Just like no rom com is complete without some serious character development, your engagement photos simply will not stand without more of the same. 

Take How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, for example, because I mean… duh. One of the most iconic rom coms of our time much? (If you haven’t seen it, it’s time to fix that.)

Andie Anderson was a hard-hitting journalist going in for the career-move kill at the outset of the movie, but by the time the suave Benjamin Barry is done with her, she’s ditched hardworking for head-over-heels and let her perfectly Conair-ed hair go to all natural, curly locks. And while Ben and Andie can totally work the whole hottest-couple-at-the-gala thing, they can also make the white-tees-and-jeans-on-the-back-of-a-motorcycle angle look pretty darn good. 

I approach engagement photos a lot like that… minus the whole ‘love fern’ bit. We can collectively agree to just skip that part.

Just like the characters in a movie are dynamic, especially as they slowly evolve into an ‘us’ over the course of ninety minutes or so, you are two extremely versatile humans who fell in literal love (I mean, how wild is that?) and are now a suuuuper dynamic couple yourself. It only makes sense that you want engagement photos that reflect that, and my signature movie mindset is the ticket to making it happen.

Same Couple, Different Vibes

When Annika and Ethan first inquired about their engagement photos, they mentioned that they were interested in showcasing two totally different vibes– both the editorial, modern version of them and their playful, more au naturale side. 

Not only am I always happy to oblige a change of scene… I encourage it. Two locations and an outfit swap are included in all engagement shoots for a reason, and it just takes one look at this gallery to see that reason jump right out of your screen. 

In a matter of a ninety minute engagement shoot, we get to see Annika and Ethan go from sprawled in the grass in their denim and tees to all fancied up in an elegant venue with gorgeous architecture framing their every move. It’s the same couple, authentic to themselves, through and through– I’ve just given them a means to communicate the many sides of them through evocative and timeless engagement photos.

Utilizing Movement in Your Engagement Photos

Another huge component of my signature movie mindset is the concept of movement. I am a firm believer that there is no place for stiff and stagnant photos in your relationship because you are not inherently a stiff and stagnant couple.

You play together! You giggle together! You PDA all over the place, and I LOVE that for you! It’s a bit of a no-brainer, but your engagement photos should show all of that can’t-keep-our-hands-off-each-other energy in tenfold.

Annika and Ethan absolutely rocked this part of the movie mindset, too. They were constantly moving in seamless motion together– tackling each other in the meadow grass, nuzzling noses with massive grins on their faces, having their hands all over each other, walking up and down the stairwell together, you name it. 

Their movement enabled me to capture the subtleties of their relationship that they never get to see themselves. The way you can almost see Ethan thinking, “Man, how lucky am I?!” as Annika nestles into the space between his shoulder and neck. How they hold each other’s attention rapt at all times, like they’re the only two people in the world. The crinkles on both the insides and outsides of Annika’s eyes that are giving I’m-in-actual-heaven-thanks-very-much. 

We regrettably don’t have the outside-looking-in perspective of ourselves that others do, and I think that I’m one lucky gal to be the one to show it to you through your engagement photos.

All in all, because of Annika’s and Ethan’s commitment to the movie mindset– really thinking of themselves as the Andie and Ben of the real world– their photos were all the better for it. There’s no question when you look at these photos that you’re seeing Annika and Ethan in their most authentic format, main character energy and all. And there’s nothing more timeless than that.