Wondering what to wear for your engagement photos? Amanda of Uppercase L Photography curated a go-to guide for choosing the best engagement photo outfits. In this blog post, she unveils 10 tips, 3 outfit ideas, and loads of photo inspiration.

I’ve been there. It’s HARD to not only figure out your own outfit, but I totally understand how challenging it can be to coordinate outfits with your partner. I get asked the question, “what should I wear for our upcoming photo shoot?” at least once a week, and I wanted a better way to share best practices and tips on dressing for your upcoming engagement or couple session, so I pulled some of my favorite photo shoots out of the vault to help you! I’m so glad you’re here; let’s get started with 10 general tips!

Engagement Photo Outfit Tips:

1) Remember, photos are meant to be a direct reflection of your personality! Choose your outfits and locations based on your passions and your favorite activities as a couple.

2) Don’t try to MATCH! Instead, choose colors in the same family. Coordinating instead of matching your clothes and accessories will produce the most cohesive look. I also strongly welcome mixing textures and patterns!

3) Stray away from any clothes with graphics or logos on them. They tend to be distracting in photos.

4) Ladies, your engagement photo day is the perfect time to do your makeup trial! Might as well use that application to get some awesome photos!

5) Don’t forget: you’re rocking a gorgeous ring! Make sure that baby is shining and your nails are clean.

6) Layers are your friend! Layering not only prepares you for Mother Nature’s many gifts, but it will give you many different looks in your photos.

7) When picking your outfits, keep your location and season in mind. Wearing heels to climb up a mountain or wearing a scarf in August will most likely make you uncomfortable and will show in your photos. Feel free to bring those items for a couple photos, but be sure to have comfortable shoes and clothes handy if your location calls for much exploring or is in an extreme (hot or cold) weather month.

8) The more comfortable you are in your outfits, the more confident you’ll feel. Promise 🙂

9) RELAX! If you’ve hired a great photographer, they’ll be there to help you feel great and look awesome!

10) Have fun! You two love each other, right? Let it show and have fun at your session! Your photographer will do his/her best to bring out those genuine smiles, but be sure to remind yourself that you two can be yourselves in front of the camera. Your photographer will love it!

Now that you have those tips in your back pocket, let’s check out some examples! I’ll walk you through why each outfit works, and why the camera loves them!

OUTFIT #1

COZY, IN-HOME ENGAGEMENT SESSION

These outfits don’t even come close to “matching”, but they totally work and look awesome! Why? The colors are in the same family. Neutrals don’t have to match and colors don’t have to be the same. Cody and Amy here have two different colored tans, a navy sweater, and green pants. Green and blue are in the same family, and mixing neutrals always “goes”. Plus, they tied in blankets and pillows to bring their outfits together in some photos.

TIP: Don’t be afraid to let your pets join in! The camera LOVES neutrals and pops of different colors in the same family!

OUTFIT #2

COORDINATING NEUTRALS WITH CLEAN, SIMPLE BACKGROUNDS

Simple is the key word here! We want the focus to stay on YOU for your engagement photos. Keep it simple with a classy dress and coordinating neutrals; as you can see, Taylor’s shorts pull out the blue in Tasha’s dress. Tasha and Taylor are using the white sailboats in Mexico for some of their photos to simplify their background and maintain the focus on them. Shooting your session in an area with buildings, boats, or other solid structures will bring simplicity to your photos. You could tie in a pop of color in this scenario, too! The camera loves this session because their outfits are coordinated and they mixed patterns with textures!

See more of this dreamy engagement session here.

OUTFIT #3

FLOWY DRESS IN A ROUGH LANDSCAPE

There’s nothing quite like capturing a photo shoot where the couple and their clothing have a lot of movement. Ladies, wearing a long flowy dress or skirt will produce amazing, moving photos (yes, even without wind!). When you’re planning your outfits, try to incorporate something that will move when you move. Dresses like Lindsey’s, here, allowed me to “create” wind, when there wasn’t any, and it’ll give you that “in the moment” candid look! When pairing a beautiful dress in a rough landscape, your photos will really pop! The camera loves this scenario with Pat and Lindsey because their outfits coordinate, we utilized movement, and the location is stunning!

Now, go ROCK your session!

Cheering you on,

Amanda.

P.S. Loving Amanda’s photography style? Book her through Forever Bride + receive an exclusive deal. More details HERE.

Have you seen this Woodsy Love Date engagement session yet? More engagement photo outfit inspiration!