If At First You Don't Succeed.. Or Why We Did Two Engagement Shoots

I don't think I posted many photos from either (fixing this today!) so it might surprise some of you to learn that before we were married, Stuart and I actually booked two engagement shoots. One happened in Scotland just after Stuart proposed and the other only days before we were married in Raleigh.

In Scotland we did our research, looked extensively through our photographer's blog before we booked, picked a meaningful location, and went shopping for new outfits. Our photographer spent time talking to us beforehand, but didn't give us any direction after we started shooting.

In America, I found an ad on Craigslist, looked at his blog once before emailing him, let him choose the spot, and we wore our comfiest (but not t-shirt quality) clothes. Our photographer didn't chit-chat much, but he guided us into shots and even posed himself to show us what to do.

Now I'm not saying either photographer is better (though one was certainly better for us), but it is interesting to note that what we THOUGHT we were looking for was actually exactly what we didn't want! While we liked the laid-back feel of our first photographer's work, I don't think we were comfortable enough behind the camera to really get great shots.. plus my hair is unruly and covered my face in most of our photos.

It was an expensive lesson but honestly, if you're not happy with the way something turned out - it's worth it to try again. Our second shoot captured some really lovely moments and since photos mean so much to me I know they're something I'll always treasure.