Your engagement session is the first time we photograph you and your partner together — and for many couples, it is the first professional portrait session they have ever had. I want you to walk away feeling completely stunning, completely yourselves, and completely at ease. Getting dressed for the occasion is a big part of making that happen.

This is the style guide I share with every client before their session — elevated, practical, and deeply personal.

The Philosophy

I approach engagement session styling the same way I approach everything else in my work: with intention. The goal is not to make you look like someone else’s engagement session. The goal is to create images that look unmistakably, beautifully yours — ten years from now, twenty years from now. That means choosing pieces that reflect who you actually are, styled in a way that photographs with sophistication and warmth.

For Her

The Dress: For summer sessions, I am obsessed with flowing midi and maxi dresses in silk, chiffon, or lightweight cotton. They move beautifully in the breeze, they catch golden light in the most extraordinary way, and they read as timeless in photographs. My favorite palette: warm whites and ivory, soft champagne, dusty rose, warm rust and terracotta, sage. These tones complement almost every skin tone beautifully in summer light.

The Alternative: If dresses are not your style, a beautifully tailored wide-leg trouser in linen or silk paired with an elevated top is equally stunning. Please do not wear anything that makes you feel unlike yourself — confidence always photographs better than a trend.

Jewelry: Keep it personal and meaningful. A delicate necklace, your grandmother’s earrings, a stack of rings that have a story. Avoid anything that looks costume-y or that will distract from your face.

Shoes: Comfortable ones, please! We will be walking. If you love heels, bring them for a few frames and flats for the rest. I have photographed many a beautiful engagement session in bare feet on the beach — there is something perfectly poetic about it.

Hair and Makeup: I strongly recommend professional hair and makeup for your engagement session. Summer heat and humidity can be unforgiving, and professional artistry holds differently than what we can achieve at home. More importantly, when you feel beautiful, it shows. Effortlessly, visibly, photographically — it shows.

For Him

The Look: I love when men dress with the same intention as their partner — not necessarily matching, but clearly coordinating. A well-fitted linen shirt in a soft neutral or pale stripe, paired with tailored trousers or clean chinos, reads as elevated and relaxed in equal measure. A blazer is never a bad idea and can always come off classic, elegant, tailored.

Color: Coordinate with your partner rather than matching. If she is in warm ivory, he might be in a soft oatmeal or warm tan. If she is in rust, he might be in a rich camel or earthy olive. The key is that you look like you belong together in the frame — visually harmonious without being identical.

Shoes: Clean, simple leather shoes or loafers for a polished look, or clean white sneakers if the setting and vibe calls for it. Leave the athletic shoes at home.

The Two-Look Formula

If your session is at least ninety minutes, I almost always recommend bringing a second outfit. My favorite formula:

Look 1: Elevated and romantic — this is your “elevated” look. The silk dress, the tailored suit, the intentional styling.

Look 2: Personal and relaxed — this is where your personalities come through. A favorite denim jacket, a cashmere crew, comfortable jeans, the boat shoes you actually live in while going to lunch at the club. This look often produces the images people love most.

One Final Thought

I have photographed hundreds of engagement sessions, and the couples whose images I am most proud of are rarely the ones who were dressed the most expensively. They are the ones who showed up with intention, with each other, and with a genuine openness to the experience. That is what creates extraordinary images.

Everything else — the outfits, the location, the light — is just the beautiful frame around your love story.

When you book your engagement session with Michelle Behre Photography, we work through a full style consultation together before your session date. I am here to help with everything — from specific outfit feedback to location scouting to building the perfect timeline for your day.

Inquire here to begin planning your session. I cannot wait to create something unforgettable with you.

Michelle Behre Photography | Luxury NJ & NYC Engagement Photographer | Serving New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania & Destinations Beyond

Thoughtfully Curating Your Moments

A moment this meaningful deserves to be remembered with intention. Whether you’re planning an intimate proposal and your wedding tucked within a quiet garden or a grand gesture overlooking sweeping views, having it documented allows you to relive the emotion for years to come.

At Michelle Behre Photography, we specialize in capturing proposals in a way that feels natural, refined, and true to you—so nothing feels staged, only beautifully preserved. From discreetly documenting the moment itself to guiding you through a just-engaged portrait session afterward, we ensure your experience feels effortless from beginning to end and curated with deep intention.

If you’re dreaming of a proposal that is not only unforgettable in the moment, but timeless in how it’s remembered, we would be honored to be part of your story, inquire within for further details on availability.

Let me tell you something I hear almost every time a couple arrives at their engagement session: “We are not photogenic.” And every single time, I smile — because by the end of our session, those same couples are laughing in disbelief at how good their images look. How confident. How empowered they walk out of their session feeling. As a photographer, that is my greatest gift.

Here is the truth: being photogenic has almost nothing to do with your face and almost everything to do with feeling comfortable in front of the lens. And feeling comfortable? That is entirely within our control.

After years of guiding couples through engagement sessions across New Jersey, New York City, the Jersey Shore, Charleston, to Florence here are my five most trusted ways to make your session feel completely natural — and to walk through your session feeling completely effortless.

Move Through the Location Like You Belong There

The single biggest shift I see in couples during a session is when they stop posing and start moving. When we walk together through the location — when you are leading your partner somewhere, turning to say something, pausing to take it all in — that is when the magic happens. I am always watching for those in-between moments: the adjustment of a collar, the private laugh, the look over the shoulder. Those are the frames that end up as your favorites.

My job is to create prompts and movement that give those moments room to exist. Yours is simply to trust the process and keep your energy with the love of your life — not the camera.

Give Yourself a Full Morning (or Evening) to Prepare

Rushing to an engagement session is the enemy of feeling relaxed. I always recommend my couples give themselves extra time on the day — a leisurely coffee, time to get dressed without a countdown, a styling session together, maybe a slow walk to the location together. When you arrive unhurried, you arrive open. That openness is everything.

For summer sessions, I almost always schedule for golden hour. The light is extraordinary, the heat of the day has softened, and there is a natural winding-down quality to early evening that tends to bring out a beautiful, relaxed energy in couples.

Talk to Each Other, Not at the Camera

One of my favorite prompts to give couples are a little silly. And that is the point. The laugh that follows? Trust the process. The way one of you buries your face in the other’s shoulder? That is the image that goes on your wall.

My couples produce the best results when they are entirely absorbed in each other and completely forget that I am there with a camera. I do this deliberately. I move quietly, I give prompts that draw attention inward rather than outward, and I wait — patiently — for the real moments to surface.

Dress for Comfort First, Style Second

I know this sounds counterintuitive coming from someone who just wrote an entire style guide (see: What to Wear for Summer Engagement Photos). But here is what I mean: the most beautiful outfit in the world will not save you if you are tugging at a hem, wobbling on shoes that are too high, or sweating through a fabric that does not breathe. Comfort breeds confidence. Confidence breeds beautiful images.

This is why I always spend time with my couples on outfit planning before the session — so that by the time we are actually shooting, they feel amazing in what they are wearing and can focus entirely on each other.

Trust Your Photographer — Fully

The couples who walk away with the most extraordinary galleries are the ones who surrendered fully to the experience. Who said yes to the prompt that felt a little weird. Who walked the extra block even when they were tired. Who stayed in the light five minutes longer than planned and got the image of a lifetime.

I have been doing this for over a decade. I have photographed couples in some of the most beautiful places in the world — from the New Jersey shoreline to rooftops overlooking Manhattan to private estates and Four Seasons in Europe. My entire focus, from the moment we start until the moment we finish, is you. Your comfort, your story, your images.

When you trust that, something beautiful happens. Every time.

Ready to experience an engagement session unlike any other? I would love to be your photographer. Inquire here and let’s create something timeless together.

New Jersey Wedding Photographers

A season as fleeting and full as an engagement deserves to be documented with the same care and intention you are pouring into every detail of what comes next. These are the in-between days — the ones before the vows, before the flowers, before the first dance — and they are some of the most quietly beautiful of your entire love story. Do not let them pass without something to hold onto.

At Michelle Behre Photography, we specialize in capturing this chapter in a way that feels completely natural, refined, and true to who you are as a couple — never staged, only beautifully preserved. From guiding you through location and styling to moving through your session with a quiet, unhurried presence that lets real moments breathe, every part of the experience is curated with deep intention. What you walk away with is not just a gallery of images — it is the first chapter of a bespoke heirloom that will live in your home, in your albums, and in your family for generations.

If you are dreaming of an engagement session that is as effortless as it is extraordinary — images that stop the scroll and make you feel something every time you look at them — we would be truly honored to be part of your story. Inquire within for further details on availability.

There’s something undeniably romantic about summer evenings. The warmth in the air, golden light stretching past sunset, the sound of waves crashing along the shoreline, late-night boardwalk strolls, and the feeling that time slows down. At Michelle Behre Photography, summer engagement sessions are some of our favorite stories to capture because they allow couples to fully immerse themselves in the quiet in-between moments together.

Your engagement season is fleeting. Before the timelines, before the vows, before officially stepping into your bridal era, there’s this beautiful chapter where life feels full of anticipation and possibility. Summer engagement sessions preserve that feeling effortlessly — creating imagery that feels cinematic, emotional, nostalgic, and true to your relationship.

As leading New Jersey wedding photographers and videographers, Michelle Behre Photography captures luxury weddings and engagement sessions with a documentary and editorial-inspired approach.

Planning your Session to Compliment Your Day

One of our favorite reasons to schedule a summer engagement session is when couples are getting married during another season entirely. Their session will compliment their Wedding Day images beautifully. Additionally, they will have their save the dates to their guests within ample time.

If your wedding day is taking place in the fall, winter, or spring, your summer engagement session becomes an opportunity to create variety within your overall wedding story. Instead of having both your engagement and wedding images feel visually similar captured in the same season, choosing an opposing season adds depth and contrast to your gallery, story, and heirloom albums.

Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

• a cozy winter wedding with a carefree summer engagement session,
• a romantic spring wedding with golden beach portraits,
• or a fall estate wedding with nostalgic twilight boardwalk imagery.

The contrast creates a fuller visual story of your relationship throughout different chapters of your engagement season. Summer sessions also allow couples to embrace a more relaxed, playful atmosphere that often feels entirely different from the elegance and formality of a wedding day.

Capturing the Fleeting Romance of Summer Date Nights

Summer engagement sessions naturally feel effortless because they mirror real experiences couples already love sharing together.

Late sunsets, warm evenings, spontaneous adventures, and lingering conversations all create the perfect environment for authentic imagery. Rather than forcing overly posed moments, we focus on documenting movement, connection, and emotion as your evening naturally unfolds.

Some of the most romantic engagement sessions happen during:

• twilight encounters along the shoreline,
• slow walks through beach towns or along the water,
• cocktails at your favorite rooftop bar,
• golden-hour boardwalk rides,
• or quiet moments watching the sunset together and at your favorite restaurant as we leave you two for dinner together.

There’s a nostalgia attached to summer evenings that translates beautifully into photographs. The imagery feels cinematic and intimate — like scenes from your own love story unfolding naturally in real time.

At Michelle Behre Photography, we intentionally photograph those quiet in-between moments: the laughter between poses, windswept hair along the beach, your hands brushing together during a walk, or the way you look at each other when you think no one is watching.

Those are the moments that matter most.

Beach Sessions Along the Jersey Shore

As New Jersey wedding photographers, we may be slightly biased, but the Jersey Shore offers some of the most beautiful and versatile engagement session locations on the East Coast.

From the refined charm of Spring Lake and Bay Head to the energy of Asbury Park and nostalgic boardwalk towns throughout the shore, summer creates the perfect setting for engagement sessions that feel timeless yet deeply personal.

Beach engagement sessions allow couples to fully relax. Shoes come off, timelines disappear, and the evening becomes less about “taking photos” and more about spending intentional time together.

The shoreline also provides incredible natural variety:

• soft dunes and light greenery,
• colorful boardwalk lights and vintage arcades,
• beach bonfires,
• and quiet sunset moments along the water.

The result is imagery that feels elevated while still preserving the carefree romance summer is known for.

A Relaxed, Vacation-Like Experience

One of the reasons couples love summer engagement sessions is because they often feel more like a date night or mini getaway than a formal photoshoot.

There’s less pressure to perform and more space to simply enjoy the experience together.

We encourage our couples to plan engagement sessions around activities and locations that genuinely reflect their relationship. Some of our favorite summer-inspired engagement session ideas include:

• a twilight hike overlooking the coastline,
• a beach bonfire with music and champagne,
• a carnival or summer fair,
• coffee shop or cocktail bar dates,
• visiting your favorite boardwalk,
• sunset boat rides,
• or nostalgic drive-in movie nights.

These experiences create real memories together while allowing us to capture imagery that feels authentic to your story.

The beauty of engagement sessions is that they preserve not only what your relationship looked like during this season — but what it felt like.

Creating Memories Before Your Bridal Era Begins

Before the wedding day arrives, before the dress is carefully hung in the bridal suite, before the first dance and emotional vows, there’s this season of becoming.

Your engagement session freezes that chapter in time.

At Michelle Behre Photography, our approach is centered around documenting genuine connection through emotional storytelling and timeless imagery. We believe your engagement photos should feel immersive, effortless, and reflective of the relationship you’ve built together.

As trusted New Jersey wedding photographers and videographers, we are honored to capture couples throughout the region while preserving the fleeting, romantic moments that shape your story long before the wedding day arrives. Inquire within to check your date and to begin planning your Engagement Session with Michelle.