If you’re looking for a sign to go on a picnic date photo shoot with your lover, this is it. 

Georgina and Chad have been good friends of mine for years and I’ve been lucky enough to photograph their love story throughout that time. 

For their engagement session, we wanted to make the night feel like an actual date- something that was low key and casual and something that really spoke to the two of them. We threw around a few ideas and then landed on this cute picnic idea. 

The session took place in one of my favourite spots in the town of Lumsden. The location has lots of trees and long grasses as well as an incredible view of the rolling hills of the valley. 

We all arrived at the location a few minutes early to set up. We layed out the linen sheet in the grass and put all the delicious snacks and food in the basket that I found at a thrift store, and charcuterie board. For the charcuterie board I picked up some snacks from the local grocery store, the board was filled with an assortment of crackers, cheese, meat, grapes, apples, cranberries and bread.

Something that I love to do on sessions like this is play some music to get in the mood. Georgina and Chad love country music so we put on a playlist and let the music guide us through the shoot. 

Three pros of taking pictures of your friends: 1. They have got photos done by me for years so they know what to expect 2. It’s a little less weird when I’m literally rolling around in the grass and cuddling with them to get the perfect shot and 3. They shared their snacks with me. 

We were lucky enough to spend a few hours together for this session so we were able to take things slow and really just live in the moment. We watched the golden sun slowly dip behind the trees and as it set, the sky turned beautiful shades of blue and purple. Once it got darker we moved to some more creative photos with slow shutter as they ran through the field and some fun direct flash photos ! We truly had so much fun! 

There really is something so special about taking photos for your friends. And as I look back on this session I just feel so grateful to be a part of capturing their story. We took their engagement photos less than a month before their wedding. Honestly, even though it might have seemed late to get them done I thought it was a really nice way to capture the end of this special time in their life coming to an end.

I saw a quote recently that said: “You date for a while, you’re married forever, but your engagement is so short so don’t forget to enjoy it.” And I really think Georgina and Chad did just that in this session.