Tips & Planning

5 Ways to Put Your Engagement Photos to Use

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Engagement sessions are an invaluable experience to have, as they allow you to become familiar with your photographer’s approach before the wedding day. But what should you do with the photos once you’ve received them? Here are five ideas for how to use your engagement photos:

Save-the-Dates

The most common usage of engagement photos is for save-the-date cards. Generally, you should plan to send these out six to eight months ahead of your wedding. You may want to mail them even earlier if you’re planning a destination wedding that will require more extensive travel planning.

Wedding Website

Wedding websites are a great way to share your story (and yourselves!) with your guests. And for those who may only know one-half of the couple, photos on the website allow them to see the two of you together, before the big day.

Pre-Wedding Celebrations

Bridal showers, welcome parties, rehearsal dinners… these days there are so many celebrations leading up to the big day! Share your engagement photos with each respective party host, and invite them to incorporate the photos into the overall decor. Having your photos on display directs focus to the guests of honor and drives home who exactly is being celebrated!

Wedding Guest Book

When you incorporate your engagement photos into your guest book, it can serve multiple purposes. It gives your guests another opportunity to see your favorite images, and also allows you to have a keepsake filled with messages of love and support as you begin your marriage. The guest “book” can also take many different forms. If you wish to forego a traditional book with multiple images and pages, you can opt to get your single-favorite image printed, and ask guests to sign a canvas, metal print, or the mat of a large frame.

Displayed in Your Home

Classic, framed photographs are the perfect vehicle for transporting yourself back to specific moments. Even after your wedding day has passed, these photos can serve as an enduring reminder of this special season of your lives.

Want to make sure your engagement photos look and feel timeless and romantic? Grab my guide to selecting the perfect outfits for your engagement pictures!

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BEHIND THE LENS

meet LESLIE joy

Passionate about turning your most heartfelt moments into your legacy of love

When I was first getting to know my husband, Michael's, family, I loved hearing the stories of their marriages— the good times and bad, better and worse, joy as well as sorrow, and always love. But the very first time I saw his grandmother’s collection of family wedding photos perched atop her mantel I had to stop and take in what over 200 years of marriage looked like on display. As I looked on at the images framed on the mantel, immediately all of the stories shared by Michael’s grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins came rushing through my head, and it was so easy to trace them all back to the days they said “I do.” In my role as a wedding photographer, I capture all of the raw emotions of your big day, so when you look back at those images you are reminded of the fullness in your heart and you can see how that first day of marriage created a legacy of love.

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