An Engagement Shoot At The Horniman Gardens

Hello! For those of you who have never booked a wedding photographer, you may not be familiar with the concept of an engagement shoot - i certainly wasn't! But it is a standard part of most photographers packages. At first i thought 'we don't need that. What a self-indulgent concept. I have a wedding budget to stick to!' But once we'd got over that, we realised it's actually a really sweet idea. A chance to have some nice relaxed photos together, in your usual clothes, in a place that means something to you when you're not busy getting married and talking to 100 guests. It's also a good way to get to know your photographer, tell them all your plans and get used to being in front of their camera.

So! A couple of weeks ago we had our engagement shoot with Chris Barber. We had lots of ideas about clever settings and props and themes, but in the end we realised that keeping it simple would be best, and would mean the most to us. We chose to go to the Horniman Museum and Gardens. It's within spitting distance of our house, so in the five years that we've lived in Forest Hill we've gone there countless times, for autumn walks, picnics with friends and snowball fights.

I think that in ten years we'll look back at these photos and they will capture this moment in our lives - our first home together, making lots of plans, and standing on the edge of our future.