Last year, I met this really awesome gal named Maureen. She and fiance Tom visited me in my home office to discuss wedding photography for their upcoming September nuptials at Deep Creek Lake and I’m pretty sure we immediately became friends during that meeting, which was a huge win for both me and JFP because they’re awesome. 🙂

Throughout our continued interactions, I discovered that Maureen enjoys writing and has really enjoyed the wedding planning process.  One thing in particular that she put much time and thought into while planning was what she and Tom would wear for their engagement session. I remember texting back and forth with her in the days leading up to the session trying to help her figure out what might be best. But when it came down to it, Maureen and Tom knew what would suit them best.

Maureen was kind enough to put together this guest blog post explaining how exactly they decided what to wear for their engagement session and included some tips and encouragement for other couples trying to do the same. I took their engagement pictures last August and the whole session was a success…including their clothing choices because what they decided to wear was totally them!

Thanks so much for sharing, Maureen! I am PUMPED for your wedding! And our continued friendship, too. See you for lunch next week! 🙂 (Right now would be an appropriate place for a picture of the two of us…we should make that happen soon, friend!)

FROM MAUREEN: When Tom and I got engaged we knew we wanted a longer engagement, but we were also ready to set a date and start planning. I have a few events under my belt so I felt very comfortable in the planning process. But as we started to iron out specific details, the more this all seemed so foreign to me. This was our wedding, so of course there was a lot more emotional attachment to the event than there was with any other event. This wasn’t just a festival or fundraiser, but something so personal to celebrate the beginning of a great new chapter in our lives. 

To be honest, we weren’t sure we would have even scheduled an engagement session if it hadn’t been included in Jessica’s wedding photography package. Sure, it would be nice to have some professional photos of us, but at first I assumed it would have ended up as a budget line item that could have been crossed off. I am SO happy that we ended up doing the session. It was the first thing Tom and I had to truly coordinate together for the wedding, and we got to see how we would get along with Jessica, and of course how we would react together in front of the camera. It’s not a totally natural thing for every couple, and we were grateful for the practice. 

We love to do things outside together so this engagement session was the perfect opportunity to capture us as a couple. The wedding photos are about that day, and friends and family, so we went a little more adventurous for our session. Tom has an old canoe that we love to take out on the lake, we bike together a lot, and we were stoked to include our dog Parker in the photos as well. Jessica had the great idea of doing the session at Deep Creek Lake State Park around sunset. So we had our location, equipment, and timeline…we just needed to figure out what to wear.  

Little did I know I’d be texting Jessica the week before our session…”But yea seriously what should we wear!?” We wanted to be bold but comfortable. We wanted to coordinate but not MATCH. I look great in red but it’s not always best for photos unless you have that exact, perfect lighting. I had a list of numerous accessories and sent photos to Jessica with ideas. I was almost ready to scrap the idea of the canoe and bikes so I could wear this one dress…

No. just no. I took a deep breath and picked out my two favorite outfits I’d been wearing all spring and summer. The romper I had biked to the beach in almost every day when we were there, and my go-to outfit: jeans, a black top and a bold necklace. Done. It was a no-brainer. There was no outfit in my closet that was going to make me look 10 lbs lighter, no shirt was going to eliminate the humidity that had creeped in in late August, and no shoes that were going to make Parker behave like the perfect pup he’s never been. We grabbed a blanket we love for the canoe and scrapped all of the other accessories (besides the bikes and canoe). We were also lucky enough to be able to pull in some reinforcements from our parents, which add some great memories when looking at the photos. Tom’s Mom pulled together some beautiful wildflowers for us, and my parents wrangled Parker while we took our other photos. 

The advice out there is solid – wear something that is totally you and expresses your own style. I do think it takes some planning and time to coordinate, but it doesn’t have to be exhaustive, and the only person who knows what you should wear when taking pictures with your love is you! If you’re reading this and your session is tomorrow…I’d do a load of laundry.

And that right there is one of the pictures Maureen shared with me via text the week of her session. It so wonderfully displays how fun and awesome she and Tom are, and really sort of makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. They really wanted me to get a good idea of what they’d look like in their options, ha! 🙂

THANKS A MILLION for writing, Maureen! I’m so glad we’re friends!

P.S. Their engagement session was recently featured on The Deep Creek Wedding! Check it!

Day 10 of Starting Something New.