What to wear for engagement photos

An engagement session runs an hour. A full outfit change costs about ten minutes of it, once you count walking to the car and back. That is a sixth of your session spent on logistics, and it is the first thing worth deciding.

One outfit or two

My default recommendation is one, and I say that knowing it is not what most people expect.

A change costs ten minutes minimum. There is rarely anywhere to change, so it means walking back to the car, and afterwards everybody needs a few minutes to settle again. In a sixty-minute session that is expensive, and the second half of a session is usually the better half because by then you have both stopped thinking about the camera.

When two outfits genuinely make sense: if you want distinctly different moods, dressed-up and casual, and you are shooting in a location that supports both. Or if the session covers two locations with a drive between them, in which case the change is free because you were getting in the car anyway.

The better option most of the time is a half change. A jacket that comes off. A shirt swapped under the same coat. Hair up, then down. Add a scarf. It takes ninety seconds, it genuinely changes the look of the photographs, and it costs you almost nothing.

Match each other's formality

This is the mistake I see most, and it is a mismatch rather than a bad outfit.

One person arrives in a floor-length dress and full hair and makeup. The other arrives in jeans and sneakers. Both look perfectly good alone. Together they look like they are going to different events, and every photograph of the two of them reads slightly wrong without the viewer being able to say why.

So pick a level first and both dress to it.

• Casual: good denim, a knit or a well-fitting shirt, clean boots or sneakers. Relaxed, honest, ages well.
• Smart casual: a dress with some structure, chinos or dark denim with a jacket. The most reliable choice and where most of my sessions sit.
• Dressed up: a long dress, a suit or a tailored jacket. Striking against city architecture, harder work in a field.

Have the conversation before the day. It takes two minutes and it prevents the only styling problem that cannot be fixed once you are standing there.

Color, without matching

Two people is easier than a family of six, but the principle from the family what to wear guide still holds: coordinate, do not match.

Two people in identical white shirts and blue jeans is a specific look, and it is one that dates. If you want it, own it deliberately. Otherwise pick two or three colors that sit together and take different parts of the range each.

Reliable pairings: cream with olive. Navy with warm neutral. Charcoal with rust. Denim with anything.

Think about what is behind you. Philadelphia is green, grey and red brick. Against brick, avoid deep red and terracotta, which sink into the wall. Against summer foliage, avoid green. Against spring blossom, avoid pale pink and white. Against a winter skyline, everything works.

One patterned item between the two of you, at most. Fine stripes and small checks can shimmer oddly in digital files, so avoid tight repeating patterns entirely. Texture does the same job with none of the risk: knit, corduroy, linen, denim, wool.

Fit beats everything

A cheap garment that fits properly photographs better than an expensive one that does not. This is more true in photographs than in a mirror, because a camera flattens you into two dimensions and every excess fold of fabric reads as bulk.

Practical notes.

Loose and flowing is not the same as baggy. Fabric that moves in a breeze looks wonderful. Fabric that hangs shapelessly just adds width.

Structure at the shoulder does more for how a jacket photographs than anything else about it.

Watch the neckline in a mirror while sitting down, not just standing. You will be sitting, leaning and being held during the session.

Nothing brand new and unworn. Wear it once first. Stiff new clothes announce themselves, and you will spend the hour adjusting.

Height difference is normal and not a problem. I handle it by arranging you rather than by asking anyone to dress around it. Do not buy heels for this reason.

Shoes, and Philadelphia sidewalks

Worth its own section because this city is genuinely hard on footwear.

Old City and Elfreth’s Alley are actual cobblestone. Not decorative brick, cobblestone, with gaps. A stiletto goes between the stones, and I have watched it happen. The Old City guide covers the ground in more detail.

The solution is straightforward: bring the shoes you want in the photographs and a pair you can walk in. Wear the walking shoes between spots and swap for the frames where feet are visible. Most of an engagement session is shot from the waist up anyway.

For park and meadow locations, remember dew in the morning and mud after rain. For Wissahickon trails, flat and grippy is the only sensible answer.

If you want ring photographs

Some people want them, some do not care. Say which you are, because it changes what I shoot.

If you do want them: hands are in close focus in those frames, so nails being tidy matters more than it does anywhere else. A quick clean of the ring beforehand makes a real difference, since stones photograph dull with skin oil on them. Soft light suits rings better than direct sun, which throws hard glare.

Hand cream is the underrated tip. Dry hands are the most common thing I edit out of ring photographs and thirty seconds of moisturiser prevents it.

If you do not want ring photographs, tell me and I will spend that time on something else. Nothing about an engagement session is compulsory.

What to bring with you

• Walking shoes, as above.
• A lint roller. Dark clothing plus a car seat equals visible fluff in every frame.
• Water, especially in summer.
• A jacket you do not mind being in photographs. Once it is cold enough to need one, a coat you like beats a coat you are hiding.
• Hair ties, if it is windy. Riverfront and rooftop locations move hair constantly.
• Whatever you actually use. A dog, a bike, a takeaway coffee from the place you always go. Specific beats generic, and props you genuinely use do not look like props.

Last thing, and the one that matters most. Comfort wins. If you are cold, if the waistband digs in, if the shoes hurt, it shows in your face and there is nothing I can do about it in editing. Wear the thing that lets you forget what you are wearing.