Ideas for Your New York Engagement Session - Nontraditional & Unique
Unique Engagement Sessions
Choosing a location for your non-traditional engagement session can seem daunting. There is so much inspiration circulating throughout the internet between Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram, and popular wedding blogs. I’m here to tell you it doesn’t need to be. There are so many ways you can make your engagement session unique to you. You will really need to hone in on your personal style & what brings you joy.
If you want to LOVE your engagement session & feel like it was 100% YOU, the location you choose should be either: sentimental & relevant to you, or fit your personal style.
Are you a beach person? If the answer is yes: why NOT have your engagement session at the beach? You’ll be in your happy place! One way to elevate a beach engagement session & turn it into a date night is to have a picnic! But if not..consider doing something that is more personal to you.
What do you do for date nights?
Picking a location based on your ideal date night is the perfect way to have a personalized and sentimental experience. Why not make your engagement session a special memory, and not just a photoshoot? Won’t the photos be that much sweeter having the memory of how much fun you had that day, then if you just went to a random park and smiled at the camera? For this engagement session, Devin & Dylan even booked The American Hotel and spent the night in Sag Harbor!
They are both coffee people & book lovers; so we started off our session at Grindstone Coffee. Right next door, is Sag Harbor Books! We got the cutest photos of them exploring the bookstore together: something they actually love to do together.
Some other locations I recommend for your engagement session: Rizzoli Bookstore in the Flatiron District, Bluestocking Cooperative Bookstore in the Lower East Side, and Housingworks Bookstore in Soho.
Next, we headed to Sag Harbor Pizza for some slices, because who doesn’t love pizza? I know these two do! When planning for a date night engagement session, it is important to choose a location that has a lot to offer: and Sag Harbor was just that. A small beach, coffeeshop, bookstore, art galleries, and the cutest pizzeria!
Some other favorite locations to keep in mind: Rivoli Pizza and Joe’s Pizza in West Village, Posto NYC in Gramercy Park.
Incorporating food and drinks into your engagement session is an awesome way to get fun, candid photos if you are nervous about looking stiff! It gives you something to do, and your favorite food brings you joy, which in turn reflects those fun and silly moments on camera. Other ideas you can incorporate, that I’ve seen my couples do: champagne toasts, wine bars, donuts, pasta dates, ice cream dates, and fun, colorful cocktails!
A local bar
A NYC bar is an epic place for fun flash engagement photos if that’s your vibe.
Here are some of my personal recommendations: West Wine Bar, The Binc, Trailer Park Lounge
For more formal attire, head to a cafe or upscale restaurant.
For another couple, we did their engagement session in West Village. Finding cute cafes is one of my favorite things to do because it feels like it absolutely transports you to Europe. These two had so much fun. Why not get fancy and enjoy some croissants and lattes? I’m with it.
Boucherie is a gorgeous restaurant in West Village and we had a blast shooting here. A European inspired favorite!
Some other personal favorites in NYC: Dante NYC in West Village, and Cafe Regular in Brooklyn.
We can end the night by the water or in Central Park for some beautiful sunset photos. Your engagement photos can be a good mix of fun, candid moments + beautiful portraits. Planning for your engagement session to take place at the right time of day is also ideal for taking beautiful sunset or blue hour photos.
