Cottage Engagement | Jeannine + Kris

Couple: We thought it might be nice to do a cottage engagement session and go kayaking.

Me: YES!

When it comes to engagement sessions, the first thing I always say is that it has nothing to do with the pictures. Seems backwards right? Well, it’s not! You see, my whole mission is to make wedding photos that will resonate for years and years and years, and I want them to say a little something about your personality. Enter the engagement session or what I affectionately call “get to know me” sessions. I want to know what you are all about. I want to know your interests. I want to know who you are as a couple and as individuals so that come wedding day, I can make photos that truly bring out your personalities. So let’s shoot in a place that is meaningful to you, where you feel comfortable and ideally, let’s go play. What do you guys like to do together?

Right, so in Jeannine and Kris’ case, they like to hang out at the cottage and go kayaking. Ummmm, perfect! Cottage engagement session it is. Let’s go kayaking! I showed up to Kris’ family cottage a few minutes before they did and got to scope out this sweet piece of lakefront property and gorgeous vistas. They roll up and tell me there are a couple islands we can paddle out to that might be cool for photos. OK, so now I’m in my own personal happy place and in a photographer’s paradise (if you like that uber-Canadian natural wonder kind of thing). With nothing more than my tiny Fuji camera safely stowed away in a pelican case, we splashed the kayaks into the lake and paddled off.

We arrived on the small island, walked around a little, found two big snakes that scared the bejeesus out of us and made some really great photos together. Yeah yeah, I know I said it’s not about the photos. I mean, obviously we are there to make nice photos, that’s just a given…but it’s the conversation, the laughing and me doing my best to run around like a lunatic, climbing trees and doing what I need to do to make you forget we are taking pictures so that you can give me those sweet, natural smiles and reactions. I’d say we accomplished that out on the island with Jeannine and Kris, so we got back in the boats and headed back to camp for some dockside sunset photos. Like seriously, could this get any better?

Alright, the island was beautiful, the kayaking was fun, the sunset was breathtaking, yada yada yada! At the end of it all, the cottage engagement session was a slam dunk, and here’s why. This was Jeannine’s comment after seeing only one teaser photo on Facebook the next day: “We had a lot of fun! Rob you were fantastic at helping us feel comfortable so we could enjoy the experience! I can’t wait to see the rest.”