adorable engagement session. { frost on flower }

I met this lovely couple on a tiny beach on Lake Harriet on Sunday morning.  I'm photographing their wedding next month and we were trying to squeeze in a great engagement session beforehand, so they can use the photos as decor at the wedding.

The bride to be told me she wanted a beach and a grassy area as their locations.. they were going for something really timeless.  I suggested we meet first at Lake Harriet at this little beach and then walk over to the Peace Garden and use that location as well as the adjacent Rose Garden and open grassy area, if needed.



They were basically open to anything so I started off with their feet comfy and covered in sand.  :)



I wanted to make a point to start out with casual and comfortable shots and ease our way into the more posed and smiley shots.







I'm so glad that we were there early enough to use the beach before it was covered with beach goers trying to take advantage of the last days of summer break.





Olive and I actually visited this beach to swim and play in the sand the following day and it was completely crawling with teenagers!











These shots were a lot of fun.  :)





Tracy and Sam were both so great at taking my direction.





We took a stroll over the Peace Garden and stopped at the large accessible porta-potty so they could change.  I'm glad it was a large one!  And I'm glad they were willing to use it as a changing space.. sometimes there aren't great options and the weather was too warm for layering so they actually had to change their clothes.





























I really enjoy all of these in both color and black and white.. so I'm sharing both.  :)













I was ready to wrap things up when Tracy thought hard for any ideas to use up a few more minutes.



She suggested laying down on this bench, which I thought was a great idea.





She also suggested peeking around this tree so I could add their initials and wedding date.  Cute idea!

Can't wait to photograph the wedding soon!

another minnehaha engagement. { frost on flower }

Like I recently mentioned... I go to Minnehaha Falls Park A LOT.  I had hopes of this engagement session looking quite different than the last one I did, as the seasons should have been in the midst of changing at this point, but they weren't.  So these photos are full of all of the warmth and charm that winter photos bring!  But at least the weather was mild so the couple was able to brave our time together without coats.  :)  Good job guys!



This was a fun session to photograph - the bride to be is the younger sister of a friend of mine and she now works where I used to work before I became Olive's mom mom.



I'm fairly certain that I looked super goofy making this big heart.  The snow was super crunchy and I often found myself standing on it rather than stepping into it.  I stumbled a few times but retained the shape of the heart.. thankfully.  :)



I've photographed her previously as a part of large family portraits and hear about her often from my friend.  Seems like a lovely idea to have a sister!









This session was a lot of fun.  I love looking back on photos when I'm editing knowing that their smiles and expressions were completely genuine and not posed, coerced, or faked.  It's fun to have little stories and goofy moments to attach to photos that other viewers don't know about too.











I think this last one was one of their favorites.  They're pretty happy!  Which is always great to experience during an engagement session.  Congratulations!!  :)