Desert Engagement Session @ Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas, Nevada

Brittany and Taylor were soooo fun to work with. They moved to Las Vegas from the Bay Area a few years ago after wanting to start a better life together. Vegas is really the perfect city for that because it has every amenity you’d ever need, great weather (10 months out of the year anyways haha) and as you can see, gorgeeeeeeous landscapes.

Red Rock Canyon is one of the best spots for engagement sessions in Las Vegas (And elopements!) because not only is it absolutely perfect visually but it’s extremely peaceful and surrounded by nature at its finest. From the red rocks (Where the canyons name deftly originates from) that make for the perfect backdrop to the cacti you can find throughout the valley there’s something for everyone. You, your fiancé, and me let’s GO. I promise it’s worth the ~15 minute drive outside of Las Vegas.

For their first outfits, Taylor wore a relaxed white button up with khaki’s and leather dress shoes. Brittany who looked stunning rocked a tropical inspired blue leafy jumpsuit paired with adorable strappy coral wedges. They had total heart eyes for each other the entire session and their love for one another was simply contagious.

For their second outfits, Brittany and Taylor did not disappoint. Taylor changed into a maroon button up with white dots and kept the same khaki pants and dress shoes. Brittany though, wowza. She wore a strapless white and mint high-low dress. She said she hadn’t ever really worn it for any real reason and I’m secretly happen that she’ll now forever associate that dress with her engagement session. 🙂

We drove around looking for the perfect spots to take photos hopping out when we found the best locations. Summer engagement sessions can be amazing here in Las Vegas. They had the brilliant idea of doing a morning session and I can officially say I am hooked now.

Instead of the 108 it is in the afternoon it’s a cool (Seriously!) 95 degrees. For me, anything over 100 makes me feel like I’m dying in an oven but 95 was a welcomed change. So if you want to do a summer engagement sessions in Las Vegas – let’s do a sunrise shoot. For real.

Not only is it cooler out, but you are able to get similar lighting to “golden hour” (The hour before sunset) where you get some gorgeous filtered sun through the mountains. With the sun starting to peek over the mountains in the east you get that soft romantic glow of the sun before it’s harshly overhead. Golden hour is one of my favorite times to shoot, especially during engagements + wedding, but I’m kinda digging the morning light too. So who wants to wake up at the crack of dawn with me and go shoot soon?!

We talked about everything under the sun (pun maybe intended) from our similar journeys to go from the Bay Area to Vegas. There’s something about both areas that really add to your identity even if you don’t intend it to. Some cities are forgettable and don’t add to your life – but others can really help shape who you are as people. Or at least add to it. And both Las Vegas and San Francisco/Bay Area are two of those places. They’re both extremely unique places in their own right and are unlike almost anywhere else in the world. It’s really special to share that life experience with my clients. We also bonded about our love for cats (Sorry guys, but I’ll forever think mine is cuter)

They are getting married July 11th, 2020 in the Santa Cruz Mountains at an amazing sounding venues. It’s become a thing of instead of being at a venue for a strict 8 hours to instead, stay on site. Quite a few venues I’ve worked at recently have an option of staying on site and making a whole weekend out of it. Because why should your happiness be limited to an 8 hour window? Take the whole weekend and relax with your loved ones. I am 1000% here for this new trend and I’m hoping it continues. Because weddings are really about love and coming together. How much more special could it be than having a mini vacation with pretty much everyone you love? Wishing these two the happiest of engagements together and I truly hope I have the opportunity to work with them again.