Your Wedding Can Happen Wherever the F*ck You Want

Who decided engagement photos have to happen in a field at golden hour?

Okay, look. I love a pretty field at golden hour. I love a beautiful venue, a mountain view, a gorgeous Oregon Coast beach, all of it. If that's what you want, I'm actually really into that!

But it doesn't have to be.

Your engagement session, your portraits, and even your wedding can happen pretty much wherever the hell you want.

Maybe you love the idea of wandering through the forest together. Maybe you want to hike up a mountain. Maybe your favorite place is a bar, an arcade, a library, a museum, a drive-in, or the diner where you had your first date. Maybe you want to get married in your backyard surrounded by the people you love most.

All of those things are fair game.

Your location can actually mean something.

This is one of my favorite ways to think about engagement sessions and wedding days. Instead of only asking, “Where would look good in photos?” ask yourselves, “Is there somewhere that means something to us?”

Maybe it's the arcade where you had your first date.

Maybe it's the spot on your couch where one of you first said, “I love you.”

Maybe you used to bar hop along the same street every weekend when you first started dating. Maybe there's a coffee shop where you spent half your relationship. Maybe it's the park where you walk your dog every Sunday or the backyard where your family always gathers.

Those places might not look like traditional photo locations, and that's exactly what can make them so good.

The same goes for your wedding.

Your ceremony doesn't have to happen at a traditional wedding venue. Your portraits don't have to happen where you got married. Your reception doesn't have to be in a ballroom. Maybe you want to get married at your family home, take portraits at your favorite park or bar, and spend the evening dancing somewhere completely different.

Maybe your wedding is at a gorgeous vineyard because you've always dreamed of that setting. Maybe it's a tiny ceremony in the mountains followed by pizza and drinks with your favorite people.

Both are completely valid.

What matters is that the places you choose make sense for you.

You don't have to choose between beautiful and personal.

This is probably the biggest thing I want couples to take away from this.

You don't have to give up the beautiful photographs just because you want something personal. We can have both.

We can find the pretty light, the good backdrop, and all the things that make a photograph work while still choosing a place that feels like you.

Maybe that's a mountain at sunset. Maybe it's your favorite neighborhood bar at 8 p.m. Maybe it's the beach where you spend every summer. Maybe it's your grandmother's backyard.

There really isn't one right answer.

And obviously, some locations come with permits, rules, weather, accessibility, or other logistics we'll need to figure out first. That's part of my job too. We'll make sure the idea actually works before we show up with a camera.

So if you're planning your wedding or engagement session and you've got a location in mind that makes you wonder, “Would we be allowed to do that?” or even “Is that weird?”

Tell me.

It might be exactly the kind of thing I'd love to photograph.

Because your wedding doesn't have to look like anyone else's.

It just needs to feel like yours.