What is an engagement session and why does it matter?
Engagement session Switzerland, this is something I offer to every couple who books me for their wedding. Not as an optional extra. As an essential part of the journey.
Because here is the truth: most people have never been professionally photographed before their wedding day. And the wedding day is not the moment to figure out how to feel natural in front of a camera. That is what the engagement session is for.
My goal is simple: by the time your wedding day arrives, you should feel completely at ease with me and with being photographed. No stress, no stiffness, no wondering what to do with your hands. Just you, your partner, and the story I am there to tell.
Tiphaine & Simaõ – Lavaux, Autumn 2025
I had known Simaõ for a while before this session. He is a talented videographer and we have shared a stand together at the Salon du Mariage de Lausanne and I also work regularly with his sister Diana, who is a wonderful Wedding Designer. So when he booked me for his wedding, I was already excited.
But I was meeting Tiphaine for the first time.
In our first video call, she had told me clearly: she wanted my photos. Not just any photographer, mine specifically. That kind of trust means everything to me. And it also comes with responsibility.
Because Tiphaine arrived at the session with the classic nervousness that almost every client brings: “I have never done a photo shoot before. I don’t know how to pose. I don’t really know what I am supposed to do.”
I hear this every single time. And every single time, I know exactly what to do.
How I work during an engagement session
My approach is always the same, and it works.
I start from a distance
I never throw a camera in someone’s face at the beginning of a session. I tell the couple to get into their own bubble, to chat, to walk, to simply be together while I adjust my settings from a distance. I am there, but I am not intrusive. And I begin shooting before they even realise it.
I show them the first images
After the first few minutes, I walk over and show them the screen. This is the moment everything changes. The reaction is almost always the same: “Oh wow, that’s actually really beautiful.” And just like that, the first layer of stress melts away.
We explore, we move, we laugh
From there, we start to move. We explore the location, we try different things — walking, sitting, a quiet embrace, a burst of laughter. I never force a pose. I create a situation and let the emotion come naturally. Within twenty minutes, most couples have completely forgotten they are being photographed. They start suggesting positions themselves. They get playful. They get real.
That is when the best images happen.
Two spots, two atmospheres
I always aim for two different locations during an engagement session — close enough to walk between, but different enough to create variety in the final gallery. Different light, different mood, different colours. For Tiphaine and Simaõ, we moved between the shores of Lake Geneva and the terraced vineyards of Lavaux — and the contrast was perfect.
A session typically lasts between one hour and one and a half hours. Long enough to find the magic. Short enough to keep the energy alive.
Why Lavaux is one of my favourite locations
The Lavaux UNESCO vineyard terraces, stretching between Lausanne and Montreux along the shores of Lake Geneva, are one of the most breathtaking landscapes in Switzerland. Golden vines in autumn, silver water below, snow-capped Alps in the distance.
As an engagement session location, it offers everything: intimate stone walls for close portraits, wide open paths for movement shots, and sweeping views that make every image feel cinematic.
It is also a place that feels personal and local, not a generic backdrop, but a real piece of Switzerland that tells a real story.
A note to couples who are nervous about being photographed
If you are reading this and recognising yourself in Tiphaine’s words “I don’t know how to pose, I don’t know what to do”, I want you to know something.
Nobody does, at first. That is completely normal. And it is exactly why I am there.
My job is not to tell you where to stand and how to tilt your head. My job is to make you forget I exist, and to capture what is real between you. The laugh that sneaks up on you. The way you lean into each other without thinking. The look that says everything without a single word.
That is what an engagement session is for. And that is what I will bring to your wedding day too.
Mathilde Ballet is a wedding and engagement photographer based in Geneva, Switzerland, available for sessions across the Lake Geneva region, Lavaux, Lausanne, and beyond. To enquire about your engagement session or wedding date, get in touch here.
