Toned and Traveled - Engagement Photo Ideas to Try

David and I fell in love with the Lake Michigan Coast while David was working at Whirlpool in St. Joseph, Michigan. Being honest here, how could you not? The water, the dunes, the woods, the wineries? It’s a midwestern dream.

We spent many days swimming in the lake, hiking the trails along the dunes and having date nights at Round Barn Winery. So when it came time to shooting our engagement photos, we knew we had to take them at one of our favorite places in the world: St. Joe.

Our photographer, Holly Labbe met us at Round Barn Winery a couple hours before sunset. Holly is so talented and a beautiful soul to be around. She made shooting the photos feel natural and encouraged us to be ourselves. She had a speaker to play music and was down to hike the dunes to the waterfront.

We were able to have 3 fit changes and locations for our shoot. We spent about an hour at the winery and then made our way to the beach. The sun was going down and Holly asked if we cared to do an extra hour of shots – we said of course!

As many of my family and friends know, my dream as a little girl was to be the little mermaid – Holly let me have my moment. We rolled around in the sand and kissed each other in the water. It was absolutely magical and this has become one of my favorite days of our engagement, besides getting engaged.

I wanted to share some of our favorite shots from the shoot below and I am so excited to see all the moments Holly captures at our wedding. If you are looking for a photographer, I highly recommend Holly. She is amazing. Check out her site here: Holly Labbe Photography