Engagement Photo Trends Around The World
Written by Jaillan Yehia
Last time there was a royal wedding, the whole world went absolutely mad for all things Kate Middleton, and a new pop culture craze was created in the form of her sister Pippa and that famous posterior.
It’s amazing to think that it’s almost a decade since Wills and Kate announced their engagement in 2010. In that time the original young royal couple have had kids and settled down, Pippa has tied the knot herself – and the phenomena of engagement photos has become the norm everywhere from London to New York. It has proved to be one wedding craze that’s very much here to stay.
Wills & Kate’s official engagement – photo circa 2010
The world’s media is of course now awash with stories about Prince Harry and Meghan’s Merkle’s engagement photos and one of the first things to set the new couple apart from previous royal unions is the more modern, relaxed, intimate and even sexy tone of their engagement photo shoot.
Yet rewind 10 years and engagement photos weren’t a given; go back just a little further and most couples from various countries and cultures wouldn’t have considered hiring a photographer to document their engagement let alone a Harper’s Bazaar regular.
It is clear that all the publicity surrounding engagement photos by famous and iconic couples like the Windsors has had a huge influence not only on UK wedding trends but on the world of weddings as a whole.
A different tone for the royal couple in 2018
But what’s really compounded this is the explosion in the use of social media within the last 5 years to spread trends, ideas, themes, and styles in engagement photos from country to country, across cultural and even religious divides, in mere seconds.
British brides have been looking up to and copying the royals for hundreds of years – eating up every detail of their fashion choices, honeymoon destinations and of course the pomp and circumstance of their majestic marriage ceremonies – for more on this just watch The Crown. But now that inspiration can spread across the pond in a split second at the click of a mouse.
The fact that Prince Harry just so happens to be marrying an American only makes the US audience more enthralled, and makes the fairytale all the more thrilling.
In 2018 a Raleigh wedding photographer based in North Carolina can get requests for a photo shoot inspired by a look that’s straight out of London’s South Kensington. A Sikh couple will have an engagement shoot in Rome – the capital of Catholicism. An Italian couple might get dressed up in saris for their photos for fun. Anything goes, and we have the internet (and by that I pretty much mean Pinterest) to thank.
Over in Asia you have couples booking elaborate, multi-costume engagement shoots, or even getting dressed in their entire wedding outfits before the big day to pose at famous landmarks.
Countries like China and India with vast populations and very hierarchical societies are always looking for the next big idea, a way to outdo one another and to cement their social status as well as their love: the engagement shoot provides the perfect platform.
And while US brides often have a fixation on classic British style, conversely UK brides have started falling in love with Americana – photos taken in the great outdoors, with a rustic, hippy or even a wild west vibe.
One American couple recently decided to shoot their engagement pics in Target because they love shopping there so much. So maybe the next royal engagement shoot will be be set in Harrods food hall? Now that would really take the biscuit.
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