Unique Engagement Session

All of my wedding packages include a complimentary engagement session. In my humble opinion, engagement sessions are a super important part of the whole wedding photography process. They are essential for getting the clients used to being photographed (it’s awkward at first!), getting to know how the couple likes to show affection and their humor, and building trust between clients & photographer. I want to walk in on your wedding day and NOT feel like a stranger, and an engagement session is an excellent way to accomplish that.

Once a couple books their wedding with me, we schedule their engagement session. I never decide for them what we will do, instead, I tell them to think about what activity feels most “like them”. It could be hiking in the mountains, karaoke in a dive bar, or making dinner together at home, whatever they want! I tell them to plan a perfect date night for the two of them, and bring me along.

I told Jeff & Jessica the same thing, and squealed with delight when I opened their email saying “We know you might think we are joking, but we would like to do our engagement session at Costco.” We got permission from the store manager, and we were all set to do the thing.

Engagement Session at Costco

I fucking love Costco. If only they had “neuro-divergent hours” with limited people and sounds… I’d be there a lot more…. My brain immediately started firing with ideas, and Jeff and Jessica were on the same exact page. Just run around and have fun, like kids in Costco.

It was a bit of a challenge for me to break away from feeling like it HAD to be perfectly lit, super romantic, and “beautiful” (especially when editing!). That Costco lighting is not ideal, and we already felt like everyone was staring at us, so I wasn’t about to be carrying strobes and stands around.

My whole goal moving forward from here is to capture REAL life. Real people, in their real clothes, being their real selves, doing what they really love. And the truth is, that isn’t always going to be perfectly lit, or with an aesthetically pleasing background or color palette. I love the challenge of just leaning into what is there, and documenting it as it really is.

Costco Engagement Photos

Through this Engagement Session at Costco, Jeff, Jessica, and I discovered that we are all just children in adult bodies. We had a lot of fun together. We made plenty of immature butt jokes. We laughed, and laughed, and laughed. And we are all so excited to work together again at their wedding.

Here’s what we ended up with…