Movie montage or Nike ad? You decide. 

Regardless of which way you go on it, I think we can agree that one look at this engagement gallery brings one word, and one word only, to mind: vibes (on vibes on vibes). 

When looking for an engagement photographer for your own cinematic romance, there are a few questions you should ask yourself to ensure you choose the best possible fit. 

“Working with Ali is nothing short of a dream come true… and the MOST fun. Rather than steering away from our awkwardness and goofiness, Ali leaned into it throughout our whole engagement session. The result were photos that truly represented who we are and our love. We are beyond excited for the wedding and getting to spend a whole other day with Ali. She makes everything more fun and her work genuinely speaks for itself! Just take a look.“ – Lauren and Dillon

1. Do you and your engagement photographer vibe?

Speaking of vibes: There won’t be any movie-scene-magic if you and your engagement photographer don’t gel, human to human. One of my personal favorite parts about what I do for a living as a Nashville engagement photographer is that I would literally hang out with my couples every weekend, if I could. (So basically, if time was no object and plane tickets were free.)

In fact, my couples and I always go grab a drink between locations, just to chill and get to know each other without the camera shutter clicking away. Knowing that we can laugh and banter together is a huge part of what makes the experience less of a photoshoot and more of a core memory in the making.

What’s more, feeling like you can be 145% yourselves in front of the camera– just a couple so totally obsessed with eacher, with a third wheel who happens to have a camera in hand tagging along– is what results in photos as uninhibited (and did I mention: COOL?!) as Lindsey’s and Dillon’s.

2. Is your engagement photographer up for non-traditional?

Lindsey’s and Dillon’s one and only request for their Nashville engagement shoot was– verbatim– as follows: “Can you do some weird, funky sh*t?”

Why yes. Yes I can. 

I am an engagement photographer who has made an entire living out of weird, funky sh*t in the form of documentary-style photographs. In fact, capturing a cooler-than-cool couple totally in their element is my kryptonite. 

Instead of the basic ‘run in a field at golden hour’ move (which you’ll never find me suggesting!), I opted to choose spots where Lindsey and Dillon felt like they could let their guard down and be their goofy, energetic little selves. 

For example, they enjoy playing games at home together, so for their photoshoot, I decided to elevate that fun fact about them and took them to Up Down, which is an arcade bar in Nashville, Tennessee. They have the vibiest neon-signed skee ball corner, Jumbo Connect Four, and just about every other arcade game you can imagine. We didn’t have to bring props because the place was the prop, full of color and typography and– not to be redundant or anything– VIBES. 

Lindsey and Dillon did their thing (their thing being becoming iconic movie stars, without even trying) while I gabbed with them from behind the lens, and as you can see from the photos, they are so totally them in each and every shot. I’ll never be able to replicate what I captured here because the sparks flying and essence captured is entirely Lindsey and Dillon. End of story. 

Finding an engagement photographer who is up for whatever (as long as ‘whatever’ is relevant to what makes the two of you so uniquely, well, the two of you) will totally change the game. (No pun intended, but I’ll let it slide.)

3. Will your engagement photographer think outside of the box?

Being a true documentary-style engagement photographer, it’s do-or-die for me to tell your story through the most evocative and original imagery I can possibly craft. And sometimes, if not all of the time, that requires that I get creative, approaching each and every photoshoot differently from the one before.

For example, Lindsey and Dillon enjoy spending at a specific park in Nashville, right around the corner from their home. While the park itself isn’t necessarily the most picturesque of all parks, it is matters to them. And because it matters to them, it matters to me. 

So, we added their sweet pup to the mix for a change in dynamic and got imaginative with what we had available to us. 

We played on the slide like the kids-at-heart we assuredly are. We laid down in the grass and went hunting for four-leaf clovers. We used a park bench as our own personal prop. And if you were none the wiser, you’d think we were photographing a full blown Nike ad, as Lindsey and Dillon romped around in their matching sneakers.

All of this to say, you don’t want a cookie-cutter engagement photographer because your love story isn’t cookie-cutter. Nothing about it is “basic.” In fact, just the fact that you two found each other in the first place is momentous enough for all of the creativity and imagination in the world combined. 

Do your homework, and work with an engagement photographer who gets it– who understands that your romance is, like, art gallery worthy. Momentous to a big screen extent. Every bit the cinematic story. 

And you deserve photos that reflect that.