Proposal & Engagement Portraits in the Morton Arboretum
Proposal and Engagement Session in the Morton Arboretum - Shax & Elani
Location: Morton Arboretum in Chicago, Illinois
Time of Year: Late Fall, Mid November
Engagement sessions, proposals, and bridal portraits are my favorites right now. I love being able to slow down a little and be really intentional with taking photos and choosing compositions.
Proposals are really the only thing where I get pretty nervous. Just the anticipation and having a great shot lined up, not always knowing 100% where we are going to pop the question. I mean I always scheme with who ever is proposing, and we have a spot planned out, but maybe nerves understandably, get in the way a little bit.
In late fall we deiced on the conifer walk area of the park, ensuring that there would be plenty of green for us on the trees. Which worked out perfectly! They have such incredible trees here, the Morton Arboretum has these really cool trees that are only found in Japan. They have these incredible shapes that you can see in the photo above and below.
Sometimes things just align perfectly. It really does start with picking a great location. Don’t get me wrong, a great photographer can take great photos anywhere…
It is SO much easier when the location is beautiful. We also got very lucky with some incredible, beautiful, dynamic light. Just an absolutely stunning evening. Add in some unusually warm November temperatures and pow, magic.
How to Pick a Great Proposal Location
Pick a spot just off the beaten path. You don’t want to be in the middle of a crowd. For photographic purposes, and just a little bit of privacy.
Go somewhere cool! It can be a meaningful place for you two, or somewhere you have been meaning to go check out. It is so much easier to take awesome photos during and after if we are somewhere that is beautiful and easy to take stunning photos.
Pick a good time of day. Golden hour is the term for when the sun is starting to get a little lower in the sky. Really this time starts closer to two hour before sunset, and goes until the sun goes over the horizon.
I really did get some of my favorite images of the year in this session.
Shax did his part by delivering a beautiful ring to have some fun photographing. It took some effort to get the light just about right, and then a little editing to really make this shot perfect.
I LOVE the little bits of light that are being projected from the diamond. The little bits of rainbow look incredible.
The crazy part was we explored such a small part of the Morton Arboretum. This place is huge. I am looking forward to being here again sometime soon!
