When imagining what month you’d like to plan your engagement session, what season comes to mind? I’m guessing sometime in the spring, summer, or fall...but I’m here to tell you not to sleep on winter engagement sessions. Winter brings many unique opportunities that just aren’t possible in other seasons, so today I’ll be sharing some of my favorite winter benefits as well as dispelling some myths I hear a lot about winter engagement sessions!
Myth: Everything looks dead and brown in the winter.
A lot of people think that if you’re planning a winter engagement session you need to have snow for it to look good. While snow is really pretty, it’s absolutely not necessary for a winter session! For Tobie & Kendall, I chose an area I knew had tall warm grasses, bold evergreens, a pond with good reflections, and some rolling hills— all of these elements came together to bring more color and contrast to their images!
Myth: You can’t stay warm and look nice at the same time.
Tobie and Kendall got lucky with a fifty-degree day in January so they didn’t need to worry too much about the cold. However, they brought a blanket that they were able to not only use to sit down, but also to wrap up and snuggle in as it got more chilly. If you have a colder day for your session, you can wear lots of layers to keep yourself warm and to make the images feel more cozy! Hand warmers in your pockets or toe warmers in your shoes can also make you more comfortable. One final tip is to bring a hot beverage to sip in the car between locations or you can even bring a cute thermos to include it in images to make them feel more date-like.
Benefit: You won’t get sweaty.
This one is kind of a no-brainer, but Kentucky summers can be somewhat brutal with the heat and humidity. If suffering through warm temps while trying not to look sweaty in photos doesn’t sound difficult enough imagine doing that while also trying to snuggle with each other. In the winter you can skip being sweaty and you’ll actually WANT to snuggle up to stay warm.
Benefit: Fewer people around means more privacy.
I schedule almost all of my engagement sessions Monday through Thursday— largely because I usually have weddings on the weekend, but also to avoid crowds. In the winter, there are always fewer people out so places that are usually pretty busy end up being nearly empty. This is great for two reasons. One, we don’t have to avoid people in the background of your images, and two, you don’t have to worry about people watching you all and feeling self-conscious.
