And I do my little turn on the catwalk

There's something a little self-indulgent about engagement photos... but I do love to indulge myself! So before D and I started looking for a wedding photographer, we scoured Craigslist for someone to do an engagement shoot for us. I found someone who was working on building her weddings and engagement portfolio so she was offering a pretty good deal, and I liked the work I saw on her blog, so we made arrangements to meet. I really don't remember how or why this fell apart, but we never actually did keep our appointment, so we put the engagement shoot on hold for a few months while I researched wedding photographers.

In the meantime, D and I wanted to send picture Save the Dates—okay, I wanted to send picture Save the Dates; I don't think he knew what Save the Dates were)—so we still needed an engagement shoot, with or without the professional photographer. We mentioned it to D's mom during Easter brunch on a family trip to Cambria, and she wasted no time, taking pictures of us to my specifications ("we need pictures with our faces closer together!") that very day. I don't think I had a stitch of make-up on, and D hadn't even bothered to do his hair. Still, I'd say they were not too bad.

(personal images taken by FMIL D)

They did, after all, make for our awesome magnet Save the Dates (which we ordered from MagnetStreet.com)!

(No, these are still not our real names)

I still thought that a professional engagement shoot was important to get us more comfortable in front of the camera (and, let's face it, to give us beautiful pictures of us when we're still young and pretty!), so when we finally were ready to book our wedding photographer, we made sure to negotiate a package that included an engagement session...

Are you doing an engagement session? Would you trust an amateur to take your photos?