The Mistake I made when I got engaged

When I got engaged, I received a piece of great advice from a friend of mine. I was sharing my engagement news with him, including all the fun and serendipitous details of the proposal. We talked about when the wedding would be. The truth was that my fiancé and I wanted to get married as soon as possible. The span between our engagement and wedding was relatively short - less than 4 months. We were in a long distance, international relationship. We had paperwork and immigration forms to fill out! Let's get on with it so we can be together! We couldn't wait.

That's when my friend stopped me and said: remember to enjoy this time, the window between engaged and married. Look ahead to all that excites you, but also remember to be where you are, take it in. You can only call yourselves fiancés for so long. Embrace it!

My friend was right. Being a fiancé is a relatively short amount of time in the grand scheme of a partnership. So we tried to embrace it - rather than race it. We succeeded in some ways, and not in another. 'Fiancé' felt like a funny word to both my fiancé and I. We would called each other "Fiancé" like we were trying on a style of clothing that was foreign to us to see how it fit. We would laugh, but it was fun. Knowing we only had 4 months of this stage made it all the more special. Except...

We failed to capture it in photographs.

We failed to make time for engagement photos that were just for us. (I know, and I'm a photographer!) It's the only thing I regret about my time as a fiancé. We were too focused on other logistics.

Whether you have 4 months or 4 years as fiancés, it's a magical time. With hindsight being 20-20, I highly encourage those recently engaged to carpe diem - or carpe fiancé! - and celebrate this special time with a photoshoot. Without the other pressures that go along with a wedding day, this is a photoshoot that's purely for you. It's a chance to capture a time that you'll treasure forever.