20 Creative, Fun & Unique Engagement Session Ideas!

Happy hump day everyone! I’m making a few changes to my blogging schedule this year and one of them is freeing up Wednesdays for inspiration-type posts. As much as I love sharing real wedding & engagement features, I do want to add some variety to what I post about. So yes expect to see a lot more funky wedding ideas from around the web, DIY projects and printables, indie music selections, vendor and product spotlights + whatever else presents itself in the coming months!

For today, I thought I’d start with a look back on 20 creative, fun, unique, memorable, and couple-defining e-session ideas from  our 2012 Poptastic Bride couples. Hopefully they can inspire you to veer away from “cookie cutter” and put a stamp of individuality on your own engagement session too!

20. Center your e-session on a favorite sport or hobby. A fun way to personalize your e-session is to base it around a sport or hobby you enjoy doing together! Check out some fun examples below.

Kimberly & Chris’ Bowling Engagement Session, photos by Kristin Chalmers Photography

Some more sports and hobbies-themed e-sessions:

* Melissa & Marc’s Boxing, Starbucks, Comics, & Retro Vegas E-session

* Bethany & Eric’s UT College GameDay-inspired Engagement

* Alexcee & Dale’s Flag Girl and Racer Boy Engagement Session

April & Ward’s Giant Scrabble Engagement Session, photographed by GetzCreative Photography

19. Set your e-shoot in a carnival.  If you want your e-session to reflect your playful selves, have your photographer tag along as you go on a date in a carnival! The colorful surroundings will also naturally complement the fun mood of your shoot.

Camilla & Ian’s Quirky-Cute Fairground Engagement, photographed by Kama Catch Me Photography

More fairground e-session fun:

* Kim & Martelle’s Colorful and Vintagey Atlantic City Engagement

* Heather & Adam’s Fun & Frolicsome Disneyland Engagement

* Jo & KC’s Bright and Cheery Carnival Engagement

18. Have a cozy At-Home e-session. Are you homebodies? Have a nice apartment? You may not have to look too far when deciding where to hold your e-session!  This will also really ensure unique-to-the-two-of-you photos and is also a great way to document your pre-married home life.

Ashley & Ryan’s Ice Skating and Home Living (with a Cat) Lifestyle E-session, photographed by Bit of Ivory Photography

Some more home-life e-sessions:

* Anne-Sophie & Yohann’s Lifestyle Engagement Session in Barcelona

* Marie & Corentin’s Laid-back Living E-session in Paris

Laura & Dan’s In-Bed-with-a-Muppet + Downtown Boston Stroll E-session, photographed by Kristin Chalmers Photography

17. Take photos against colorful street art and graffiti. If you’re city dwellers and would like your photos to look like they could hang in a hip urban gallery, getting photographed in front of street art will quickly do the trick!

Janell & Steven’s Streets of New York Engagement, photographed by BACD Photography

More graffiti-backed e-sessions:

* Joanne & Nick’s Fun and Quirky E-session around Street Art-filled NYC

* Victoria & Darius’ Sweet Downtown Decatur Engagement

* Kristin & Winfield’s Love, Grit, and Graffiti in Philly Underground E-session

16. Pretend to be celebrities and get snapped by paparazzi. If you want some journalistic-style photos, then get your photographer to capture you at your sweetest while you’re not looking!

Stefania & Daniele’s Paparazzi and Graffiti Engagement Session, photographed by Alfredo Falcone and Luciana Ognibene of Fibre di Luce

Another restaurant cafe-situated e-session worth checking out:

* Lydia & Michael’s Vibrantly Hued Cafe Olé Engagement Session

15. Include animals in your e-session. Are you pet lovers? Why not include your little furry pal in your photo shoot? That should make for fun and unexpected moments!

May & Kelvin’s Kitty Cats and Balloons Engagement Session, photographed by Hilary Cam Photography

Take it a step further and have your session in a zoo:

* Chelsea & John’s Oakland Zoo Engagement

14. Go for a stark contrast. Combine total opposites like high fashion and grit, for example.You might be surprised at how gorgeous the photos will turn out such as in the examples below!

Catherine & Adam’s Crazy-Cool and Cinematic Abandoned Rail Car E-session, photographed by King Street Studios

Bry & Rick’s Industrial Love Engagement, photographed by EYE Photography

More:

* Krista & RJ’s Grunge Chic Downtown Flagstaff E-session

13. Go thrifting! Or take a stroll around a street fair — or even a mall, as in one of the examples below — and have your photographer take your photo on your “date”.

Kelly & Ryan’s Antiquing Lifestyle E-session, photographed by Garrett & Co. Studios

More strolling-around e-session examples:

* Stefani & Jason’s Virginia Beach Farmers Market E-session

* Elizabeth & Bryce’s Mall of America Engagement Session

* Kristina & Adam’s French Quarter Stroll Engagement

12. Have a cooking session. And then enjoy the food you cook with your honey afterwards. (Don’t forget to share the food with your photographer too! )

Laura & Mike’s “Private Cooking Class” Engagement Session, photographed by Calculated Style Photography

11. Base your e-session on your favorite food. Sushi, s’mores, think out of the box and center your shoot around something yummy that you both like. And then make fun props to add some quirk factor!

Hunter & Justin’s Fun & Quirky Sushi and Coke E-session, photographed by GetzCreative Photography

10. Go wild with fun DIY crafts and props. If you have the artistry, inclination and time, this is a fun and colorful way to commemorate your engagement!

Mica & Marc’s Happy Puppy-Lovey Playground Engagement, photos by MangoRed

Leila & Don’s Quirky Pop Culture and Polka Dots Engagement Session, photographed by Osep & Mimi Photography

9. Run around town and let your photographer capture you at play. This is another great way to end up with dynamic, vibrant photos like the ones below.

Christine & Kenny’s High-Energy Coney Island E-session, photographed by Laffler Photography

Other playful engagement sessions:

* Atsuko & Kenta’s Everyday-Fun-and-Play Engagement in Tsukuba, Japan

* Angela & Andrew’s Milk Tea, Balloons, and Pinwheels Engagement

* Niki & Aaron’s Hip and Happy Brooklyn Bridge Engagement

* Dep & Ping’s Vibrant & Dynamic High Line Park Engagement

* Laetitia & Nicolas’ Charming and Playful Palais-Royal E-session

8. Incorporate fireworks into your shoot. Aside from providing you with memorable photos you can show your grandkids one day, this will definitely produce astounding, talk-of-the-town images! (When I posted this pic on FB, it got a ton of shares!)

Ashley & Jonathan’s Fantastic Fireworks-and-Flames Engagement, photos by 2&3 Photography

7. Take inspiration from non-wedding-related sites. That’s right, step away from wedding blogs (like this one) every once in a while or else you’ll end up with photos that will look like everyone else’s!  So much inspiration can be had from elsewhere, like rock and roll magazines or band record covers as the couples below prove.

Chelsea & Andy’s Super Cool Band Photo / Record Cover-inspired E-session, photographed by (PA) Photo

Alyson & Andy’s Rock & Roll Seattle Engagement, photographed by Firstlight Photography

6. Center your photo shoot around what you do professionally. Nothing says “you” like what you’re known to be an expert of. The couple featured in the photo below are architects so they had a totally awesome e-session on a construction site, among other locations!

April & Manny’s Architecture and Construction-themed Engagement, photographed by Joel H. Garcia Photography

Some more profession-based e-sessions:

* Faith & Jared’s Fun Flight-themed Engagement

* Megan & Josh’s Red Hot & Romantic Fire Truck Engagement

5. Get messy! Express your artistic selves with a fun and colorful paint fight like this couple did. Once you’ve become responsible parents, you won’t have an excuse to act this goofy anymore so do it while you still can!

Carly & Jeff’s Creative and Colorful Paint War Engagement, photographed by Lakshal Perera

4. Get chased around town by monsters. This couple put a fun and unique spin on the strolling-around-town-e-session by running from a couple of cute cardboard creatures.

Sabrina & David’s Monster Chase Around DC Engagement Shoot, photographed by Maggie Winters Photography

3. Take inspiration from pop culture. Have a favorite movie, TV show, book, film genre, or stage musical? Re-enact it complete with costumes, props and post-processing effects.

Andreea & Dan’s Cinematic Love, Crime, and Passion E-session in Romania, photographed by David Postatny Photography

More pop-culture inspired e-sessions:

* Susana & Gustavo’s Alice in Wonderland-themed Engagement Session

* Michelle & Daniel’s Phantom of the Opera Engagement Session

* Christy & Chris’ Superman-Inspired Rooftop Engagement Session

* Rachel & Max’s Dr. Who-inspired Engagement Session

2. Stage an intricate silent film parody and take the photos in Black and White.  If you think you can pull this off with your photographer, go for it! The best thing about taking a series of photos like this is that they can be stitched together to make a vintagey film that you can play at your wedding reception!

Love Derailed: Lindsey & Mark’s Dudley Do-Right Silent Film Parody Engagement, photographed by Carolyn Scott Photography

1. Combine your geeky interests and pull all stops to come up with a fantastic, out-of-this-world shoot that totally reflects the two of you. I don’t think I need to explain this further. Just click on the link below the photo to see how awesome this couple’s e-session turned out.

Rachel & Jake’s Magic the Gathering, Anime and Steampunk Engagement Session, photographed by GetzCreative Photography

Did you enjoy this list of fun and creative e-session ideas from our featured 2012 couples? I hope it helps you to come up with a unique and meaningful twist for your engagement shoot. Feel free to share it with your bride friends and photographers!

* For even more inspiration, you may click [ here ] to see all of our featured engagement shoots.

Tags: e-sessions with a twist, engagement photos, playful e-sessions, themed engagements