If you’re thinking of booking us for your engagement session, you should know what kinds of images you’ll get. The images of you two together will be beautiful above all else. We know how important that is to every couple and make sure you love how you look in the photos. You’ll also get creative engagement pictures. Your relationship is unique, and the images of this step in your journey together should show the world that. And finally, you’ll receive at least one goofy engagement portrait. Which might seem like a strange thing to promise you. But we commit ourselves to revealing your love story with our photography. And never is the love that brings a couple to their wedding day more apparent than when they’re laughing. Walls come down, and we see how they are when no one is watching.
When it comes to funny engagement photos, the ideal is a spontaneous moment that we happened to capture on film. One of you reacting to something silly the other said or did, for example. A genuine, unscripted and unposed moment shared between two people who love each other. That glimpse into what makes your relationship tick that we mentioned above.
Things like that don’t happen during every engagement session, unfortunately. As we’ve mentioned elsewhere, these kinds of photoshoots can be a little awkward and stressful. Unless you’re both models, you’ve probably never had someone take professional portraits of you as a couple. So you are likely to come into the session unsure of what to do or how to act. (We understand exactly how you feel, by the way!) If that’s the case, we’ll give you some prompts or little scenarios designed to relax and loosen you up. Many of those also get you laughing and having a bit of fun. And they should lead to some wonderfully goofy engagement portraits.
What we really try to avoid, though, is overly staged “funny” engagement photos. You know the ones we mean. The pictures that are trying a little too hard to be cute and humorous, but aren’t spontaneous enough to really be authentic. And if they don't at least feel real, they don't tell you much about the couple and who they are.
Every once in a while, though, we will break our own rule. But only if there’s a really fun, genuinely goofy engagement portrait to be had. And only if we can find ways to make it a little more real.
We’d like to think that this engagement photo is a great example of a partially staged shot that is goofy without being overly contrived. We took it at the famous Minneapolis Sculpture Garden outside the Walker Art Center. That park’s most iconic installation is certainly Claes Oldenburg’s “Spoonbridge and Cherry.” However, Katharina Fritsch’s bright blue “Hahn/Cock” statue has quickly become a fan favorite.
As engagement photographers, we love the giant rooster. In particular, we love how it lines up perfectly with the “X With Columns” installation. From the right angle, it appears right in the space between two of those columns. Even more helpfully, there are two other spaces in the same arm of the “X.” Spots that are ideal places for two people in a fun engagement photo. We saw this particular scene and concluded that there was no way we couldn’t put the future bride and groom in between those columns. And of course they were going to have to be facing the same direction as the giant blue rooster!
Fortunately, the couple was more than happy to pose for this shot. And in that way, the image – though a bit staged – did say something about who they are. The bride- and groom-to-be are fun people who don’t take themselves too seriously. (When we had them walk through the snow later in their engagement shoot, they spent the entire time trying to push each other into a snowbank.) So a shot like this was right up their alley!
We should add that the couple is also very brave! They actually agreed to a winter engagement portrait session in Minneapolis! As Pete knows, it is in every native Minnesotan’s DNA to not let the cold bother them. But their resilience was still really impressive!
Interested in learning more about our services? Please visit our Wedding Photography FAQ page for answers to all your questions! Ready to inquire about our availability on your wedding date? Contact us now to get the conversation started!
Location: Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, 725 Vineland Pl, Minneapolis, MN 55403, United States.
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