A trial run for the real thing
An engagement session is the same process, same delivery model, same collaborative style choices as your wedding day — just lower stakes and a smaller window. It's a genuinely useful trial run: you get a feel for how I direct, how I work a room, and whether my style fits your vision, before the wedding day itself. Most couples also use these images for save-the-dates, invitation suites, and wedding-day decor.
I can do precise, structured posing — that's a real skill, often the right call for editorial-style weddings. But an engagement session is really about the two of you, so I lean more toward movement, natural prompting, and candid direction here. How much structure you want is entirely up to you.
Why 90 minutes is the baseline, not a padded minimum: it genuinely takes most people close to an hour to loosen up, stop feeling self-conscious, and trust that I'm actually going to make them look good.
The session model
The engagement pipeline mirrors the wedding pipeline exactly: dual-card RAW + SOOC capture, custom film simulation loaded on both bodies before you arrive, and same-day handover on a USB-C drive I purchase and pay for out of pocket. Full personal-use editing rights to every file. No gallery host, no editing delay, no upcharge for the recipe choice.
Sessions are $400 for 90 minutes, including outfit changes, the full high-speed drive hand-off, live on-site Instax prints, and multiple locations if you want to move around. I buy a dedicated SSD for every engagement session — typically $125–150 plus tax — the same as I do for a wedding. Plan to stick around after the session, too — transfer to the drive can take up to an hour depending on volume.
| Base Session | Bundled with a Wedding | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | $400 | $350 (after automatic $50 bundle discount) |
| Coverage | 90 minutes | 90 minutes |
| Deliverables | Every RAW + SOOC JPEG, Instax Mini prints on-site | Same |
| Film simulation | Chosen for the session | Same recipe as the wedding, so both archives read as one body of work |
| Drive | Included, purchased separately | Separate drive — engagement is an independent production date |
| Locations | Multiple, if desired | Same |
| Add-ons | +$250/hr extra coverage, +$100/hr second shooter | Same |
| Travel | First 60mi included, IRS rate beyond | Calculated independently from the wedding venue |
Wherever you actually are, as a couple
I don't work off a static list of pretty backdrops. The best engagement locations are the ones that already mean something — your living room, the coffee shop you had your first date at, a record store, a library, a park you walk your dog in. Bring the dog. Bring the sword. Tell me the weird, specific thing you're both into, and let's build around it.
Location and access are always your responsibility to arrange — securing any needed permits, permissions, or associated fees for a specific spot is part of your contract, not something I handle.
Dress for the lens, not the trend
Rich solid tones and clean neutrals hold up better on camera than busy patterns or high-contrast graphics. Prioritize comfort and authenticity over trend, and dress for the actual terrain and weather of wherever we're shooting. Skip platforms or heels if there's any walking or uneven ground involved — and if you're up for it, I'm always down to kick off shoes and run through a field barefoot for those dreamy, golden-hour motion-blur shots.
Same choices, same process
Film simulation, in-camera effects, lighting, exposure — everything on The Style Guide applies to an engagement session the same way it does a wedding day.
Frames from the archive
Every image below is a SOOC JPEG straight off the X-H2 or X-H2S — the same look you'd take home on your drive. Randomized on each visit.
Tag filters will appear here once example photos are tagged.
Preview your images in print, the same day
Selected frames transfer wirelessly from the X-H2 / X-H2S directly to a portable printer mid-session — high-resolution exposures from a professional camera, printed onto tactile analog paper and placed in your hands before I wrap.
Planning & logistics
The more specific and unhinged the concept, the more into it I am
I've worked fashion, editorial, commercial production, historical costuming, and beauty — building a concept from scratch is genuinely one of my favorite parts of this job. Armor, capes, vintage motorcycles, roller skates, antique furniture, a canoe, a horse — I'm not the limiting factor here.