stunning sedona engagement session | kaylin + blair

Surrounded by red rock, grey skies, and bottles of champagne… these high school sweethearts are finally tying the knot! 

It wasn’t an ordinary Sedona day, the sky was filled with a mask on it that created a photographers soft box dream. Teasing us with thick grayish blue clouds that we knew could eventually open allowing rain drops to wreck our session. Now don’t get me wrong, we love a rainy session here and there, but this my friends would have been the gateway to a massive downpour.  Joe and I traveled to Sedona from Page AZ, where the day prior we were photographing another epic engagement session with some dear friends at Horseshoe bend. We were with our team photographers and all decided that leaving early would be best, just in case it did monsoon on us.  Did we get lucky, or were we swimming back to the car? Read on to find out…

Kaylin + Blair the cutest flipping two souls to ever take on the rain and not have a care in the world… okay maybe that was more Blair… Kaylin on the other hand was on the same level as me. Cathedral rock is breathtaking but not sure if we wanted to chance a free slip and slide encounter. So with brave faces, we did the next best thing.. found the most iconic spot with the beautiful views as our backdrop. The weather continued to play in our favor and we just decided to have fun come rain or shine.

When choosing to do an epic adventure away from home… there are two  factors to consider.

#1 Come prepared, there isn’t (well most of the time), a store at the base of a mountain that you can just run into to grab the thing you forgot… so plan accordingly and pack your bags with extras. You never know what the weather will do, so take note and bring extra layers.

#2 Plan the day out to what works best for you. We always recommend getting to a destination location early like a couple hours early. If you are planning to make a weekend out of it… drive up the night before and spend the day relaxing prior to your session. This helps prevent rushing and to truly enjoy this moment in your lives.

We didn’t get rained on during the session… there was a slight sprinkle towards the end, but it was all worth it when we all went to Delaphines to enjoy the best burgers on the planet.

Enjoy the photos from Kaylin and Blairs Sedona Engagement Session at the base of Cathedral Rock. 

learn about blair + kaylin 

how did the two of you meet?

“Believe it or not we met almost a decade ago! We met in high school and would hangout all the time. Whether it was a weekend or a Tuesday wing night we were inseparable . After school there was no question that we were going over to Blairs house where his mom Marlita would always make us afternoon snacks. She was the one that started noticing that we were becoming more than just friends. After graduating we found ourselves always together and it started to be just the two of us hanging out. One night we were cuddling and watching some TV until late at night. I decided I would head home and that’s when Blair walked me out to my car. He gave be a long hug and then he went in for our first kiss! That was one of the greatest nights ever and I had butterflies the whole way home! We finally made it official on 11-11-2011 and the rest is history!”

who said i love you first?

“As cheesy as it sounds we actually both said it the same time!”

tell us about your proposal?

“After 7 years I knew it was time to pop that very important question every girl dreams of. Every year we take a trip for our birthdays. Kaylin really wanted to go to NYC but I wanted to take her somewhere we both have never been, since I had this planned for awhile. I thought it would be awesome to go to San Francisco. I finally convinced Kaylin to go to San Fran and we would do NYC another year. I had my brother and his girlfriend, now fiance, fly out to be apart of the proposal and capture the moment. It was a secret until investigator Kaylin started to catch on. We were sitting on the airplane waiting to take off when she looks at me and ask why Blakes snap chat location showed him at the airport. Thankfully it was also her birthday that week so I told her I was flying them out to surprise her for her birthday, which worked great to cover up what I was really planning. So we get to San Fran and meet up for drinks. At this point I am extremely nervous and not really acting like myself. We finally made our way to baker beach where I was planning to ask her to marry me. We got down to the beach by the golden gate bridge and as we got closer to the bridge we come to find out it’s a NUDE BEACH! So now I am freaking out imagining me proposing to the love of my life with a bunch of naked dudes in the background! After all the travel and waiting for my master plan to finally be complete we walked up the beach a little and I finally gave my brother the que and I went for it! We all know she finally said yes but before she did all she could say was “What?!” “Are you Serious?!” Over and over again. She was definitely shocked and now realized why they had flown out with us! We all celebrated afterwards and I was finally relieved of all the stress that went into planning everything! Although the nude beach was not planned, it will always be a hilarious memory!”

what’s one piece of advice you would give to others who are having an engagement session?

“I would say to just relax and enjoy the moment! Wedding planning can be stressful but take a step back and remember how amazing this time is! You’re about to marry your best friend and have the time of your lives! Dana and Joe do an amazing job capturing every emotion that you will get to cherish forever!”

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.