There are SO many great reasons to do an in home engagement session! If you’ve ever done an engagement session with me, you know that I am a fan of choosing a location that has some sentimental value to the two of you, and what better place to start than at home?!

In home engagement photos are an amazing way to document your relationship in the home that you share together. Not only does it give you the opportunity to capture incredible memories in your home, but an in home engagement session also lets you do your engagement photos in the place that you feel the most comfortable, and in turn you’ll feel even more comfortable for your photos.

Also, because this is me we are talking about, I can’t NOT mention that an in home engagement photo session is also the easiest way to incorporate your pets into your photos, which is obviously a top priority.

Tip 1- The Light In Your Home

It's super helpful to have as much natural light as possible for in home engagement photos. Not all homes have a lot of it, but we want to capitalize on whatever light your home does have! This means you will want to plan on taking the majority of the photos in the rooms in your home that have the most windows, and be able to position yourselves near windows. I will help with this of course, but it’s helpful to plan in advance!

Tip 2- Clean, Uncluttered Spaces

When prepping for your shoot, you want to have the spaces we will be photographing as simple, clean, and uncluttered as possible. The more space we have to operate the better, and having your surroundings not be busy is crucial! That way YOU and your fiancee will be the focus of the images, and your home will be the supporting player. You also want to be sure that whatever decor or items you have in the room reflect your style and personality!

Tip 3- Do Something You Love

Pick an activity, or a couple of activity, that you and your fiancee enjoy doing at home together. That could be cooking, baking, playing a game, drinking wine, watching netflix, yoga…the sky’s the limit! It’s really fun to incorporate activities like this into your shoot and the memories are truly priceless.

Tip 4- Plan a Casual Outfit and a Dressier One

I definitely encourage my clients to choose an outfit that they would normally wear around the house (but like maybe a little upgraded because I know at least I would NOT want to be photographed in what I normally wear at home) and an outfit that maybe you’d wear for a fun date night!

Tip 5- Relax and Have Fun

Like with any shoot, the best thing you can do is just relax, trust your photographer (hi) and have a good time! These photos are meant to be joyful memories that show off who you are.

Bonus Tip- Your Fur Babies

If you have fur babies at home, set yourself up for success by planning ahead for how you want to include them! For dogs especially, it may be helpful to keep them in another room for the parts of the shoot you don’t want them a part of so that you can focus on each other and not worry about them getting under foot. Have lots of treats and toys handy, or whatever they need to be bribed to be somewhat still for a little bit! And if you want to have a helping hand nearby to wrangle them, that never hurts either.