Bride-to-Be Blogger Leslie: Our Engagement Photo Session


Back in March, a few months into our engagement bliss, I found out about a Flaunt Your Rock contest that was being held for engaged couples in the Philadelphia area.

To enter the contest, you had to take a picture of your engagement ring in a unique way. I entered the contest, thinking nothing of it, and then found out that we were selected to be in the actual contest! After a week of campaigning on my blog for votes, I found out that we won! I was so excited and touched that people showed their support by voting for us.

The prize for winning the contest was an engagement session and a $100 photo credit towards buying pictures. What could be more perfect for a newly engaged couple? I couldn’t think of a better prize!

Last week we got together for the engagement session and it was amazing.  Fiancé and I woke up bright and early at 8 am on Saturday morning and headed down to the Philadelphia Art Museum area for our engagement photo shoot with April Ziegler. It was really nice to have our engagement pictures right by where we got engaged (Fiancé proposed right by the Waterworks Restaurant along the water behind the Art Museum!) I think that made everything a little more special for us.

Since we won the contest, I had been stalking our photographer April’s site! I loved all her wedding and engagement pictures and couldn’t wait for our shoot. It’s one thing to look at amazing pictures of other couples, but I think it’s something completely different when it’s actually you. An engagement session is a great way to see if a photographer is right for you and if it’s a good fit. What could be worse than having someone you don’t mesh with at your wedding with you all day?

Luckily, Fiancé and I totally meshed with April! She was awesome and went above and beyond to get awesome shots of us. We ended up spending about 3 hours down there for our shoot, which was way longer than I expected, but in an awesome way! There was no rush to anything and we just took our time. I was so excited to shoot down by the Art Museum, Azalea Gardens and the Waterworks. There are so many fun places to stop and shoot, and it was a perfect day for us.

Another awesome part about winning the engagement session was that April is not only a wedding photograph, but a pet photographer. Fiancé and I have a dog together who is pretty much our world. His name is Jackson, and it made the shoot so much more special to have him there with us for some of the shots! Jackson was pretty much the star of the show.

For a behind-the-scenes look at our engagement shoot, check out my blog – And Her Little Dog Too. I will be posting updates and sneak peaks of some pictures as they become available!

Tell me about your engagement session experience! Did taking the pictures help you feel more confident in your photographer selection? Did it make you so much more excited for your wedding? What did you do with your pictures after you got them? Fill me in!

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