imperial sand dunes engagement session

Wind was blowing, the sand was sharp… as wild as their love story. Wanting a location that was in a world of its own, the Sand Dunes didn’t disappoint.  We jumped in the car together and car pooled our way out to the state of Cali! It was in that moment that we bonded over Britney Spears, and the backstreet boys, chatting about wedding plans, and honeymoons. Their new home they were having built, and how we were going to all celebrate come their house warming party.  

As we pulled up to the dunes, the wind was fierce. I’m not talking watch me whip watch me nae nae type wind I’m talking ” I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH” Will Smith’s daughter was all over that location. WE immediately froze and thought O.M.GOSH can we even do this? We opened the door to welcome a rush of sand inside of it, and made our way to the grueling edge to see what the temperature of the sand was. Now when we shoot, we look at weather and we prepare, but when you see that something is bright, NOT cloudy, and a decent temp you think SCORE! What I didn’t see was there was aprox. 20mph gusts of wind coming to greet us shortly. It was now or never.. 

Farrah and Justin took quickly to the idea of, we need to move fast. They changed into their first outfit, and we hit the dunes. WE found some mounds that blocked out the wind tunnel, and to our surprise even found a random field of wildflowers literally in the middle of no where. It was beautiful, the sand, a warm smooth texture sliding between my toes, made me feel as if I was in a total different dimension. As the wind picked up we headed back to the car to change into their final outfit. As Farrah jumped in the car we couldn’t believe how the sand literally took her makeup off, a natural exfoliant. Thank heavens for makeup bags and coming prepared. She quickly polished her look, and threw on her dress. The wind was even stronger now, hitting us like little bb pellets. The sun was starting to hit blue hour, and we were greeted with the warmest of hues, that led from yellow to orange, to purple and pink. It was MAGICAL! 

 A little fun in the sand, running and rolling around left this session.. one for the books for us. We are so excited for Farrah and Justin’s upcoming wedding at Villa Siena at the end of January! Congrats guys… 

 

Justin and Farrah met at a work event, became friends and quickly fell in love! 

Tell us about the proposal?

“Justin and I went on a family vacation to Mexico. On our second night there, we all went to the rooftop to take pictures, and when it was our turn to take pictures, Justin stepped to the side and got down on one knee. He planned it so beautifully as the sun was setting over the ocean behind us. It was everything I dreamed of!”

The idea behind the engagement session was all about epic adventure. They knew they wanted a location that was as unique as their proposal and when it came down to deciding they wanted none other than the sand between their toes.  Choosing outfits was fun as they decided on two, their first outfit for the engagement session was casual with earthy rust orange and olive green tones. Our second outfit was more formal with bold navy blue and grey tones. Our vision for the engagement session was for it to feel like we were in a different world, just the two of us. It was very secluded and romantic!

Take a look at our at our blog post Top Outdoor Engagement Session Locations in Arizona to view more epic intimate engagement sessions like this and see where other couples have chosen to take their engagement photos in this beautiful state.