hair/make-up for the wedding day. I knew from mine (a) not to cut my bangs so short right before the wedding and to splurge for some hair color and (b) to wear a darker lipstick!
Do them! I learned so much about what NOT to do on our wedding day (case in point: I laugh. A lot. With my mouth wide open. “cute” in person; “ridic/hideous” in photos). Your personal ones are awesome too though
i scheduled a regular photo shoot with a friend of mine who i’m hoping is available to shoot our wedding in the future so this will be a fantastic warm up for my guy. i’m already camera immune thanks to all my friends and their point & shoots and his slr. lol
You should do them! Even if your wedding photographer isn’t doing them, it’s good practice for getting comfortable in front of the camera! We’re having a photographer friend do them, so our actual wedding photographer isn’t going to be the one taking them, but we’re really looking forward to it!
definitely a do! Gotta get comfortable and see what looks good before the wedding!
that first picture is amazing! Can’t wait to see the ‘real’ ones!
Mr. LatteLove was kind of against pictures too,but I convinced him to give it a try and we had an absolute blast. Definitely good practice for being in front of the camera on the big day!
We did them, and they were a “tryout” for our wedding photographers. Once we saw the shots and loved them, we booked them right away for the wedding!
We had our friend take them and I’m so happy we did it. I honestly didn’t think I’d feel so awkward in front of the camera, but as the day went on, we both relaxed a ton and learned to just go with the flow instead of worrying about what we were doing/how we were standing, etc. It’s good prep for wedding pics!
We had some friends take our engagement photos about 2 months after we got engaged, long before anything else was planned and long before I even looked into booking the wedding photographer. They came out great and only cost us $50 (yay friendors!).
The downside is, I was definitely nervous and goofy, and I think we got a total of one shot where I was able to look “serious.” Or even remotely calm. I’m afraid that since we took them more than a year before the wedding that I will have the same nervous goofiness for our wedding photographer. Although it has certainly given me plenty of time to think about how I want to look in wedding photos.
We had our wedding photographer take ours. It was a great way to feel out their style, get comfortable in front of the camera (find out how much your face will hurt from smiling for 2 straight hours), and see how they “correct” the pictures.
We didnt get engagement pics, maybe like 5 pics by our student photog. I say go for it and get them done by a pro, no offense to anyone, but i think i would’ve been more happy with a pro. Btw, did your camera come with a remote? Im shopping for a new camera is why i ask.
They turned out great! You guys look really great. I totally enjoyed taking e-pics - they were a ton of fun!
I think I’m only taking e-pics if they come for free in my photography pictures. I’m not sure what Id do with them!!!
wow–GREAT first pic! if someone told me a year ago that i would be taking engagement pictures i would have snorted with laughter–but yes, we did them and i totally enjoyed it. it was fun, and good practice getting comfortable with someone snapping a camera in your face.
Like Miss Pug I also DID NOT think that we would be doing an engagement session. But, it turns out that one comes with every single package that our photographer offers… and now I’m really excited for our engagement session!
Those turned out great for a DIY shoot! We’re not doing e-pics, since Mr. Cola is allergic to getting his picture taken (supposedly). So all we have of us so far is mainly the “stand head to head and hold the camera up” self shots. 
The more I see great ones - the more I want to have them taken!
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Mrs. Guinea Pig, Baltimore, MD Age and Occupation: 26, PhD student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Operations Director at a non-profit Engagement Date: December 25, 2008 Wedding Date: May 2010 Venue: The Chesapeake Bay Beach Club About Me: I'm a tomboy science nerd whose girly side has made a startling appearance thanks to wedding planning! I love to bake, knit and sew but I also ride a motorcycle (that Mr. Guinea Pig wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole). We live with our three crazy cats and love to read, travel, watch movies, and do home improvement projects together! My parents/family are Canadian but I'm definitely American, although I've lived in 5 different countries, 6 different states, and speak Russian fluently. Mr. GP and I met online (did I mention I'm a scientist?) and had a whirlwind romance - now we can't wait to get married & celebrate with all our friends and family in a blue and yellow waterfront affair!
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