What are engagement sessions and how is it different than Adventure sessions?

Most people understand that an engagement session is a photoshoot with you and your betrothed before the wedding date; most people will use these photos to send a photo along with their save the dates. The advantage of an engagement session is that you can become comfortable in front of the camera and working with your photographer for the wedding.

You also get to have professional photos outside of your wedding day.

At PennyPhotographics Earl and I have a different approach to the classic engagement session and do things a bit differently; thus, we call them an Adventure session.

So what is an Adventure engagement session? Well, unlike engagement sessions, we typically do not have a hard time limit or location restriction. We shoot our adventure sessions like we shoot our weddings. An adventure engagement session for us, requires us to get to know you as people and a couple and what you like to do for fun. What brings you joy?

A wedding day that is documented is all about the wedding! It is a story about two families and humans coming together; family and friends and all of the things inbetween. It’s a rollercoaster of fun and emotion and is typically non stop.

Rather an Adventure engagement session is a different story. This coverage is a day that reflects the two of you and what you do in your life in the way of adventure, exploration, and having fun.

This literally can be anything, and that’s the magic of it!

Possibilities for Adventure engagement sessions:

Hiking

Traveling

Brewery hopping

Play at a Science museum

Playing games

Fishing

Boating

Hanging with your dogs

The possibilities are whatever reflects the two of you.

So how does one prepare for an epic Adventure engagement session?

First, we want you to answer some questions:

Tell us what you both like to do for fun
Think about places that are meaningful to you both
Do you want to include your dogs/pets
Do you want to travel somewhere epic for the shoot?

Next we will customize an itinerary of what the day could look like.

The most important step in adventure sessions is to be flexible and just go with the flow.

We’ve scheduled and shot many adventure sessions, and just like life, there are always a few hiccups. The best advice for us is just like that of a wedding day which revolves around your expectations. On your wedding day the only expectation is to be with your person and get married that day, as long as you do, you’ve won wedding! For Adventure sessions, the only expectation is to hang out with your favorite person and have fun, as long as you do that, you’ve succeeded at adventure sessions!

Rain, shine, snow, sun, etc. We will capture the two of you being playful and happy to be in each other’s company and we will capture it fantastically (We’ve even won some awards!) You dont have to worry, it’s that simple!

Of Course we offer guidance along the way.

Here are some tips for your Adventure engagement session that we get asked about the most:

Wardrobe:

-Be comfy and feel sexy. As long as you are wearing an outfit/ clothes that make you feel fantastic about yourself, and/or bring along comfy clothes that you plan to do a wardrobe change in, you will look great!

-Try to match a bit. Don’t one of you wear leopard print and the other wears stripes!

-It’s also best practice NOT to wear opposite colors IE all black vs all white

-Also for colors: Don’t wear all pastels and the other wear hot pink or neon colors 😉

-WEAR OR BRING COMFY SHOES! Even if you want to switch into fancy heels, always bring good walking shoes!

-Have those nails tidy. All painted up, or no paint. As long as they aren’t chipped nail polish and sad

-If you have problem areas or concerns just let me know! Everyone is their worst critic and you are obviously gorgeous, but if there’s something that you want to de-accentuate just tell me! (email me or in-person)

-Bring water, stay hydrated!

-Bring a towel if we are playing in the water

Photos with pups:

– Check out this entire blog we wrote for all the pro tips on how to include your fur baby

Most important tip:

You CANT screw this up. So don’t worry about it. All you have to do is love each other and hang out during the adventure. So be playful, fun, happy, energetic, or however you hang out and bother one another.

Best of all, you can schedule an adventure session after the wedding! Even less stressful is that you can always schedule an Adventure session with us because the journey doesn’t stop at the wedding day!

So check out some inspiring photos from Adventure sessions to get you excited about planning yours!