5 Unique Engagement Photoshoot Ideas For Every Couple To Try (2024)

This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s fall editorial intern Lauren Sanchez. Find her on Instagram at @lauren.sanchezz. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.

You should always have a photo of your life’s biggest moments. Whether that’d be the day you graduated high school, got your first job or even adopted your first puppy, photos serve as a reminder of the good times and allow us to cherish these moments for years on end. And your engagement is absolutely no exception!

With an average of 1.8 million couples getting engaged each year and over 2.5 million weddings expected to happen in 2022 alone, love is most certainly in the air. But with everyone getting engaged, the uniqueness that comes from planning and shooting your engagement photos might be difficult to find.

Beach photoshoots at sunset and running through the flower fields with your lover simply aren’t cutting it anymore. Traditional styles of engagement photos can be considered outdated and overdone, and being too literal in your photos can make them look incredibly cheesy. And if you’re anything like me and crave the admiration and/or the “WOW!” factor, standing out in your engagement photos is an absolute must.

With the hecticness that comes from wedding planning, your engagement photos should be the least of your worries. So if you’re looking for inspiration on how to make your photos the talk of the town and timeless, here are five engagement photoshoot ideas that break away from tradition and the “typical” shoots, and will have all your guests saying yes to your save-the-date invitations.

Paparazzi Style

Nothing says “center of attention” more than having a paparazzi-style photoshoot. For those couples who dream of having the A-lister status like celebrity couples Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds or John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, this type of photo shoot is made just for you.

Taking a walk around town in glitz and glam will have you and your partner feeling like you just walked off the red carpet. Especially in this type of photoshoot, it’s all about being natural and feeling “caught off guard”– so if you are awkward at posing, don’t stress. And most importantly, don’t forget to stay in character! Pretending you and your partner are Hollywood stars for the night can help liven the personality of the photos and create another memory that the two of you will never forget.

Go Old-School With The Film Camera

With the resurgence of film photography in recent years, film has become a popular medium for all types of photographers. With its vintage vibe and grainy filter, film photography encapsulates nostalgia and will have you looking at your photos for years and years after.

And while film can be difficult to use and have control over the settings, film photography is all about capturing moments as they are happening. Film photography makes the photographer work with intention and forces them to capture only the best and most authentic versions of the subject. With film cameras, you only get one shot to make that specific photo happen and to capture a specific moment in its completely raw nature, and I love how unedited and unstaged film can actually be.

Film photography is soft, classically untraditional and effortlessly timeless. For couples who consider themselves to be hopeless romantics and who love feeling nostalgic, this type of shoot is most definitely the one for you.

Around The House

The saying “Home is where the heart is” couldn’t be more true to those home-bodied couples. While some couples may choose to go outside or even travel for their engagement photos, there is absolutely nothing better than taking photos inside a place so intimate, comforting and organic as your actual home.

Taking engagement photos inside the comforts of your home can relieve the stress of having to stage and put on a persona of yourself that’s “best” for the camera. When you are in your element or even in a safe place, the anxiety of having to look perfect will surely go away, and you and your partner don’t have to deal with feeling camera shy.

With multiple places to choose from in your home, the possibilities of being creative are endless. For example, if you’re a couple who spends a lot of time in the kitchen together and your love language for each other consists of baking and home-cooked meals, the kitchen can easily be made into a place to take your pics. Or if you’re a couple who spends quality time with each other by binge-watching television or slow dancing to oldies’ music, the living room can help reflect the memories you’ve made together. And besides, taking pictures in your own home can definitely save a bit of money when it comes to a photographer’s travel costs!

First Date Recreations

Every engaged couple should remember the place they had their first date. It’s the first time in the relationship where you realized that this might be the person you want to spend the rest of your life with – I mean, how could you NOT remember?

With every first date being different from another, this is a perfect opportunity to show others what made your relationship unique in the first place! Perhaps your first date was at a local carnival where the two of you rode the ferris wheel and bonded over your fear of heights and love for funnel cake.

Maybe your first date was at a local diner that served real nostalgia with neon signs and retro movie posters. Where they firmly believed that a jukebox sounded better than a radio, and where the two of you shared fries and a chocolate milkshake. Or your date was a picnic at the park where your partner brought you your favorite flowers (the first of many), and the two of you played card games and laughed till your stomaches hurt.

Regardless of wherever your first date was, the place where you first met them might be a cute way to go back into the past and remember the reason why you fell for them and said yes to the ring in the first place.

Art Galleries and Museums Galore!

Calling all my fellow art lovers and museum fanatics! There’s nothing like being surrounded by statues and paintings alongside the wall, and now it’s finally your turn to become the art for everyone to admire.

Running around the museum, sitting on top of the viewing benches and even posing with the statues can be great photo opportunities and help diversify your photo selections. Especially when it comes to looking at all the exhibits and galleries a museum can offer, it’s impossible to not get wrapped up in the beauty of it all. If anything, the pressure that can come with taking photos of this momentous occasion can lessen if you think of this as another date outing.

For my Gossip Girl watchers and fellow New Yorkers, one of the most iconic museums to exist, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has hundreds of places to take your romantic engagement photos. And if that isn’t sweet enough, The Met also offers date nights during the weekdays for couples with food, drinks and live music too! Can you just imagine how cool it would be to show others that you and your partner got your engagement pictures done at THE MET?!

When it comes to engagement photos and celebrating one of life’s coolest moments, stray away from the cliché! While classic and traditional types of photos can suffice, these unique photoshoot ideas add just the perfect amount of spice to make your engagement extra special. With these unique engagement photoshoot ideas, you and your partner will have incredible photos to commemorate such a fun and exciting moment and be more than ready to say “I do” when the wedding time comes!

What do you think about these unique engagement photoshoot ideas? Are there any other photoshoot ideas that we might’ve missed that are just as unique? Let us know in the comments below!

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