Engagement Pictures Are Awkward

Yesterday I came across this article about awkward engagement photos and couldn’t stop laughing.

It’s about the awkwardness of engagement pictures, and features gems like this:

and this:

Of course, this made me think of my engagement photos.

When Kevin and I first got engaged, engagement photos were not on our list of priorities. As much as we appreciate great photography, it just wasn’t that important to us.

Then, as I grew more entrenched in the world of wedding blogs, my opinion changed. I saw adorable engagements shoots like this and this, and suddenly, I had to have engagement photos! When else would we get to frolic in the sun and look so young and beautiful and in love?

I imagined glorious pictures of us in everyday life, looking amazing, just like this couple:

source

Since engagement pictures were still not on the top of our list, we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on them. When I saw a groupon type deal for half-off an engagement photography session, I snatched it up and promptly made an appointment with a photographer I had never heard of.

The day before our scheduled photo shoot, our photographer called me to discuss details. Our conversation went like this:

photog: are you bringing any props?
me: huh?
photog: props…for the photo shoot?
me: what do you mean?
photog: You know… like balloons, picture frames, signs… things that show your style as a couple, or represent what you like to do.
me: um……… [long pause]…….. we like to drink wine. can we bring wine?
photog: ………..[even longer pause!]………………….. it’s fine, don’t worry about the props.

When I got off the phone I called my friend Kelsey who had just taken some engagement photos, and I asked if I could borrow her “props.” She said that she and her husband had drank some beers and had a nice picnic in one of their favorite parks, so I decided that we would have a picnic too!

I’m original like that!

Now I am going to show you all something that Kevin and I have not shown anyone, ever.

Why, you ask?

I will let the photos do the talking, but needless to say, when we received them, all of my hopes of having pictures where we looked young and beautiful and in love quickly vanished.

Instead, we had a lot of a photos that looked like this….

Oh yes… this looks so natural, because clearly Kevin and I often lean against large columns and stare deeply into each others eyes, with his leg perched against the wall. So normal.

I think in this picture we were told to “look serious.”

What are we staring at? I DON’T KNOW!

Despite telling our photographer numerous times that we DID NOT LIKE KISSING PICTURES, he kept asking us to kiss. We already felt super awkward so we obliged.

This resulted in us having multiple photos that looked like this:

(he told kevin to grab my hair like that, by the way)

and this:

and, the ultimate of the kiss pics, this:

a wind kiss! wow! so dramatic!

To my many engaged friends: BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Hold your ground!

Now… our props! This is where we decided to “have a picnic.” I even borrowed Kelsey’s picnic basket for this so that I could have a real prop!

Here we are opening our wine and trying not to die of laughter. I couldn’t even look at Kevin because I was trying so hard not to laugh.

Then the photographer asked to take some solo pics.

I thought it was impossible to feel any more uncomfortable than I already felt, but I was wrong!

Posing alone made me feel even more awkward!

Don’t I look so happy and natural?

I assure you I did not pose myself.

And finally, the walking pictures. We ended up with a lot of pictures of us just… walking. Aimlessly. In front of other people’s houses.

Why do I look so bitchy?

Oh, I know! It’s because we just spent two hours and paid someone to take awkward photos of us! Awesome use of time and money!

And there you have it… the engagement pictures we vowed never to share.

I hope our embarrassment helped brighten your Friday morning a little bit!

The end.

P.S. Is it bad that I didn’t tell Kevin I was posting these? Ooops.

P.S.S. If you have any awkward engagement pictures, I’d love to see them!