Carlie Statsky is one of those photographers that could never do wrong in my eyes. Every single shoot impresses me more and more. And seeing as she shoots a lot of Holman Ranch weddings, I know when something is just so unique and different and awesome. She has this ability to make everything more beautiful and captures some of the best shots I have personally ever seen.

And now, enough about the fabulous photographer and let’s talk about this beachy engagement session. It is refreshing to see such beautiful imagery without props to make the photos “interesting”. This couple, just wearing white tees, are so beautiful and so in love, you just can’t stop staring. Take a good long look through these images as they just keep getting better and better.

View more of Carlie’s work on her website! Thanks so much to the happy couple and to Carlie for allowing me to feature these images.

This one comes to us from Chelsea Nicole Photography. It isn’t filled with DIYing or tons of details, and that is almost what makes me love it more. I don’t think I have ever seen engagement photos like this, with such passion and so much love. These two definitely have chemistry and they definitely know how to work with a camera. How about you? Is this a shoot you would be able to do? I’m pretty sure I don’t have the confidence to pull this one off!

Happy holidays, everyone!

A few days before Christmas, I got a wonderful gift in my email inbox: our engagement photos!

Before the shoot, I spent a lot of time picturing a cozy and wintery shoot. This was easy to imagine while in blustery San Francisco, but when we arrived in San Luis Obispo (a town near the beach in central California), we found ourselves in gorgeous, 70 degree weather!

That didn’t stop us from cuddling up at a coffee shop and wearing cozy sweaters. I’m SOO happy with the photos and couldn’t be more excited for Ken to shoot our wedding! It is wonderful to have these casual, personal photos to commemorate this happy moment in our lives.

We started off at an eclectic coffee shop downtown.

We then headed to a gorgeous bluff overlooking Avila Beach and the ocean.

Photographer: Ken Kienow

I would highly recommend taking engagement photos, if not to capture this happy moment, then at least to get to know your photographer. Now he will be at the wedding as a friend versus a stranger. Plus, we got a little bit of experience being in front of the camera, an experience that can take some getting used to.

Anyone else have great engagement photo ideas or experiences?