When planning your wedding day, there are an overabundance of details to consider. Pastel pink or dusty blue? Loose bouquet or tight and structured? Indoor or outdoor ceremony? We think that the time leading up to your wedding should be fun and a moment to reconnect with the love of your life, making memories with your best friend.. not googling for hours on end. So we bring to you: Wedding Tip Wednesday. A series where we share all of our personal expert opinions on making your day the most magical ever.

Part 1:  Dressing for Your Engagement Session

Part 2. First Look or no First Look?

Part 3: 5 Reasons We Love Long Veils

Part 4: Choosing the perfect Getting Ready Room

Part 5. Indoors versus Outdoor Spaces

We get asked all.the.time. Whether it be photographers, other couples, or even random instagram followers who enjoy looking at our blogs.

“How the heck do all of your couples dress so perfectly?!”

Well… we’d be lying if we said that we didn’t give them all of our favorite tips and tricks for looking their best on camera. In fact, any time one of our couples books us for their wedding, an engagement session, or an anniversary session, we send them our customized Engagement Experience Magazine.

If you have followed along our journey, it should come as no surprise that loving and serving (and quite frankly.. straight up spoiling) our couples is our favorite thing to do. So sharing our absolute favorite tips with our couples is just one of the small ways we love to spoil them. In fact, the Engagement Experience Guide in all is about 50 pages long! But y’all… it is so priceless!

Because… lets be honest… the investment that you make for your wedding is the largest portrait investment that you will probably ever make in your entire life. So we think that makes your engagement session the best time to pamper yourselves to get the most out of your luxury investment! We like to think of it as the Jimmy Choo of the portrait sessions that you will have in your life.

So today, we wanted to share a few of our all time favorite tips that we let our #cooneycouples in on so they can look and feel their best for their sessions with us.

Because when you look great, you feel great. And when you feel great, you’re going to love how your pictures turn out.

1. Hair and Makeup? Treat Yo-Self.

Yes. We just said that (and please don’t judge us), but it was necessary. Ladies- if we had to pick one single tip that we cannot recommend enough- it is to just go for it. Find an amazing hair and makeup artist. Coordinate their dates with your photographer, and book the appointment. And there are so many incredible reasons that booking a hair and makeup appointment for your session is so worth the investment.

•  It is this a fantastic way to see how your makeup translates on camera.
  • Pro Tip- Even though it might take some adjustment in person, if you found an amazing artist that you love, trust in them to make you look beautiful for your session (it always takes a little bit more makeup to show up on camera than in every day life).
• It removes stress from the day of your session.
  • I don’t know about you guys, but it is always when I need my hair to look great that I am going to have one piece of hair that will.not.curl! Always. So now? I leave it up to the professionals when it matters most.
• It adds to the luxury of your session.
  • Is there anything more relaxing than just letting yourself relax and letting others take care of you? (Hint to all the #jordonleegrooms out there… the answer is no. So dote on your #shaunalynnebrides!). Whether it be a mani-pedi, a massage, or even having your chores done for you.. having your hair and makeup taken care of for you always adds to the luxury of your session, and if there was ever a moment to let yourself live a little on the luxurious side.. being in front of the camera is it!

2. For Her: When in doubt, go with the flow.

Because let’s be honest… chiffon is never a bad choice. Not only is chiffon straight up flattering, but y’all… it looks so good on camera. We always like for our couples to be the highlight of their photos, so we recommend looking for nice neutral colored pieces. Some quick tips for our ladies:

• Go Natural
  • Choosing soft colored palates will help the two of you two pop on camera, rather than the eye going to the color of clothing that you are wearing- because at the end of the day, we want all eyes on you two!
• Opt for Sleeves
  • Nothing is more flattering or romantic on a woman than soft elegant sleeves. We promise you won’t regret it. (Unless you want to show off all your hard work in the gym. If so, then get it girl!)
• Dress it up!
  • Like we mentioned earlier- this is one of the biggest investments you will ever make for photos, so we really like to encourage our couples to relish in that moment. Want to add in some really incredible extra pizzaz? Check out Rent The Runway for some stunning high-end designer options!

 

3. For Him: Classic is Timeless.

Theres a reason why if you look at GQ magazines from over the years, most of the men seem to be dressed similarly. What will you find? Clean designs with neutral colors. Why? Because dapper just never goes out of style. Some of our favorite tips for him:

• Dress it up!!!
  • We know we already said this one for the ladies, but guys.. don’t leave your love hanging. We even put extra exclamation marks on this one for you all because honestly? The mans attire really sets the formality of the engagement session. So don’t be afraid to have two dapper high end outfits. Our favorite out combinations? Well since most of our couples opt to do two outfits, it is always our favorite when our men choose for one of their outfits to be slacks and a button up, and then their second to be slacks and a suit jacket combined with either a tie (or bowtie). Seriously y’all… nothing will impress your lady more than a well dressed man.
• Accessorize
  • Whether it be a cool pair of socks, a fun tie, a bowtie, or suspenders, we love it when our guys get to have a little fun with their outfits.

4. The Cherry on Top

Last, but certainly not least, we love it when our couples accessorize their session with a beautiful bouquet, a cute roadster bike, or even a champagne toast. Really the sky is the limit here, and we just always adore how much our #cooneycouples go above and beyond to make their session one of a kind. Shauna’s favorite trick? A gorgeous bouquet.

 

No matter what- the love that you two share will always be what matters most. So at the end of the day, we just want all of our couples to come to their session, let us take care of them, and for the to have fun. At the end of the day, we always capture the most important thing- the love and legacy that our couples are creating. Two best friends marrying the love of their life.

 

Hugs and lots of love,

Shauna and Jordon