What to wear to your engagement session
The only clothing advice you actually need, from someone who has watched two hundred people panic about it.
Every couple asks me this and most of them have been quietly worrying about it for a week. Here is the whole answer.
Wear the thing you feel good in
That is genuinely the rule. Not the newest thing, not the most expensive thing, not the thing you bought specifically for this. The thing you already know you look good in, because you have worn it and people have told you so.
You can see discomfort in a photograph. It sits in the shoulders and it never fully goes away.
Coordinate, don’t match
Two outfits from the same family of colours will always beat two identical outfits. Pick a palette — warm neutrals, or deep greens and denim, or black and cream — and then dress like two people who happen to share taste rather than two people wearing a uniform.
Things that photograph badly
- Tight stripes and small checks. They can shimmer strangely on a sensor.
- Big logos. Your eye goes there first, every time.
- Neon. It reflects onto skin and turns faces green. This is real and it is hard to fix.
- Brand new shoes. You’ll be walking further than you think.
Things that photograph beautifully
- Movement. A long skirt, a loose shirt, anything that does something in the wind. Colorado always provides wind.
- Texture. Knits, linen, denim, leather. Texture reads as depth.
- One layer you can take off. A jacket doubles your looks for free.
Bring a second option. Not a whole wardrobe — one. It changes the session more than you’d think and it costs you a tote bag.
And then forget all of it
Ten minutes in, you will stop thinking about your clothes entirely, which is when the photographs start getting good. That is the actual goal of all of this advice: to get you to the point where you’re not thinking about it any more.
