Moody Engagement Session Tips

Spring can be a tricky, tricky beast in Kansas City. Oh, who are we kidding. Every season but summer is a tricky beast in Kansas City. One minute it’s hot and sunny, the next it’s raining (or snowing) and cloudy as heck. If you really, really like surprises it’s kind of fun because you never know what you’re going to get… right?

Totally kidding.

Believe it or not, spring is one of the hardest times to do engagement pictures. Yes, everyone (us included) LOVES all of the beautiful blooms and fresh green grass. But it’s so stinking hard to gauge the weather sometimes. You know, for all the reasons that we mentioned above. One thing we try to encourage our couples to do is to schedule a back-up date. But that’s not always feasible for some people. And we totally get it. Life is crazy-busy. And you have to get your save-the-dates out. And you have to have an engagement picture for those save the dates.

So, the show must go on.

Even though your dreams of a beautiful, sunny session may have gone out the window, don’t worry. There are still lots of ways to brighten up a dreary, moody day so that you get the best engagement pictures you possibly can. In fact, Barbie and Spencer inspired this little, how-to, so we feel it’s only fitting to share part 1 of their engagement pictures with you as we go!

Moody Engagement Session Tips & Tricks

1. Spice up Your Life (sing it with me!)

Be like Barbie. Girlfriend showed up in a bright yellow, beautiful spring dress. And Spencer had his game on with a bright, springy, blue and red plaid shirt. There’s simply no better way to spice up your photos than by adding in COLOR! If you’ve got a moody day for your pictures, wear bright, warm, sunshiney colors. This will instantly put all of the focus on you and your boo. And you better believe you’ll pop and stand out from a dreary background. And isn’t everything just a little bit happier with some color added in?

2. Shoot earlier in the day.

Most photographers (us included) like to shoot during the golden hour (2 hours before sunset). But on cloudy days, that sun goes away a lot earlier. If it’s looking like it’s going to be really dreary and gray, you may think about bumping your session time up a little bit to take better advantage of brighter skies. This might not be possible if you’re photographer is slammed with sessions and work, but it’s worth an ask.

3. Go to the dark side.

Yep. Dark and dreary skies can lead to one thing that we love a little bit. Moody, dramatic images. One of our biggest pieces of advice to all of our couples is that if a bump in the road happens, you embrace it and roll with it. If you’ve got stormy, cloudy skies it can be really, really fun to completely embrace the dark side, and go all in for the drama. Shoot past sunset, add in some really fun, dramatic poses to amp it up. Just embrace it. If you don’t wind up loving it, you can always schedule another session.

Barbie and Spencer got ALLL the drama. And while we know they love bright green, outdoorsy pictures (which we’ll do when everything finally blooms), these two embraced their dark and moody day like rock-stars. And you know what? Because of their bright outfit choices and bubbly personalities, these images don’t feel so dark and moody. We LOVE that they were able to brighten everything up to much!

Engagement Session Location | Liberty Memorial

Barbie and Spencer – CONGRATULATIONS!! Half of your engagement session is officially done! We can’t wait to finish up the second half of your session in a few short weeks! Thank you so much for being such amazing troopers during your mini-session so we could get that save the date picture for you!

Feel like you’re missing an image from Barbie & Spencer’s engagement session? Check out their sneak peek here. 🙂