ok, i had a post all planned to catch you all up on the end of my weekend, but i somehow forgot to transfer those photos into my dropbox, so that post will have to wait until tonight when i get back home to my laptop. 
instead, i thought i’d do my first wedding post!
today’s topic is engagement photos! now, i know some people think that getting engagement photos taken is a waste of time and money. i disagree. and i’ll tell you why. in a lot of cases, the engagement photo shoot is included in wedding packages for a reason. it’s a chance for you to get to know your photographer, to get comfortable with him/her, and for him/her to get to know your style and preferences for you pictures.
for example, at our engagement photo shoot, brad and i met our photographer, shanna, at our agreed upon location: the lighthouse in manitowoc, wi.
before we even got started, shanna met capone (we took a couple photos with him), and she asked us about what we’re looking for in our pictures. do we want to do formal photos or more relaxed? smiling or not? looking at the camera or more candid?
of course, like any good photographer, she did a mix of all of those options (except formal – we aren’t going for a very formal feel to our wedding), but did a majority with the preferences that we indicated.
we ended up going to 3 different locations around manitowoc for our photos and did 3 changes of clothes. this can vary by photographer and couple preferences, though.
here is a quick example of some of our photos:
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now, what do you do with all of these pictures?!? we used ours for an engagement announcement in the local newspaper, our save the dates, and made a lot of prints to decorate our apartment and my desk at work! 
i also used a bunch of them to make a calendar for brad for 2011.
our photographer did an AMAZING job & we’re so excited for her to shoot our wedding!
for anyone who is curious, here is shanna allen photography’s facebook page and website, which has her contact infofmation. brad and i highly recommend her!
what do you think of engagement photos? do you think you will/did you do them?
edited to add: brad and i and our families are paying for these photography services entirely on our own. we were not compensated in any way for this post. these are our honest opinions, as always!
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Your pictures came out wonderful! I love them all. The ice cream shot is too cute.
thank you! eating the ice cream was my favorite part of the photo shoot!
Sarah you are beautiful! these are so lovely!
thanks so much! our photographer did an amazing job making us look good.
awesome!! the last one is flipping stunning! well, they are all stunning! =) congrats on your engagement sarah!
thank you thank you! i’m blushing.
Awww these are beautiful pictures – they came out great!!!
thanks, dawn! it was so fun getting them taken, too!
Great pictures! My favorite is the one with the ice cream sundae. So cute!!
those were my favorites to shoot, too! although she got a couple with ice cream + fudge dripping down my chin – not so hot.
love these pics. we did engagement photos and i love them! i have a couple framed in our house and gave some away as gifts. you’re right, it was a great way to get to know the photographer and get even more excited about the wedding!
yes! we’ll probably give some as gifts with some of our wedding photos after the big day.
Your pics are great!!! I have no idea what I will do with my photos whenever I get engaged but my sis used them on her save the date magnents!
they’re great for save the dates! at least in our case, they’re so much nicer than anything we could have taken ourselves, so i really liked having them to send to people. we also put them on our wedding website!
Our EP were part of the wedding package-I didn’t mind them after they were done bc they turned out so well (some are on my about page)-yours turned out beautiful!
kristina, i just went and looked at your engagement photos. they are so good! you and your fiance are such a good looking couple.
I just realized I missed this post, too! (Can you tell I’m in looking-at-wedding-posts mode right now?) Great pictures – you guys are a really great looking couple! Your pictures look so natural, candid and fun.
aww, thanks amy!!
i need to get back into wedding mode – i feel like i’m going to fall behind really quickly!
These pictures are too cute. You both look extremely happy. What a fun and exciting time!
aww, thanks briana!!
that just made me day.
I am so glad I looked at these !! How sweet they are!! U and your fiance are such a great couple!! Your wedding will be here soon!! So excited for you guys!!!
Your engagement photos are so sweet! You 2 look great together
Congrats!