Carrie & Marc – an English Engagement…

I am very excited to blog about one of Brian’s recent engagement shoots! He has photographed many engagement shoots in the USA…but this one has a twist, it’s a UK couple…in the UK! On his recent trip over to the UK Brian met up with the lovely Carrie and Marc for a fantastic few hours on a Saturday in Hertfordshire.

Engagement shoots, whilst not currently hugely popular across the UK, are starting to gain popularity since William and Kate published their official engagement photographs taken by Mario Testino at St James’s Palace in 2010.

Why should we have an engagement shoot?

Getting to know your photographer before your wedding day and getting to experience a shoot with them will ultimately make a huge difference in your wedding photos. Not only does it gives you a chance to work out your best angles, some natural poses that work well for you, even different hair and make up styles; but it also gives your photographer a chance to get to know you as a couple, see how you react together, and understand what’s important to you as a couple in order to capture little details on the day.

The other great thing about an engagement shoot is the amazing photographs you will receive! You can use them for all kinds of wedding related things including a newspaper announcement, photo books, wedding invitations, thank you cards, signing boards, or simply display them on the wall/facebook for everyone to see!

Carrie & Marc….

Carrie and Marc are from Hertfordshire in the UK, they first properly met nearly 7 years ago on a friends birthday night out and on their 6th anniversary Marc popped the question!

Carrie..tell us about the proposal?

“Marc took me to our favourite Chinese restaurant in London on our 6 year anniversary on 23 February this year. Marc had been acting particularly weird and quiet, but I didn’t think anything of it. He started steering the conversation around to talking about getting married one day and all of a sudden produced a ring and said lets make it official and get married. He did not get down on one knee at the restaurant but did when we got home which was really special.”

Tell us about the location for the engagement shoot…

“The majority of the photos were taken at Ware Priory in Hertfordshire. I chose the gardens for the shoot as they are stunning with the willow trees and the river as the backdrop. The rest of the photos were taken in Ware town which is where I grew up.”

How did you feel about having an engagement shoot?

“It felt quite weird at first as Marc and I have never had any professional pictures taken before so it was a bit daunting. However, I liked the idea of having engagement pictures to tell our story. It was also good to get to know Brian before our wedding day as it would be one less thing to worry about on the day! :)”

Did you enjoy the engagement shoot?

“Once we got into the engagement shoot and became comfortable it was really fun. I thought Marc was a natural! I never know how to pose in photos so I now have some helpful tips for when it comes round to the wedding day!”

Which is your favourite photo from the day and why?

“My favourite photo is the one where we are walking along the path and looking at eachother and smiling/laughing. I think that photo really sums us up as a couple as we always are laughing and joking when we are together.”

Why did you choose Brian as a photographer?

“I had Brian recommended by various people so took a look on his website and wanted him to photograph our wedding straight away. He is so talented!”

Would you recommend an engagement shoot to other Uk couples and if so why?

“Yes I would definitely recommend an engagement shoot….your engagement tells a story in your relationship and so should be celebrated along with your actual wedding day. It also allows a couple to become comfortable with the photographer which I think is really important.”

What have you/will you do with the photos?

“We want to use one or two for our invitations for our wedding and a couple of others we will probably get printed for the house. It is very rare that we get a nice photo together so we hardly have any up at home so it will be nice to frame some of them to remember the day by.”