What to do if you hate your wedding engagement photos
Disappointing engagement photos that ignore your inspiration board, feature washed-out filters, and miss basic styling details can leave you panicking about your actual wedding day. This disconnect between what you discussed and what you received makes it hard to trust that the photographer will capture the style you actually want.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
What to do if you hate your wedding engagement photos
- 1asking the photographer to change the filters to something warmerDid this help you?
- 2mentioning the little details to watch out for on the wedding dayDid this help you?
- 3canceling the photographer despite having a non-refundable depositDid this help you?
- 4asking the photographer to edit the existing photos differentlyDid this help you?
- 5doing a full retake with the same photographerDid this help you?
- 6hiring a different photographer whose natural style matches the desired aestheticDid this help you?
- 7Wishing they had picked a different photographer who specializes in photographing 'real' couples rather than editorial workDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Our wedding is this month and we hired a photographer with an amazing portfolio.”source ↗
“Well, we got our engagement photos back and I’m pretty disappointed in how they came out.”source ↗
“The photos were heavily ai edited and some photos didn’t even look like me.”source ↗
“I feel like we should’ve picked a photographer that photographed more “real” couples than editorial.”source ↗
“I'm pretty disappointed with how our engagement pictures turned out. I think they're nice photos but they are the opposite of what I wanted and what I had discussed with my photographer ahead of time.”source ↗
“We got the photos back today and we aren’t super happy with a lot of little details that could have been addressed during the shoot, things like hair being slightly out of place, dress or shirt being crooked in the picture.”source ↗
“We also don’t really like the filters that were added into the photos and they just make our skin seem really pale / washed out.”source ↗
“we’re really worried that we’re making a mistake if we were so unhappy with the engagement pics.”source ↗
“90% of the photos we got are are posed, cool toned, up close crisp, airy and bright shots that look nothing like my board.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Why do I hate how I look in my wedding photos?
- 2Is it normal to have doubts about marrying your fiance?
- 17Why can't I stop looking at wedding dresses after buying mine?
- 5Is a second wedding photographer worth the extra cost?
- 2Partner gets tense when talking about wedding
- 10Why am I anxious instead of excited after getting engaged?