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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the new trend for engagement pictures taken by professional photographers is daft t?

60 replies

ComposHat · 19/02/2013 22:05

I was browsing Facebook the other day and noticed that a number of newly engaged couples had comissioned sets of professional done engagement pictures. They all looked generic and very stagey. Happy couple walking through a wood hand in hand, happy couple pulling lovey dovey poses, showing off the engagement ring etc. Sort of like a Hello! spread.

AIBU to think this. latest and most absurd example of wedding mania, undertaken by the vain and those with illusions of granduer?

WIBU for me and my fiancee to put up a series of spoof engagement pictures? Gazing at each other with rapt adulation whilst swigging supermarket lager in our vest and pants or eating the same noodle from a pot noodle Lady and the Tramp style

and then out the pictures up on Facebook?

OP posts:
inchoccyheaven · 19/02/2013 23:26

When DH and I got engaged in 1996 and bought our rings from H Samuels we were given a voucher for a free photo shoot. It was all done in a studio though and we still have our photos on display. Some of us together and some of us on our own. Ah how young we look Grin

StuntGirl · 19/02/2013 23:28

Most photographers I've seen offer it for free as part of the wedding photo package, in order to get to know the couple and get them used to the camera if they're a bit shy. It's good as a practice run. Of course it's probably not really free, it'll be built into the total cost, but I don't see a problem with them. Just don't have one yourself if you're that arsed.

Vinomcstephens · 19/02/2013 23:29

YABU and mean spirited. I file engagement photos under the heading of "does me no harm, does no-one any harm and it makes the couple happy so what the bloody hell does it matter"?? Not my thing in the slightest but I'm a firm believer in each to their own so unless the happy couple are forcing you at gunpoint to sit through 30,000 engagement photos, what business/concern is it of yours?

OrangeLily · 19/02/2013 23:32

YABU they are basically the couple checking they are getting what they are paying for with their photographer.

Also it might be a different location because they could have decided the logistics didn't work or they could have knocked the original location down in the month inbetween!HmmAngry

TrucksAndDinosaurs · 20/02/2013 00:44

Oh God, another thing I failed to even think about.

CloudsAndTrees · 20/02/2013 00:55

It's quite often a freebie.

I'm struggling to see why anyone would have a problem with it. It's harmless.

I quite fancied one of those 'trash the dress' shoots, but I can see that it's a spectacular waste if money and I don't actually want to trash my wedding dress.

deleted203 · 20/02/2013 01:11

I didn't realise anyone did this. Never seen any. I'm quite amazed that anyone can make a living as a professional photographer nowadays, TBH. Everyone seems to have digital cameras/phones and the quality of most cameras now is really good. It's not like in the old days where you hired a photographer for your wedding as it was the only way to get photos. Nowadays most recent weddings I've been to have had a 'friend' taking the photos for free.

cory · 20/02/2013 07:46

I've been wondering about that too sowornout. But then again, my parents were both keen amateur photographers with good quality cameras and many years of experience- and the wedding pictures taken of me and dh by a highly regarded professional are still something totally different; you can see the professional touch.

cheeseandchive · 20/02/2013 08:29

Hmm...I know what you mean, even though I've had them done!

DH and I are very camera shy and have no photos of us together. The engagement pics were free as part of the package we bought for the wedding. It was a chance for us to get used to having our picture taken and hang out with our photographers who we got on really well with, and get some nice photos in the bargain.

As for the FB thing, I never would have uploaded them and do find it a bit strange, but then I never put anything on FB anyway. But our photographers have got a FB page so they put them on and tagged us. And then all our friends liked and shared them etc which kept it in everyone's news feed for a while. I felt slightly embarrassed/self-concious but I decided to get over myself!

confusteling · 20/02/2013 08:43

Not a new thing, my parents did this in 1987!

meditrina · 20/02/2013 08:44

I didn't realise it was a new trend.

I think of it as being pre-war up to 1950s, and rather posh - especially when published in The Lady.

Adversecamber · 20/02/2013 08:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EssexGurl · 20/02/2013 09:29

We had some done free from our photographer when we got engaged 14 years ago! So, definitely not a new thing.

As others have said, it was part of the service and a "get to know you" thing so everyone felt comfortable before the day. He also used it to check photos required, which groups etc. TBH I really like the photo of me and DH and we still have it up. We also gave one to both sets of parents.

Never thought it was naff, but equally would not have done it if it wasn't free. Can't see it as something to get wound up about!

SPsFanjoTheBigStickyHaribo · 20/02/2013 09:33

number 25 is the best

EddieVeddersfoxymop · 20/02/2013 10:06

New trend? DH and I were engaged in 1998 (yes, I was a child bride before you ask Grin) and we had engagement photos done. Found them the other day in the loft, cue DD and I pissing ourselves laughing and DH looking so boyish Grin

bruffin · 20/02/2013 10:30

We were given a free engagement photo from our wedding photographer back in 91

givemeaclue · 20/02/2013 10:34

Yanbu and I love the pot noodle shots idea !

Original poster
ComposHat · 20/02/2013 10:34

Ahh I'm guessing the new trend is to put them up on Faceache, rather than the pictures themselves.

Mind you, it wasn't just one picture, it seems to be about 20 odd that each couple had done.

OP posts:
TheSeniorWrangler · 20/02/2013 10:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StuntNun · 20/02/2013 10:40

You will have years of happy memories from your spoof pics. Do them do them do them!

Original poster
ComposHat · 20/02/2013 10:41

SPFanjo I like that one and I like number 9 too, it looks like they are getting frisky on the parking meters!

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Morloth · 20/02/2013 10:44

A fool and their money...

Good for the economy.

Treaclesmart · 20/02/2013 10:49

We didn't have any done, but I think it's a really good idea. When it came to our wedding day I didn't realise how annoying and intrusive the photography can be. We weren't prepared. I'm not sure if this is normal but our photographer insisted on me standing in a particular way with one foot in front of the other, like ballet position 3, it threw me. Maybe if we'd have had our engagement shot I would have been able to practice - or say no actually I don't want to!!

atthewelles · 20/02/2013 10:58

It sounds like part of the OTT way a lot of weddings are going: staged proposals in some exotic place; weddings costing thousands and thousands of pounds; hen weekends abroad; etc etc

Original poster
ComposHat · 20/02/2013 10:58

We aren't having photographer full stop Treacle both of us take a rotten picture and we are worried that the final result will scare the cat.

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