Why you Should Consider Going Formal for your Engagement Portraits

Engagement portraits are fun and exciting for me to shoot and for my couples to experience. I love getting to see how the couples interact with each other and their elements. What I love even more, is getting to see their choice of fashion. Everyone is different. Some are old souls at heart, some are super glamorous and others are whimsical.

Today I wanted to talk about why I think getting glammed up for your engagement photography session is a good idea.  

Houston Theater District Engagement Portraits

 

  1. You can dress casually any day for any regular photos. Think about all of the photos you’ve been in with friends and family. You’re engagement photos are a once-in-a-lifetime thing and they should stand out from the photos you’ve taken together before.
  2. It’s a special time in your life and you should take out all the stops so you can celebrate it at its fullest. You could even go to a nice restaurant once you’re done with your photos to continue the love-fest.
  3. Engagement photos sets the tone for your wedding and your wedding guests. Are you having a black-tie wedding? Maybe you’re having a country-formal wedding. Either way, try to immolate your wedding dress code so your guests know what to expect.
  4. Dressing up increases your confidence in your ability to pose for photos. There’s something so empowering about being dressed to the nines and posing in front of a camera.
Antique Rose Emporium engagement portraits

Some of my favorite places to find formal outfits for your engagement portraits:

Rent the Runway
Etsy.com <-Support small business
Jos.A.Bank <-Men’s suits
Or you can go where the Prom dresses are

Logan & James’s Lakeside Austin Wedding

It was a beautiful afternoon in Austin on Lake Travis when Logan & James promised eternity to each other. The couple chose to rent some property with a two story dock for their intimate wedding.

The wedding party gathered and prepared in the house that overlooked a small canyon and the lake. After hiking up and down the equivalent of 21 floors (I had to check my fitbit), the wedding party was seated and ready. James and Logan walked down the isle escorted by their mothers. What a special pre-Mothers Day Gift!

The wedding was helped put on by all the couple’s friends and family. They arranged flowers and officiated the wedding. Their officiant, a friend, was funny and poised. She was the best officiant I have had the pleasure of listening to.

After the ceremony, the guests cleared the deck so they could party and dance on the water. The joy was contagious as Logan and James danced well into the night.

Congratulations!!


Vendors

Casa Costa Bake Shop

Freda’s Seafood Grille

Stuart & Laura’s Engagement Portraits at Smither Park

Stuart and Laura were looking for something a little urban and a little unique for their engagement portraits, luckly for them I recently came across Smither Park. The park was filled with tile mosaic art from so many local artists. When we arrived, there were artists using the park as inspiration for their own art.

I enjoyed getting to know the couple and hearing more about their wedding plans. They both have mad dancing skills that were so impressive! I was so excited to get to capture some of that in their engagement portraits.

Ashley & Sonya’s Downtown Houston Engagement Portraits

Ashley & Sonya told me they were big theater aficionados when I first met them. That sparked the idea of taking their engagement photos around the beautiful architecture in the Houston theater district. I absolutely love how the photos turned out. We ended our Houston engagement portrait trip at Eleanor Tinsley park. The sunset caused a the skyscrapers downtown to glow this gorgeous orange and pink tone.

Nathan & Deanna’s Antique Rose Engagement Portraits

It was a stunning spring afternoon when I met up with Nathan & Deanna at the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham. We were in the height of bluebonnet season and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

We walked around the gorgeous grounds of the emporium snapping cute shots among the roses and under natural arches. Some of my favorite spots, though were on the wooden porch. I absolutely loved the location the couple chose and was happy we could even get a few photos in some bluebonnets.

Matt & Taylor’s Memorial Park Engagement Portraits

After walking the park by their home, Matt and Taylor decided they wanted to take their engagement portraits around the brand new lake in Memorial Park. The 100-acres of eastern glades is surrounded by cute wooden walkways though parts of the glade and interesting concrete structures. There’s something at every turn. I couldn’t be happier about how Matt & Taylor’s engagement portraits turned out.

Aaron & Carrie’s Hermann Park Engagement Portraits

It was a gorgeous day when we set out to hike the Hermann Park trails to take engagement portraits. So gorgeous (compared the the previous days) in fact that it felt like half of Houston had the same idea. The park was swarming with people, but the further into the park we got, the fewer people we came across.

We hiked from the zoo parking lot all the way to Rice University where the azalea’s were in full bloom.

Gabe & Katy’s White Oaks on the Bayou Wedding Photography

On a warm spring day, Gabe and Katy got married under swaying chiffon as the Texas sun was setting. It was such a romantic and magical wedding to photograph. The birds were chirping, there was a slight breeze and the sun was setting perfectly behind the happy couple.

One of my favorite wedding photography moments is the first-looks. I love the raw emotion that I capture during first-looks, and Katy had two! One with her Father and one with Gabe. The moments were so special to capture.

Some of my favorite parts of their wedding were taking photos of the joyful couple on the swing after the sun had set and seeing all of the sweet, sweet dance moves. So many guests were really cutting rugs that night.


Vendors

Venue: White Oaks on the Bayou

Photography: Kelly Urban Photography

Cake: Dolly’s Sweet Sensations

DJ: LG Events

 

Have a fun, stress-free wedding

Stress is to weddings as the sun is to heat… but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you follow these simple steps you can have a stress-free wedding.

  1. Stay organized. Keep a spreadsheet, a binder or a notebook with a calendar. you can color coordinate your to-do-list. Red for things that MUST be done, green to start thinking about certain things…
  2. Identify your priorities and your potential stressors. Do you have a perceptually late friend or a rowdy family member? Make a note and a plan. What are your top priorities? Make a list of the things that mean the most to you and your fiance at your wedding.
  3. Develop a game-plan for your stressors.
  4. Hire trusted wedding professionals. Check out the reviews of professionals before hiring someone. Ask if you can speak to one of their old clients.
  5. Set deadlines. Using your organization talked about in #1, set deadlines for yourself. Make sure to give yourself enough cushion for your deadlines.
  6. Schedule regular planning meetings. Whether you have a wedding planner or you’re doing it yourself, plan to meet with your wedding professionals to hash out some of your details, your desires and your fears.
  7. Establish a “No wedding Talk” time with your fiance where you do not spend an ounce of your time thinking, talking or planning your wedding.
  8. Delegate, delegate, delegate. you are the CEO of this event and you don’t have to shoulder the whole weight. Play off your friends and family’s strengths to help you with your wedding planning.
  9. Do not second guess yourself. Your first instinct is usually the right one. The more you second guess something, the more you worry and stress yourself.
  10. Maintain perspective. At the end of the day, you;re marring the love of your life and that’s the most important part.
  11. Be aware that Murphy is a regular, uninvited, wedding guest. It’s important to not sweat the small stuff. (Murphy’s Law: “things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance”)

 

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I'm so glad you stopped by. I love sharing my experience and odd-ball imagination with my brides and groom.

 

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A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX
kelly@kellyurbanphotography.com
Kelly Urban Photography

A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX

A Houston wedding photographer

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