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May 31, 2016

Rain and engagement sessions

Tips and Tricks

If rain on your wedding day is a cause for concern, rain on your engagement session evening can also be something to consider. Very often we’re asked “what do we do if it rains?” as we are scheduling and planning our couples’ engagement sessions. Today we’re walking you through our thoughts on the matter, and helping to explain how we go about giving our couples the type of engagement session they want!

If a wedding day is full of rain, it must be embraced, you don’t get to reschedule. As photographers, we get to dive into the type of rainy wedding day photography we really love. In reality, all we have to do is add an umbrella to the mix. Otherwise, couples still pose and interact with each other the same as they would during sunny portraits. In fact, the romance in these rainy, umbrella photos is only heightened! So we love a good rainy wedding day, it doesn’t bother us one bit.

For an engagement session, couples have the luxury of rescheduling, something that isn’t possible with a wedding. And so, almost always couples will choose to reschedule if the forecast calls for lots of rain during their engagement session. We know how gorgeous a sunset can be, and we understand how frizzy hair can become in the rain, so we are always happy to reschedule if our couples prefers to!

Washington DC Engagmenet Photography-7

(It sprinkled on and off during this session but you’d never know it!)

 

 

Here’s a rundown of our thought process when it comes to rainy engagement sessions…

What does the forecast say?

We’re constantly watching the weather. It’s a daily routine of ours and we do that to always know what our couples should expect for their sessions. Typically, on the day before the engagement session if the forecast is calling for 50% or more of heavy rain, our couples will usually choose to reschedule. In fact, some couples have asked to reschedule with just a 20% chance of rain. We’re happy to do whatever fits their needs best, and if couples really want a sunny evening, we’ll do our best to accommodate our schedule to fit in a rescheduled date.

 

How do you feel about rainy engagement photos?

For most couples, the choice will be to reschedule and hope for better weather. For some (very few) couples the idea of a little rain doesn’t scare them. In that case, we’ll discuss with the couple how we’ll go about the session, what steps we’ll need to take to protect our gear, and of course we’ll suggest dressing for the rain! White dresses or thin cotton isn’t the best choice if you’re going to be getting wet. For couples who love the idea of a romantic, rainy engagement session we’ll move forward and push through the rain! (This has happened twice by the way, its not very common but we’re up for it!)

 

Can we shoot in the rain?

Our cameras and equipment cannot get wet, but we have storm jackets for our camera bodies, ponchos for ourselves, and we’ve become very skilled at shooting under an umbrella. The way we go about shooting, from a photographer’s perspective, will need to be adjusted to keep our gear safe, but couples wouldn’t notice any difference. We just have to be much more mindful of where our equipment is, and we’ll typically have to go down to shooting with just one camera each, to avoid any cameras hanging at our sides, getting wet.

We can photograph in almost any kind of weather, including a Polar Vortex (true story), and most rainy days will do just fine. Light to moderate rain is no problem for us. However, thunderstorms and sideways rain does make shooting a full engagement session more difficult and more dangers than necessary. So in the event the forecast is calling for dangerous weather, we’ll make the call to reschedule, and our couples are always in agreement.

 

We hope that helps walk you through how we work with each couple to give them the best experience, and also listen to their preferences when it comes to their engagement session. Fingers crossed for dry days this June! We have a lot of sessions on the calendar! And if we do get a ton of rain… maybe we’ll end up with some carefree couples who like the idea of rainy photos 😉

 

southern maryland engagement photography-23

(The rain fell hard at the start of this session, but the clouds moved on and the sun came out just in time for the sunset!)

 

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