This is a very common question for any couple getting married. When is the right time to do our prenup shoot? Next month? After 6 months? 1 month before the wedding? Next holiday? As a former bride myself, I’ve been through these questions dozens of times to the point that Garry was telling me to just choose whichever date is okay and done! We’re good to go. As if it’s that easy… But seriously though, choosing the right, perfect, awesome prenup date is not as easy as 1, 2, 3 because you need to consider a lot of factors. It’s similar to arranging your own wedding event, just that it’s a photoshoot (or video shoot).

So for your Prenup/ Engagement shoot, you can choose any date, any location you desire, any pegs that you want to do etc but unfortunately, it will still depend on the following factors that you definitely need to consider:

1. Availability of everyone — the couple, the photo team, video team, HMUA, stylist (if there is any) and the venue. Everyone should be available at your intended prenup date. Take into account that some photo and video teams have their own set of recommended time frame as well as other HMUAs especially those who are in-demand. Plan ahead of time at least 3-6 months before so you can be flexible with various changes. In our case, for example, we did not intend to have 2 separate prenup shoot since that would be costly. Unfortunately, the schedule of our suppliers (Stylist, Photo and Video team) won’t fit with the date that we reserved for our prenup location. Our prenup shoots were all done mid-November and we started planning out as early as July!
2. The flexibility of Prenup Date. To tick off this from your wedding checklist, try to do it at least 3 months before your wedding so you can use your prenup photos for your Save The Date cards if you plan to have any, for the Canvass prints to be displayed during your reception, for your Invites, for your wedding website, your private FB event page, for your profile pic countdown etc. Try to pick dates that are not within and/or during Peak Wedding Season (-BER months) since wedding suppliers are literally busy during these months. But, if your suppliers can still accommodate you, then feel blessed, lucky and just hope that you won’t have problems later on. Our prenup photoshoot happened mid-NovemBER which is considered peak season for the wedding industry already. Thankfully after a couple of times re-arranging our suppliers’ schedules like some sort of jigsaw puzzle we didn’t have a choice but to do 2 separate prenup dates – one for Photo and one for Video! 
3. Weather. Since this is unpredictable, at least try to make sure that when you plan for your prenup date it doesn’t fall during rainy seasons. Also, ask your suppliers (photo/video teams, HMUA, prenup stylist, venue) regarding “force majeure” or Act of God if your dates can be moved with paying any fees etc. Better know everything first hand so you would be ready for Plan B. For our intended prenup dates, we checked weather forecasts and just prayed hard that it won’t rain since, in the Philippines, there’s no such thing as a “predictable” weather. Just to be sure we actually prepared ourselves for the worst even if November is off the rainy season mark. And guess what? During our video shoot last Nov 26, it rained half of the day in Taal Batangas so our initial plans were canceled. The rain in our Prenup video HERE is all real! Even the sound were real, though hindi nga lang nakuha yung kulog at kidlat mas cool siguro yun!
4. Transportation. Like the weather, this can also add to your problems so be sure to create a backup plan just in case. Better save reliable contacts of cars/ vans for hire or be sure you have Grab or Uber installed in your phone. Better be safe than sorry! In our case, this was something we didn’t see coming during our video prenup and thankfully one nice Grab driver took us all the way from Boni at 9PM to Taal Batangas where we only paid a fixed amount of Php 1,200! Tiwala kasi kami sa van namin na hindi masisira and in case our option B would be to go to the bus station but even that we were late already late! We even came to a point that we called our hotel reservation to move our booking since it will be charged on us pero they said hindi na pwede so from that pa lang nakaka stressed na! But miracles do happen and until now we still want to thank kuya Grab driver who helped us reach Taal Batangas safely! Kudos! God bless you!
5. Budget to cover everything. Even if you have already booked your suppliers and everything on the list above has already been covered, be sure that you have a “buffered” or “extra” budget allocated for the Prenup Shoot. This will not only entail to cover the given expenses but as well those unexpected expenses like extra hours for the venue, additional costs for the crew meal, extra expenses for gas/transportation issues, unforeseen corkages, unexpected hotel accommodation in case you won’t be able to go that day etc. Every peso counts! Better be safe than sorry.
6. Health. With all the stress and unforeseen issues that you and your fiance will be facing during your wedding preps, this is something that you both need to take care of since this is probably one of the most important things that you need to consider.

There is actually no perfect time to do your Prenup or Engagement shoot since any day is okay just as long as it’s done at least a month before your wedding, etc. Besides, one of the reasons why couples do their prenup shoot is to be able to use the photos and videos for their Save the Date etc. The key is — the earlier the better so in case there would be problems change of venue, weather problems, logistics issues, like printing for the photos, editing for both the photos and video, shipping issues, etc so there will still be time to fix it.

Happy preps! 🙂

** For Prenup Shoot Preparation tips, please click the link HERE.

** Before you book your photographer and videographer, check our Wedding Photographer and Videographer Checklist