Jake and Reyna Purcell Engagement Session in Big Sur California

As the photographer, I am not used to being on this side of the camera. Here is what I learned from having my engagement photos taken.

Jake and I were spent the year of 2022-2023 living in California. It was an absolute blast and we kind of lived in a state of perpetual exhaustion. There is just so much to do there and so many beautiful places to see and visit. So of course, us being the adventurers that we are... we had to do something crazy just about every weekend. We went climbing in Joshua tree a few times, Jake snowboarded in Lake Tahoe almost every weekend he could, we went to an insane amount of vineyards and of course there was Yosemite too (We went to Yosemite 4 times and Jake proposed there!). However, arguably one of our all time favorite places was Big Sur. If you haven't heard of Big Sur, it is a string of state parks that are all along Highway One on the pacific coast. Eventually I will have to write a travel blog post about it! STUNNING. Absolutely stunning. It's little wonder that Hollywood chose California as it's place to call home, because the entire state is just breathtaking.

So let me rewind a little bit...

The Proposal

Jake and I had been dating for just about two years when he proposed. We were in Yosemite with my family and it was POURING rain. Actually, I think it rained three out of the four times we visited Yosemite. Go figure right? Despite the rain, Jake pulled off the most perfect proposal plan (So in the unlikely event that you are a guy reading this post and want to propose to your girlfriend, listen up!). Jake, knowing me and knowing my UNHEALTHY obsession with photography mentioned it would be nice to take a photo in front of half dome. Of course I would never say no to a picture, so I set up the tripod and got into position with Jake. It was as he was fixing my hair and touching up my makeup (which he never does), that I though... oh my gosh he is going to propose... And then there he was on one knee... just as a bus load of tourist were being dropped off next to us. So of course I cried and grabbed him and kissed him and said YES! All the while the my camera was set up taking pictures... and about a dozen random other tourists were taking our picture as well. He nailed it.

Finding an Engagement Photographer

After the initial shock of the proposal, I set to work planning our wedding and all that goes with it. That was 7 months ago and I am still planning. Let me tell you... wedding planning can be A LOT. One thing that I did not expect was how expensive everything "wedding" related can be! I had always imagined and dreamed that I would have engagement photos taken, however... in looking at our budget, I just wasn't sure how we were going to afford it. One of the down sides to living in California is that everything is EXPENSIVE. I reached out to a few photographers regarding what we were looking for. Of course we wanted our photos to be adventurous and of course as a photographer, I was going to be picky about who I would hire for our photos. I know there are a few places within the world of wedding planning where it is okay to skimp, but for me, photography isn't one of them. I was in the throws of online searching when a friend and fellow photographer from Michigan reached out to me about coming to visit us in California. BINGO! A photographer I could trust! My friend and my inspiration, the one and the only, Emily Dekoster https://www.emilydekoster.com/ shot our engagement photos and let me tell you it was an absolute DREAM.

What to Look For in a Photographer

I want to take a minute to tell you a little bit about what I was looking for when I was searching for a good photographer. I will write a full blog post on this later, but for now, here is the spark notes version.

Does their photos capture emotion?
Do I like their editing style?
Are they in my price range?
Do I feel like I can be myself around this person/ Am I comfortable with this person?
How many photos do they deliver?
Are they willing to do crazy adventurous things to get the picture?

What I Learned from being the Client

First of all, being the client is a blast! At least it was with Emily as our photographer. She did an amazing job making us both feel comfortable and that is just so so so important. I think my biggest take aways from the experience were this:

Just be yourself
Laugh often
Be goofy and silly
MOVE A LOT

Oh and maybe one more thing... plan your outfits ahead of time!! We didn't do a great job planning our outfits and were running around like crazy people the night before and the morning of trying to make sure everything coordinated well! We ended up forgetting half the clothes that we planned on bringing and had a small moment of panic! Everything ended up working out in the end and we still LOVE our engagement photos, but I know that Jake wishes that he had a few photos with his favorite jacket on. If you have any questions or are not sure how to plan your outfits for your engagement photoshoot, click here for a link to my blog post about outfit planning for engagement photos!