Did you know destination engagement sessions are a thing? Well you do now!
As booking season for engagement photos approaches (Fun fact: Almost every couple who hires me for their wedding also goes in on an engagement session), I thought this would be a great time to remind everyone of this hidden option that I wish more folks would take advantage of!
Meet the cooler, lesser known and less stressful version and of a destination wedding.
So, what exactly is a destination engagement session?
For me, it’s any session outside of the Pittsburgh metro area.
Does that mean Ohiopyle? Nope!
…Erie or Cleveland? Yes!
Most of my destination sessions go far beyond the 412, and always have a significant meaning in your relationship. Maybe you met in Boston, or fell in love in NYC, or adventure to the Adirondacks every summer to escape in the woods. Wherever you want to tell your love story, I’m down to follow along!
I’ll never forget my destination engagement session with Thu and Chad in New Orleans. What originally started out as an adventure shoot slash girls trip with my photographer friend Maria Palermo turned into an engagement session after finding out our model was engaged!
After seeing how cheap flights were, a plan was hatched with Maria to go down and get some gorgeous engagement photos somewhere new and fun after a long and tiring off season. Maria does tons of destination work, so being able to work together on this shoot was awesome.
Getting to watch Maria do a lot of the legwork and coordinating all of the moving parts that make a destination session happen allowed me to see what worked and didn’t. I realized how much more research goes into this vs. a local Pittsburgh session.
The planning involved for a shoot in a city that isn’t ours, adjusting for travel, and even working around the temperature dropping 20 degrees and a rare cloudy weather forecast in a usually sunny city challenged me in such new and exciting ways. I had done some solo destination sessions in Philadelphia, but I grew up there, so it wasn’t such a foreign location to me. This…was all new!
NOLA required a lot more thought and scouting, and we arrived in the city a day early so we could find our spots, check out lighting and scope out the limitations and strengths of the location. It was so much fun, but also so much work! We didn’t just land and shoot.
Another challenge? If the weather is crappy during the time you’re there for a destination session, you can’t just postpone a week! Getting to see the hard parts and unexpected situations made me so much more prepared as I took on more destination engagement sessions.
Anyway, let’s talk about all of the ways The and Chad crushed their NOLA session.
First things first: I LOVE A GLAM LOOK! Their fashion, styling and vibes were all working for me.
The next big thing with destination sessions? The trust involved. Thu and Chad really let us do whatever we wanted: Maria and I chose all of the locations, consulted on wardrobe, and crafted the shoot vision long before we landed.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Pittsburgh engagement sessions, but this experience goes far beyond the “we want a bridge” requests, and requires much more photographer input than my average session. And that is what makes my destination sessions so special!
The couples who travel outside their comfort zone (literally!) give me a lot more control over where we go, send me their outfit photos leading up to the shoot, and let me flex my creative muscles a little more. In turn, these photos have an extra layer of magic that goes into them! It’s the Dawn Derbyshire experience, but in a new and foregin space.
It sounds pretty bougie to travel somewhere just for a few pictures of you and your boo, but don’t let it scare you. You could even make a trip of it!
For Loren and Nick’s session in the Adirondacks–pre-Covid!–they invited a few friends, went hiking, and spent a few days adventuring in the mountains, hitting up some breweries, and enjoying everyone’s company. Not only is this a great way to get killer photos, but the shoot itself is a chance to make fun memories together during your engagement!
And! It can totally be a workable thing during a pandemic. Plans can be modified to keep your distance, like switching to Air Bnb over a hotel, or exploring parks instead of big cities. I’ve even seen couples doing sessions at Getaway Cabins, and a few years ago I booked a session with a couple who took theirs while camping!
In 2020, I traveled to Boston–a destination for me!–but for them, it’s the city where they fell in love, got engaged and made a life together. It sounds so extravagant, but it’s really just a more ‘out of the box idea’ for your session!
Sure, you could also just hire a photographer who is local to the place you’re visiting, but only I can bring the Dawn magic. And if you’re a 2021+ couple of mine, you probably already have an e-session included in your package! All I’ll need is a flight out, and we’ll be capturing your story (and some amazing memories) for everyone to save the date!
Sound like something you’d love to do?
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- Sam & Dan
"Not sure how to give this review because I can not really put into words how amazing Dawn is as a person and a professional photographer. If you are looking for a talented photographer who will make your experience with pictures fun and stress free, Dawn is your photographer. From the moment I found her Instagram page and fell IN LOVE with her skills I have NEVER regretted my decision to book with Dawn. Also, listen to all of her suggestions, DO the engagement shoot, DO the sunset pictures, DO EVERYTHING. She goes above and beyond to make your day as magical as you dreamed it would be. She pays attention to what really matters to her clients! I like to call her my photography unicorn because she seriously one of a kind and is VERY good at what she does. If you don't book her, you will regret it! Side note: I just got married last weekend, have only seen my preview pictures (which I got that night and the NEXT morning) and waiting for the rest. I'm writing this review now because that is just how OBSESSED with her I am."
"I like to call her my photography unicorn"
- Christine & Andrei
"Dawn is incredible!!! She is truly one of a kind – I’ve never seen a vendor go above and beyond for clients like she does! Not only is she insanely talented, but she is incredibly meticulous, extremely responsive and cares about every detail just as much as you do! Weddings can be complicated, especially when it comes to family, but her detailed questionnaire about anything and everything she needs to know put me completely at ease. And if that wasn’t enough, she has an incredible guide that helps you shape your day, answer every question you could ever think of (and ones that you didn’t even know you had or should have!) – all just to make sure your day turns out beautifully. She captured the most incredible shots, worked so fast, and was so fun to hang out with throughout the day! I could never have imagined working with someone so wonderful for our big day – she truly is the best & if you have the chance to work with her, don’t even think twice. Book her immediately!!"
"I’ve never seen a vendor go above and beyond for clients like she does! "
- Samantha & Ryan
"There are not enough positive adjectives to describe our exceptional experience with Dawn Derbyshire. From the initial consultation, engagement photos, wedding pictures, a COVID postponement in between – she made the process enjoyable and easy. She made taking pictures fun and not awkward, often cracking jokes between each shot. She took the time to know us as a couple and what was important for us on our special day. We had periodic check-ins to discuss the process for our wedding day and what to expect, one less stress we had to worry about on our wedding day. Let me just tell you the photos were all AMAZING! We cannot thank her enough for her talented work, we look forward to using her in future endeavors. We highly recommend Dawn; this is one decision you will not regret!"
"She took the time to know us as a couple"
- Paige and John
"Dawn was truly the all star of our entire wedding day. From the time we booked her (over 2 years ago) to the wedding, she was SO communicative, beyond organized, and helpful. She brings such a positive energy while still getting. it. done. She made us feel so comfortable during our engagement session, that by the time we took wedding photos, they felt seamless. Let me also mention her work is PERFECTION. I could not love our engagement and wedding photos more if I tried. I would recommend Dawn 1000x over and if you have already booked her, consider yourself the luckiest!!!"
"Dawn was truly the all star of our entire wedding day."
- Lauren & Chris
"You deserve to have a photographer as amazing as Dawn. We can't stress enough how much we love her and would recommend her a million times over. Not only is she an amazing photographer that gave us thousands of unparalleled photos between our 2 shoots, she's an incredible person and every second you spend with her will be a delight. She made us feel so at ease, made us laugh, we made each other cry for sure—and honestly, she helped make our wedding the success it was. She's professional and dedicated, took charge when we needed it, wrangled our friends and took gorgeous, quality photos of everything we asked for and everything we forgot. Seriously, if you're looking for a wedding photographer, you could not pick a better one than Dawn."
"You deserve to have a photographer as amazing as Dawn.
- Julia & Matt
"We highly recommend Dawn Derbyshire for your wedding photography. She was definitely one of our best vendor decisions for our wedding day. We cannot speak highly enough of Dawn as both a photographer and as a person. We're so grateful that we found and hired Dawn to photograph one of the most important days of our lives. She truly exudes creativity, passion, and professionalism. From our first meeting to our engagement session and our wedding day--Dawn completely understood our vision and made us feel at ease. She was able to capture the genuine, candid moments of the day, the spirit of our relationship, and all of the little moments that elicit big emotions. We will truly cherish every detail shot, every portrait, and ever candid she took of our day. Dawn's expert planning, organization, and attention to detail ensured that we never felt rushed but kept things moving so that we were able to fully enjoy our wedding. We took her advice and enjoyed a moment away from everyone for sunset photos--I'm so glad that we did. She went above and beyond to make sure we had every possible shot we wanted and more."
"We will truly cherish every detail shot, every portrait, and every candid she took of our day"
- Kaitlin & Reggie
"I'm so happy we chose Dawn for our wedding photos! She is so easy work with, organized and incredibly talented. We decided to have an intimate wedding due to COVID. Even though it was such a small wedding, Dawn made us feel so special throughout the whole process. She took the time to meet with us virtually before our wedding to get to know us as a couple and listened to what our dream vision was for our wedding photos. I don’t usually like to have my picture taken, but I never felt so comfortable in front of a camera before. Dawn’s energy and outgoing personality helped calm my nerves. Our photos turned out beautifully and we couldn’t be happier! Dawn is incredibly talented and her work speaks for itself. I definitely recommend choosing Dawn as your photographer. She is so easy to work with and your photos will turn out beautiful. Thank you for making our wedding day so special Dawn!"
"Dawn made us feel so special throughout the whole process"
- Laura & Zach
"I can't begin to come up with enough amazing words to say about Dawn.. but I will say that I knew shortly after getting engaged there was something about her photography that really stands out. From the perfect details, to the genuine feeling you get from the couple she shoots. When we had our first meeting with her she emphasized wanting to be the right fit for us. Between her details, organization, "thinks of everything" questions, her incredible work, and her positivity; we knew she was the right choice! We did our engagement session and wedding with her and can't tell you how happy we are with the pictures that we will treasure forever. Dawn might be the hardest working woman I've ever met and my guests were shocked when she delivered a preview of our magical photos in 24 hours. If you are searching for a photographer who will shine a true light on your day, Dawn is IT!"
"Dawn might be the hardest working woman I've ever met"
- Kathryn & Tony
"As other reviews have said - Dawn is the absolute BEST !!! We had an absolute dream team of vendors and Dawn was the leader of the pack. Her photos are absolutely gorgeous but take a look at her website or Instagram and you already know that. What set her apart for us was her awesome personality. I will openly admit I am very "type A" and planning a wedding made me a little crazy. I sent her about a hundred messages asking for input on suit colors, day of timing, my makeup, etc. I'm sure other vendors would not have been nearly as patient as Dawn. We received our wedding photos last week and all I can say is wow. There have been endless compliments and multiple people have told me that they look straight from a bridal magazine. I am over the moon and will treasure these for many years to come"
"We had an absolute dream team of vendors and Dawn was the leader of the pack"
- Mallory & Andy
"Dawn is so absolutely amazing! She was recommended to us by a friend, and we are SO glad we booked her! Dawn is very accommodating and understanding. We told her that my fiancé didn’t like getting his picture taken. She posed us and snapped the pics efficiently and quickly. The photographs from both our engagement session and wedding are absolutely stunning. Dawn is very quick to respond and willing to help you with anything she can. She gave me recommendations for other vendors, provided feedback, gave advice and was a listening ear when we needed to vent. We got married in September 2020. Many of our plans changed due to COVID-19. Dawn was so empathetic and helpful throughout. I got ready with just my mom and Dawn in the room. Dawn was a stand in friend and bridesmaid to me. I will never forget those special moments. We have received nothing but compliments on how beautiful our pictures are and how fantastic Dawn is. She has a super fun personality, kind heart, and exquisite photography skills. We cannot say enough about the wonderful Dawn Derbyshire!"
"Dawn was a stand in friend and bridesmaid to me"
[…] to take your engagement photos to the next level? Let’s hit the road. Learn more about destination engagement sessions with some of my favorite photos from past […]