Congratulations!  You are engaged to be married to the love of your life!

There are so many exciting things to think about and research as you create the wedding of your dreams.  This obviously includes your vendors-duh!  They are after all, the go-to team of Rockstar professionals that will bring all of your visions to life.

As one of Baltimore’s busiest hair and makeup teams, we have been blessed enough to be a part of so many love stories over the years.  And we are here today to talk about one key thing.  Your engagement session.

Most of todays wedding photographers offer an engagement session as a part of your wedding package.  This is a brilliant thing.  You will have stunning images to share with friends and family, to add to your save-the-dates, to use as that hot Facebook profile picture, and memories to keep forever!  Not to mention, this is a chance for your and your photographer to work together so they have a feel for you as a couple when the big day comes.

An important thing to consider, is engagement session glam.  You will be getting a stack of images with thoughtful wardrobe choices, and the perfect backdrop telling your love story.  Hair and makeup for such an occasion is absolutely another key aspect to making these images even more amazing.  Let this message serve as a cautionary tale of how to make that the best experience it can be.  Minus all the stress.

We often get requests to use our bride’s trial session time, as a great way to get glam for their engagement session.  While this might seem like the perfect, “kill two birds with one stone” approach for checking things off your bride-to-be to-do list, here are some thoughts on why it might not.

 

Scheduling

Typically, your engagement session will take place long before you walk down the aisle.  You might schedule this early on in the process, and may not have all the aesthetic pieces for your bridal look put together yet.  As we talked about in our trials article, we need to get the overall feel for your special day.  The dress, shoes, venue, accessories, colors, flowers, and all the other special details that make your wedding look, well…yours.  You will be able to dial into what you want to see in your hair and makeup, once you have all those pieces in place.

You may also have a fall engagement sessions for a spring wedding, or vice versa.  No doubt, you might want to look different for each occasion.  The look and vibe should be totally different.  More on that later.  Keep reading.

Timing

If you’ve planned this super amazing shoot to take place right at sunset, at your favorite spot, with your fiancé, and photographer waiting, timing is so crucial.  You’ll need to make sure you account for all the things.  Forgetting something at home.  Avoiding traffic.  Finding a place to park (Baltimore, ya know).  Making sure you meet us for your trial will in time, and get out the door in time, will rob you of the relaxed and focused mind-set you need to have to make it a successful trail.  Your mind will half way be on our time together, and half on the list of things you need to do when you leave.  (Like making sure your other half remembered to bring/wear the cute socks you picked up just for this photo session).

The Look

This is the biggest reason.  You may not want your wedding look to be the exact same as your engagement look.  You might want to try a bright lip, winged liner, and a braid crown for your engagement session.  This is a great time to play around with hair and makeup looks you’ve always wanted to try but never have.  You can have way more fun this way.  You can play off your wardrobe (which is obviously different than the wedding) and really tell a personal, more causal story with your look.  If your having a black tie wedding at 6 in the evening at an elegant, glamorous venue, and your engagement session is a cute walk in the country with your dog, or a charcuterie picnic the vibe is totes different, hon.

What to do instead…

We want you to have dedicated time to creating your perfect bridal look AND your perfect engagement session look.  Plan your trial when you can bring your Mom, sister, or MOH.  Focus on all the beautiful details you have been planing for your wedding day aesthetic.  Take time to focus on just that part of it.  Worried about “wasting” time and money on makeup and good hair for your trial?  Plan a little outing afterwards.  Sunday brunch.  Friday happy Hour.  Call your girls, have a mimosa and get all the selfies in your trial glam as you can.  Thats not a waste, babe.

Plan your engagement looks for hair and makeup just like you do your wardrobe.  Come up with cute ideas about a fun hairstyle or makeup look.  Have fun with it.  Dedicate a separate session for engagement glam.  We promise it will be worth the investment!

xoxo

Super huge shout out to Meghan Elizabeth Photography for these stunning images!  Click the link here or any photo in this post to visit her on the web, and give her a follow on Instagram here!