Wedding Planning 101: Engagement Photos

Ronnie and I had a lot of fun taking engagement photos, even though it was about 10 degrees in Chicago the day we took them.  We really wanted our photos to represent us and our relationship and we focused on pre-planning the locations and outfits along with choosing a photographer we trusted.

Location

We wanted to take pictures in the neighborhood we both lived in when we first met and where we live in together now. There is a bridge, Kinzie Bridge, that we walked over together hundreds of times we went to our gym, the East Bank Club, so we started there.  This is a Chicago landmark that is a hot spot for wedding and engagement shoots.

Then we went around the corner to get a different view of the Chicago river and city skyline.

We drove a couple blocks to the Fulton Market District sign, the name of our neighborhood and inspiration for this blog :).

And then we moved to our apartment, the park down the street and a coffee shop that we frequent.

Outfits

Picking our outfits was a struggle, but we both wanted to stick with neutral colors. We’re pretty casual people, but do regularly get dressed up for date nights, so we wanted to make sure we had pictures that represented both, We did an outfit change so that we were casual for half the photos and a little more dressed up for the other half. It was also freezing, so coats were a must.

I wore a navy Soia & Kyo coat with a black Ted Baker dress for the first half. Ronnie wore a gray Theory coat, theory pants, a white button down and a jacket.

For our more casual looks, I changed into ankle length jeans, wedge booties and a black top. Ronnie wore jeans and a zip-up hoodie.

Photographer

We used Hannah Schweiss who has also taken many of the pictures you see on Fulton Femme with me and Syd! I love working with Hannah because I am really not comfortable in front of the camera and she does a great job of giving direction on how to pose.

Pro tip: Many wedding photographers offer engagement photos at a discounted rate or as part of a package, so always check with them first. We love Hannah and we really wanted engagement photos in Chicago. Our wedding photographer is located in California, where we are getting married, and many wedding photographers in Chicago do not only do engagement shoots.