Finding The Perfect Location For Your Engagement Session

Congratulations. You’re engaged! What better way to announce the world of this wonderful event than beautiful photos of you and your fiancé together. There aren’t that many occasions, aside for your own wedding, that you get to experience being supermodels of your own shoot. Plus, an engagement session will give your photographer a chance to get to know both of you, which will make shooting your wedding much, much easier.

Are you convinced yet?

Great! So now that you’ve decided to have one, the next thing to figure out would be the “when” and the “where”. The “when” is the easy part. It’s the “where” that gets brides befuddled. So read the following tips in finding the perfect location for your engagement session!

To help you find the perfect location for your engagement session, I usually ask these three questions:

1. Natural or Urban?

Simply put, do you want your engagement photos to have a natural feel or an urban feel?

Natural Locations

Natural locations offer foliage that if used correctly¸ can create beautiful bokeh. Fields of wildflowers also provide that romantic look, something often used in movies. Think House of Flying Daggers (if you haven’t seen that movie, you’re missing out. Just saying!) Choosing a natural location would also allow your photographer to feature the landscape and create and an art piece you can display on your wall. The only thing I don’t like about natural locations is that sometimes, you get a green cast on the skin when the sun hits the grass and bounces back at you.

Urban Locations

If it is up to me to decide on locations, I would prefer urban locations over natural. I love that urban locations have an abundance of lines and geometric shapes, which makes for interesting compositions. I can also play with reflections, which is easier done using glass or metallic surfaces. Buildings that have beautiful architecture are also found on urban locations, which I just love to use. And the number one reason why I love urban locations for me is the light. Gorgeous light is created when bounced between buildings. And sometimes, a shaft of light coming through two structures can create dramatic imagery. One thing I’m not too thrilled about urban locations is that it can be busy at times, so I have to work harder finding compositions that does not include other people in your photos.

2. What things do you do together for fun?

Engagement sessions are meant to capture your essence as a couple. Take Maria and Zeph’s engagement session for example. They both like to sail their boat in the summer so for their session, I met them at Grand Bend where their boat was docked and had the shoot there. Another example is Cidalia and Greg’s session at the Pinery. They love camping and the Pinery is one of the campsites they love to visit each year. So we did their engagement session there.

3. Is there a place in particular that means a lot to you?

Featuring that special place on your engagement session adds a nice touch to the whole feel of the photos. For example, Amanda and Keith’s engagement session was shot in Port Dover, Ontario. Amanda’s family is firmly rooted in Port Dover, a place where her Grandfather raised his children among of which was Amanda’s mother. Amanda was really close to her grandfather and had lots of good memories of him in Port Dover. Though he is not around anymore, shooting in Port Dover, in a way honours his memory. Choosing a location special to you provides another layer of meaning to your engagement photos which I think is beautiful.