Recently, the White House announced that President Bush’s daughter Jenna had just accepted a marriage proposal from her longtime boyfriend. The first family made a formal announcement and released a photo of the young couple. I wouldn’t consider it an “official” engagement photo (it was taken in May), but it certainly has the qualities found in most engagement portraits.
Technically, an engagement portrait features the bride and groom, or sometimes the bride alone, wearing dressier clothing. Traditionally, this would be a nice dress or skirt for the bride-to-be and a suit for her fiancé. I took my engagement pictures in late fall and wore a sweater and long skirt. My husband-to-be wore slacks, a shirt and tie.
We took out engagement photos outside amongst a grove of trees whose leaves were falling. However, engagement pictures can be taken at a studio, in your home, or other outdoor venues, including city parks, historic buildings, botanical gardens or along a body of water.
Typically, several sequences and poses are shot, such as the bride by herself, the couple together, and the groom by himself. We were lucky because the person who took our engagement photos was my colleague who happened to be a professional photographer. He was overjoyed to experiment with non-traditional poses and also took both color and black and white pictures.
Another type of portrait is the pre-bridal picture. Its purpose is to document the bride exactly as she will look on her wedding day, and is taken about a month prior to the big day. You could include the groom as well, but some brides-to-be are wary of having their fiancés see them in their wedding dress before the actual day. In some cases these formal pre-wedding photos are often included as part of a photography package. Make sure you confirm the details with your wedding photographer. Also, if you do decide to opt for the pre-bridal picture, for continuity sake, you’ll want to wear all the same accessories, apply the same make up and wear your hair the same way as it will appear on your wedding day.
Did you opt for the pre-bridal picture? I didn’t, but I can see how they would make wonderful gifts for the parents and grandparents of the bride.
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