Tired of Cringe-Worthy Engagement Photos? so was This Couple

Photo by: Malia Moss
Noticing how stereotyped most engagement photography is, Schembari and Speed gender-swapped in quite a few pictures from their series.

Why is it that people revert to cheesy, dated, and downright sexist clichés when it comes to engagement photos? In our image savvy, Flickr- and Instagram-obsessed world, you would think that couples would come up with fresher ideas than the groom-to-be leading his intended up a garden/woodland/meadow path or gazing somberly into the distance (suggesting: intelligent, world changing thoughts) while she stares doe-eyed at up at his face (suggesting: plans for cooking him a three-course meal and cheerfully washing his underwear). "When started planning our wedding last October and looking at Pinterest boards of engagement photos, it was like people totally lost their personalities," Marian Schembari, a San Francisco-based marketing manager and blogger tells Yahoo Shine. Schembari and her fiancé, Elliot Speed, began trading ideas for photos to crack each other up, but when their friend Malia Moss, a professional photographer, learned about their inside joke, she convinced them to do a series of spoof shots. On December 14, the three mined every moth eaten romantic theme they could come up with over the course of six hours dashing around the city. "Marian and Elliot are goofy in the exact same way, it's freaky," Moss tells Yahoo Shine. "It was the most fun I've had at a photo shoot in my entire life." The results are hilarious-and surprisingly sweet. Ironically, the two people who were so cynical about engagement photography, are clearly deeply in love.--Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo Shine