Barbara and Dan wanted their engagement session in New York so of course I was anxiously excited to travel! Instead of a iconic New York City location, they opted for this Planting Fields Arboretum Engagement location, which I loved!

You can see another engagement session I shot in downtown NYC here. 

I planned this engagement session on a weekend when I was already going to be close by for a wedding I had in New Jersey. I drove up north from North Carolina on a Friday morning, shot the wedding in New Jersey that evening, and then stayed in a hotel in Pennsylvania that night. The next morning I grabbed some food, did a little shopping at my favorite store Madewell, and then made my way to Long Island, NY to the Planting Fields Arboretum. I got there a tad early to walk around a bit before starting the session with Barbara and Dan.

I always start sessions slow and easy with lots of hand-holding, snuggling, and smiling at the camera. This helps get everyone warmed up and comfortable with being photographed. It also helps me gauge personalities and what kind of relationship my couples have with each other.

Barbara and Dan are sooooo sweet. They are like to have a good time and were pretty much up for whatever I told them to do during photos. The Planting Fields Arboretum has so much variety which was awesome! I loved that we could just walk around and I would find so many little nooks that just looked darling for photos! That’s my favorite thing about photographing in gardens like this. You really don’t have to go far to feel like you are in a completely different location.

We ended the session right as the sun was setting, which is just how I like it. I purposefully schedule engagement sessions about an hour or two before sunset so that we get that low sun in the sky (super romantic). I’m super excited for Barbara and Danilo’s wedding this summer at Florentine Gardens!

Planting Fields Arboretum Engagement