The rise of social media has led to an upsurge of engagement photos (or at least it seems that way on Instagram, right?). But if piggybacking onto your soon-to-be spouse while shrewdly showing off your engagement ring doesn’t come naturally to you, here’s an alternate idea that will save you money and time: Trade the engagement photos for a wedding album instead.
Most wedding photographers include engagement photo sessions in their packages. For lots of folks, it’s a time to get more comfortable in front of the camera and take some lovely pre-wedding shots. But for others, it might feel inauthentic and unpractical — after all, you’re going to have a boatload of shots from the wedding, and your walls only have so much space.
You will, however, want a printed wedding album. But so many newlyweds will tell you that that they never got around to picking their photos (there are just so many amazing shots!), let alone spending the hours to design them into a gorgeous album (which can get pricey... and you just paid for a wedding!).
Solution? Barter with your wedding photographer. Ask if they’ll nix the engagement photos and instead make you a wedding album (specify the size/style you want—something like this one from Artifact Uprising — and include the deets in your contract).
For lots of wedding photogs, it’s a fair trade, and it means you won’t wait a year until you finally get around to printing your photos. That’s definitely a reason to smile.
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