Look and feel as beautiful as your love story: a fun engagement photo hack

Lots of people worry about how they'll look in their engagement photos. It's a pretty normal thing to worry about- but we have a hack that will save you a ton of headache.

You and your partner can look this cute, promise. And aren't Chelsea and Austin ADORABLE?

We shoot engagement photos with as many of our clients as will let us: it's a service we include with all our wedding photography packages, because it gives us a chance to get to know each other, build a dynamic that works with the camera, and teach you some poses that make your wedding photos effortless.

Sometimes folks don't want to go through the extra step of engagement photos, and we totally understand. You have to choose outfits, arrange the shoot, and poses, all of which you probably aren't used to doing!

One thing that CAN be really easy is choosing what to wear. Here's our suggestion:

STEP ONE: Collect a bunch of photos you like. They can be photos of other people or photos of you. Then add some photos of the location you want to take your photos.

STEP TWO: Put them all together in a folder and take a screenshot.

STEP THREE: Upload the screenshot to https://coolors.co/image-picker. This amazing website gives you a color palette based on the photos you like.

STEP FOUR: Choose your clothing colors based on the palette!

Here's an example of a shoot where the colors just WORKED. Chelsea and Austin love the look of limestone, so they knew they wanted to do their engagement session in downtown Kansas City. We suggested the Liberty Memorial, which is filled with beautiful, giant slabs of limestone. The clothing colors they chose complement the limestone perfectly! Here's the screenshot from their gallery along with the color palette we grabbed from Coolors.

Chelsea + Austin at Union Station and the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.

What works about this? The muted tones complement one another beautifully. The green in her dress brings dimension to the browns and beiges from the environment of the Liberty Memorial, but it doesn't fight them! A brighter green or neon would have a very different effect.

Here's a similar palette that worked beautifully for the Burney family at their portraits in Loose Park. We're not sharing a collage here to protect their daughter's privacy, but we've included one of their pictures so you can see the colors provided by the space compared to the colors they chose to wear.

The Burney family at Loose Park in Kansas City, Missouri.

This is a great example of why the season matters. The Burneys choose to do their family photos every year in the fall, because they like the warm orange of Loose Park at that time of year! However, if they chose another season, the colors would be totally different. Hello, beautiful greens and pinks of spring in the rose garden! They may choose to wear something different, maybe a little less orange and brown for early spring, but their inspiration collage would give them some guidance.

Let's say you want something brighter. You don't HAVE to choose muted tones !

Meg and Greg at their home in Kansas City.

Meg and Greg chose a post-wedding photoshoot in lieu of engagement portraits to celebrate the purchase of their first house. Megan's gorgeous fiery red hair is an anchor in these images, and the color palette works around it.

Here's another case where red plays an important role. Edita and Garett married in Garden of the Gods, a beuatiful park in Colorado filled with red rocks. The mountains behind them read blue, and although there is some green from the surrounding flora, the main colors here overall read bluer and redder than anything else.

Edita and Garett's sunset portraits in the Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

If you're wearing a white dress, you get an easy pass, but what color will your partner be wearing? Garett's dark blue-green suit complements the red rocks perfectly.

Ok, and one more just because I think these two are the absolute cutest and I think their engagement photo outfits were GENIUS in their simplicity. We shot Nancy and Cory's engagement in several locations, but we are obsessed with the photos from Cafe Ca Phe here in KC! The bright blues, yellows, oranges, and reds from the mural really pop, so Nancy and Cory were smart to go simple: white shirts and heavyweight jeans. (We never recommend tight fits or stretchy clothes for photoshoots, but that's a different post!)

Nancy and Cory took engagement photos in downtown Kansas City, Missouri at Cafe Ca Phe and the Central Library.

If you want something simple that will work no matter the location, try Nancy and Cory's clever formula- the white shirts and jeans work no matter where you're shooting!

It really can be that simple! Find some images you like of a location you love, and grab those colors! Your inspriration collage doesn't even need to come from the exact location you plan to shoot, just one with similar aesthetics. Don't forget to consider the season, as that will change the color palette substantially!

If you're still not sure what to wear, talk to your photographer! Experienced photographers know what works and will be able to guide you!

Looking for an experienced photographer in Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, or Arkansas? You're looking for us!

Check out more of our work on this website or, if you're ready now, inquire below!

Click here to start planning with us!

BIG LOVE,

Beeh & Mars