Engagement Photo Tips + More: A Chat With Colors of Grace

This week we’re chatting with Miami wedding photographers and videographer, Colors of Grace! Colors of Grace are an amazingly talented husband-and-wife photography duo with a keen eye for detail and lifestyle sensibilities. They are perfect for the Miami bride looking to capture their day in all its glory…while still having an amazing time (trust us, this dynamic photog couple is SO MUCH FUN to be around!).

Tell us a little about you guys. How did you get into weddings?

We started our company back in 2015 and honestly back then we only knew two things: I loved photography and Pablo loved film making and we wanted to just create!! Back then Pablo was employed full time and I had just graduated FIU so starting a company was the last thing on our minds. But one day we saw a video by a company that we really love and still do (White in Revery) and we started seeing that the wedding industry was just picking up newcomers for both photo and video. So sitting at a Starbucks in Kendall, Florida haha we both looked at each other and said “let’s try it out and see if we like it” and sure enough, almost 6 years later, and we loved it. At first we were just excited to create something for someone, to express everything we had inside but little by little it began to evolve into something else. We loved that we were a couple working with other couples and we we gained a whole new passion for it after we got married ourselves in 2017. We could now say that we truly understood the REAL commitment that marriage came with and we saw our couples in a whole new light after 2017. So we came for the opportunity to create art, but we stayed for the passion we feel for marriage!

We love that you are husband and wife IRL! What gives your strength as a team?

I think everything about our relationship is what gives us strength – our level of intimacy, of communication, of TRUST is way way more than your typical business partner relationship. We consistently work so hard to improve each one of those areas and a ton of other ones. We have always made a big deal about this: our business is a reflection of us and in this case specifically, of us as a couple. So the work that we put in as people individually and as a couple shows 10000% through our company and the work we do. From the moment we pick up the first phone call with a potential couple to the moment we show up to the wedding to the very second right before sending their final photos and videos, it’s marked with us and who we are as people. One of our most important personal goals is always excellence and we every single day we strive for that to seep right through to the business. First and foremost our goal is always to honor God with the best we can give and the best we can be and second, our goal is to love and honor people the same way!

What’s your favorite part of a wedding?

Oh my gosh ALL OF IT! Haha no just kidding (not really) but if we had to pick one my pick would be either the getting ready or the couple’s portraits and Pablo’s is 100% the couple’s portraits! Both of these moments are so intimate and they are honestly the ones we treasure the most because they allow us to get so close to people and to who they are in real life. Not many people will get the privilege we get to witness moments like these! We’re truly the blessed ones that we get invited to such a sweet and tender day!

Do you shoot digital or film as well?

Digital all the way! As much as we love film, it’s a wholeee other world so we have not even dabbled in it yet.

What’s your #1 tip for engagement sessions?

Our #1 tip is go ALL out on the engagement session!!! We always tell couples “Allow yourself to dream up the most amazing session ever and then go ahead and pick your dream location and your dream outfits.” The engagement session is ultimately a celebration of their future marriage, it’s that brief moment in time where you are no longer just bf and gf BUT you are not yet husband and wife haha. It’s the moment you are now ENGAGED to the one you love and just like the wedding day, it’s a one-of-a-kind season that you won’t live out ever again!!! And this calls for only the best of the best for their engagement session. Also, we encourage couples to remember that this session should be an extension of their personality and not to follow any trends that are popular at the moment. Each couple should look back at their engagement photos and see themselves not an image of someone they saw on Pinterest haha.

If you could give brides one piece of advice for planning their photography/videographer what would it be?

Our advice would be: Trust your photographers and videographers completely – as in 100% completely. If there is anything we need more than ANYTHING else it’s the trust of our couples. We always tell couples to be vulnerable about how they feel, the good and the bad, to be open to sharing their crazy ideas with us, to allow us to be a resource and to help them take off any kind of weight from your shoulders. We do what we do and work as hard as we do solely for them to have nothing but the best and in order for us to do that, we need their wholehearted trust to know that we want to give them exactly that. We’re not here to judge, take away or bash ideas, or even to plan this picture perfect day. We’re here to make their dreams come true, whatever that may look like!

What’s one thing that you wish brides knew about hiring a photographer/videographer?

One thing we wish brides know about hiring a photographer/videographer is just how important the role that we play is on the wedding day. We do believe that photographers and videographers play one of (if not THE MOST) important parts on the wedding day and we do think that not enough emphasis is always placed on that truth by couples or vendors. If we do not or cannot do our job properly for any reason, the memories of the wedding day will get jeopardized for the couple. This goes way beyond the actual day of the wedding, this is an impact they will feel for years and years to come. And it’s super important to also recognize that both photo and video play an equally crucial role – not one or the other is more important. While pictures can show you the beauty of the decor or the memories of the tears you cried, they don’t speak to you the vows you exchanged or the incredible speech your MOH shared. So all in all: photo and video are so so so important and we cannot stress it enough.

Thanks so much for joining us, guys! For more on Colors of Grace, check out their Instagram, and their website!

Smitten Co. is South Florida’s premier wedding planning subscription. Our Miami wedding planners will help you plan your perfect wedding all while pampering you with gifts along the way. Learn more here.