Pre-wedding and engagement shoots

A pre-wedding shoot is a dedicated photography session with the couple, shot before the wedding, usually two to six months ahead. The images are used for save-the-date cards, invitations, the reception screen and entrance displays. It is planned around the two of you rather than around a wedding programme, which is what makes it different from ceremony coverage.

Not necessary, but it does two useful things. It gives you images for save-the-dates and invitations that would otherwise not exist, and it means you have been photographed together once before the wedding day. Couples who have done a pre-wedding shoot are noticeably more relaxed in front of the camera at the wedding itself.

For most couples, yes, if the images are actually going to be used. If the invitations are already printed and there is no reception screen, the practical case is weaker and the money is often better spent on covering another wedding function. Decide what the images are for first, then decide the format.

Two to six months before the wedding. Earlier than six months and outfits and plans have usually not settled. Later than two months and the images arrive after invitations have gone out, which removes the main reason for doing it. If you have a print deadline, tell us at booking and we work backwards from it.

Four things drive it: half day or full day, where you shoot, crew size, and what you want back. Location is usually the biggest once you leave your own city, because travel, permission fees and accommodation stack up. Send us the dates and the locations you are considering and you will have a real number within one business day.

A half day is three to four hours on site built around a single golden hour, with one or two outfits at one location. A full day runs across sunrise and sunset, ten to twelve hours in total, covering two or three locations and two to four outfit changes, with the middle of the day used for travel and rest.

Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Goa, Munnar and the Rann of Kutch each give you something a city cannot. That said, the best location is often somewhere with a connection to you, because the reactions are genuine rather than performed. We suggest locations after a conversation about the two of you, not before it.

Usually yes, and often a fee. Most forts, palaces and public gardens charge for commercial photography, and several ban tripods and drones outright regardless of what you pay. We check the rules and secure permission before the day, and pass the site fee through at cost rather than hiding it in a package.

One or two for a half day, two to four for a full day. More than four rarely helps, because changing eats the good light and the later changes end up shot in worse conditions than the earlier ones. Plan the strongest outfit for the best light rather than saving it for last.

Sixty to a hundred and twenty edited images from a half day, and up to two hundred from a full day. These are individually corrected rather than batch processed, which is why the number is lower than a wedding day and the finish is higher. A save-the-date crop set is included alongside them.

Two to three weeks by default. If you have an invitation print deadline, tell us at booking and delivery is scheduled against that date instead of our normal queue. A compressed turnaround is possible and is agreed in writing rather than promised informally.

Yes, shot alongside the stills by a separate cinematographer. It is usually cut to under two minutes for the reception screen, with a shorter vertical edit for sharing. Booking both together costs less than booking them separately, because the location, travel and permissions are shared across one production.

Bring one outfit you feel genuinely comfortable in and one you feel dressed up in. Solid colours photograph better than busy prints against detailed backgrounds like forts and markets. Avoid anything that needs constant adjustment, because it shows in the images as a couple fidgeting rather than a couple relaxed.

One covered or indoor fallback is agreed in advance for exactly this, so a wet morning is an adjustment rather than a cancellation. If the whole day is unusable and the location was the point, we reschedule to the next workable date at no additional shooting fee, though travel already incurred is not recoverable.

They can, and it is worth thinking about whether you want them there. A small group is fine and sometimes helps you relax. A large group changes the shoot, because you end up performing for an audience rather than being with each other, and it shows in the images.

Yes, across India and internationally. Travel and accommodation are quoted separately and agreed before booking. For international shoots we also check visa timelines and local permission requirements early, because those take longer to arrange than the shoot itself and are the usual reason a date slips.

It is possible and it is tight. A single-day trip means arriving the night before, shooting sunrise and sunset, and travelling back the following morning. It works, but it removes every buffer, so a weather problem or a delayed flight costs you the whole shoot rather than an hour of it.

Yes, and most couples are awkward at first, which is completely normal. You are given something to do rather than a pose to hold: walk, talk, react to each other. Within twenty minutes almost everyone forgets the camera is there, and the images from the second half of a shoot are usually the ones people choose.

Yes, and it is the most common arrangement. The advantage is real: by the wedding you already know each other, we already know your families, and the visual approach is consistent across everything. Booking both together is also usually more efficient than booking them as separate engagements.

You do. We ask separately for permission to show any of them publicly, and if you decline they are used nowhere, including in private portfolio shares. The high resolution files are yours to print, share and use however you want without asking us.