You’re considering booking a couples shoot? High five to that. They’re a blast. As a Scottish wedding photographer, I’m often booked by couples who want a laid back, creative portraits. Sometimes it’s for folks who’ve booked me for their weddings. Not always though. I’m often booked by folks just wanting an epic couples shoot. All that said, who wouldn’t to hang about for a couple of hours in a cool location with the person you‘d give your last bite of cake to? When the session’s over, you’ll get a bunch of rad photos to remember your time by. You’ll both look wonderful and fabulously in love. Is there any debate? If there is, read on…

Here’s five of reasons why you should stop thinking about it and just book a couples shoot with a photographer you love:

1. Time Together

Making time to be together - alone - can feel like a luxury. I don’t know about you but spending quality time with Rich (my husband) is achieved through intention. To be fair, we have three young children so the logistics require more planning. Before kids, we were both really busy. We had our own interests, work commitments and friends. We had to be intentional about going for meals, day trips and just being with each other. We had a couples shoot and it was so much fun. We made a day of it. Got dressed up. Went for a meal afterwards. I look on those photos fondly and never regret making time for them, for us.

2. Get Creative

If you’re anything like me, you’ll take most of your photos using your phone. Yep! You just read that. It’s quick and easy. However, the best photos I take and then make into prints and albums of are the ones from my camera(s). My kit is worth a fair bit of money and I can do some incredible things on them compared to my phone. When using my camera, I can create the kind of photos that end up in posts like this and around my website. Take a look at the couples shoot portfolio page. Those aren’t from my phone! I’ve studied photography for years - starting with a degree then various courses and mentorship - to learn the technicalities. Following on from this, I’ve worked with countless couples and have a tonne of experience. All of this means I can create those incredible portfolio photos which have brought you here. Reading this.

3. These Photos Will Last

Unlike most of the photos you take on your phone, you’ll end up doing something with the gallery you receive from your photographer. You’re investing time, effort and money into having incredible images created so you’re going to do something more than post them to social media. Most couples I work with print a selection and frame them. Side note: one of my favourite places for frames is Oliver Bonas. They’ll become part of your family legacy and will sit proudly in your own home, maybe in your parents’ homes. Every time you look at them, you’ll recall how carefree and sickeningly in love you were. If you’re anything like Rich and I, you’ll still be sickeningly in love...only exception is you might have a few more wrinkles along with a stack of tremendous memories. These photos will speak of an earlier point of that journey.

4. Get to Know Your Photographer

This one’s for the couples who’re getting married and who’re using the same photographer to shoot their wedding as well as a couple shoot. I used to say that couples shoots were a waste of money. That pre-engagement shoots were an unfair way of capitalising on a pre-existing wedding booking. That photographers were effectively preying on a couples’ insecurity of ‘not feeling comfortable in front of the camera’. I only started offering them last year - I wanted to test the theory: see if they made a difference.

Wow. I was wrong! They really do make a difference. A positive one at that.

Firstly, they help build the relationship with your photographer. You will feel more comfortable with your photographer and also get to know how they work. For your photographer, it's also the time to get to know more about you as a couple; your characters, your energy. This is everything when it comes to making killer photographs.

5. Emotionally Rich Wedding Images Start Here

I mentor other photographers and one thing I bang on about is pushing personal boundaries to create emotionally rich wedding images. What does this mean? Simply put, I want look at a photograph and feels what it was like to be there. Feel the emotion of that particular couple. A literal representation isn’t enough. Not nowadays. Couples should look at their photos and see themselves; feel their energy. Every couple has a different energy and I am passionate about using it to make photographs which results in them jumping for joy or shedding tears of delight when seeing them for the first time. The couple shoot helps with this tremendously.