San Diego Engagement Shoot
The reveal is finally here! Matt and I SO excited to finally share some of our favorite engagement photos here on the blog. Taking our engagement photos was a big part of the wedding process for us and we are so thankful to our photographer Nick of Nithabut Photography for capturing such special photos. Nick and I have worked together a lot over the years, especially when I was still modeling lifestyle shoots. He flew all the way from Virginia to shoot in gorgeous San Diego with us…for the DAY! Amazing right?!
I cannot tell you what a dream it was to be able to capture our engagement photos in San Diego. Since we’re getting married in Virginia, we thought it would be really nice to have the terrain of the west coast. Also, our relationship developed in this beautiful city (read our engagement story to learn about how we first met) so we wanted to shoot at some of our favorite spots, including where we had our first kiss at the Pacific Beach Pier.
We started out the day at Balboa Park, a pretty popular spot for engagement photos and one of our favorite places in San Diego. Since it was the weekend we knew it would start getting crowded later in the afternoon so it first on our list. Imagine lush greenery, a botanical garden, gorgeous museum buildings that make it look like you’re in Spain, fountains and a huge cactus garden that looks like you just walked into the desert. That, my friends is Balboa Park.
It was so much fun deciding what outfits we would wear. I must have sorted through tons of dresses, but I ended up picking pieces from an online store, Vici Collection, Amazon and a local San Diego Boutique, Miss Match SD. They’re located in Ocean Beach and all their outfits are super cute! I wanted something light and airy and easy to photograph with a laid back bohemian beach vibe.
Our next stop was Pacific Beach to shoot at the pier (after a delicious break for lunch at Poke Chop – our favorite place for fresh Poke!) It was really important for us to capture our love here because it’s where we had our first kiss after our first date. It feels like yesterday!
If you’re in the midst of planning your own wedding (or plan to be in the future!) I would highly recommend deciding on places that are special to you as a couple and that you had some of your first dates at or near, even if they aren’t super pretty. It should always be what is most meaningful to you and what you can look back on in the future even if that means its not blog-worthy!
These are probably my favorite photos of the whole day because we laughed so much and had so much fun getting in the cold water, getting my dress salty and wet and twirling around. Ask most men, they probably will be less excited than the woman about the whole process, but Matt had a blast especially when he got to pick me up and almost drop me in the water, hehe! We also struggled to get the “Engaged” balloons to stay straight but we made it work, somehow 🙂
This exact spot is where we had our first kiss! It wasn’t even meant to be one of our photos but Nick snapped us caught off guard haha!
We made a quick pitstop at The Grass Skirt Tiki Lounge in Pacific Beach before going to our final shooting destination. This is where we had our first date, it’s such a fun place with tropical tiki drinks and yummy snacks. You feel like you’re in the Caribbean! I highly recommend it if you’re ever in San Diego.
SHOP MY DRESS HERE
Lastly, we headed to Torrey Pines State Park in La Jolla for some sunset photos. It was such a fun adventure, especially for our photographer who was in awe of all the gorgeous locations in this city. I wanted to have the cliffs and ocean in the background. Nick even went above and beyond and brought his drone to get photos of the coastline!
I loved the outfit choice for this location too! I have to be honest, I wanted this burgundy outfit in the dress style, but it ended up arriving as a long jumpsuit/romper instead. I thought about cutting the sides to make it flow a bit more but I didn’t want to ruin it. I think it worked out, I’ll let you be the judge!
** Tip for planning out your engagement shoot: Share your outfit deets with your photographer ahead of time so they can determine how it might look against the lighting and background you’re working with and to make sure you have enough time to shoot each outfit. I would recommend 3 outfits and no more. Also, we were VERY lucky. Our photographer shot with us almost the entire day and hung out with us as well. Typically, engagement shoots last 1.5-2 hours and the hourly rate is charged for each thereafter. I’m so lucky to know Nick, he did us a huge favor!
After taking photos along the trails of Torrey Pines, we headed down to the beach trail to get some photos on Black’s Beach. It’s such a beautiful spot because there are unique rocks and the waves crash against the big cliffs.
This is my other favorite photo from the day. When we’re old and gray, I want to take another photo just like this on the beach and put them right next to each other:)
My final advice for future brides would be to definitely book your engagement session with the photographer who is shooting your wedding day. Nick was the best decision we made for our engagement photos and he is actually going to be shooting our video on our wedding day. We hadn’t booked our wedding day photographer until a few months after this shoot. I would highly recommend it so that both parties can get to know each other and feel comfortable before the big day!
THE END. This post was a long one and I truly enjoyed going through each of these photos again. Thank you guys for taking the time to read it. I hope it provided some inspiration for your engagement photos, comment below and share them with me! I’d love to see <3
More Wedding Posts
Our Engagement Story
Our Engagement Photos
You are SO BEAUTIFUL JEN!!! ♥️♥️♥️
aw thank you so much girl!!