By Jordan Varela - Utah Wedding Photographer

We’re back at Little Dell Reservoir in Emigration Canyon for a lovely engagement session filled with white snow and gorgeous Wasatch mountains! Right in between Salt Lake City & Park City Utah, Little Dell is a fantastic option to get your engagement photos done for your wedding. Especially in the winter! Utah was gifted with so much snow this year, we had to get creative with this engagement session.

Jessica, Tyler & I snowshoed from the parking lot down the ramp to get to even ground. Once we found a solid spot, I patted down the snow to make sure that slipping through the snow was minimal. How many wedding photographers do you know that will go to such lengths for their clients? Ha!

Once they kicked off their snowshoes (I kept mine on) we were off to the races! They were absolutely stunning on this cold & overcast day. The Wasatch Mountains were absolutely gorgeous and were a great reminder of why I moved to Utah! I am truly blessed to be a wedding photographer in such a scenic and beautiful state!

Located about 42 miles from Salt Lake City, Antelope Island is one of Utah’s hidden gems for a wedding photographer. From the moment you enter the causeway, you see the great expanse of the Great Salt Lake with views reminiscent of the Bonneville Salt Flats with half the drive time! On this particular afternoon, the sky was overcast and the air was quite chilly. London & McKay opted to dress in denim & low cut Chuck Taylor Converses. I absolutely loved the look of the denim and black Chuck T’s against the wispy brown vegetation & rocks at Antelope Island. I highly encourage couple’s to dress down like this for their next engagement session! Save the formal look for your wedding day! Overall we had a fantastic session and I can’t wait to go back to Antelope Island for another engagement session to explore all of its stunning features!

In between Salt Lake City & Park City, Utah, Little Dell Reservoir is a hidden gem. A giant water reservoir overlooked by Emigration Canyon, Little Dell Reservoir is a hotspot for winter activities such as cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling - wedding engagement sessions not so much. Unless your photographer brings snowshoes!

Located in downtown Salt Lake City underneath Café Molise, BTG is a wine bar with incredible interior decor. I was approached by a couple to do an engagement session here and was blown away by how photogenic it was. Featuring a wide array of wines from around the world, BTG is filled with wine bottles. We utilized the bar, booths, & wine cellar tasting room. After we had fun in BTG, we moved outside to get some great downtown Salt Lake sidewalk shots. Since this shoot, I have been to BTG & Café Molise many times! Sometimes it pays off to be a wedding photographer as your clients show you some of the best places in the city!

With just a week’s notice, Talia & Max reached out to me in hopes of securing a last-minute time slot to be able to achieve their dream of doing a wedding engagement session in a lavender field, however all of the desirable afternoon slots were already taken. Therefore we opted to go for a 6am start time and were greeted with an absolutely stunning sunrise. Their love and passion was electric throughout the lavender fields despite the early morning commute.

Have you ever been to a ski resort in the summer? Alta is one of my favorite places to ski and turns out, it’s a fantastic location for photoshoots in the summer.

Located near Park City, Utah, Guardsman Pass is a seasonal road that connects Park City in one direction to Heber City and Midway (through Wasatch State Park), and in another direction to Solitude and Brighton Ski Resorts. This road opens when the snow melts in the spring and is open until usually November. In the fall, this location provides the perfect vista for fall leaves. Given that this shoot took place in early September, we were too early for autumn colors, but instead we were surprised with a beautiful pink and blue sunset against the backdrop of green aspens, which is photographer’s dream.

Parking Garage Wedding Engagement Shoot At Exchange Place Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah

When you normally think of parking garages not the best thoughts come to mind. Would you ever imagine a parking garage to be an incredible location to do a wedding engagement session? Especially with all the competition of amazing photo locations near Salt Lake City such as the Great Saltair, the Salt Flats, Park City, Antelope Island, and Big & Little Cottonwood Canyons who would’ve thought that an urban parking deck session at Exchange Place with a backdrop of skyscrapers would hold its own?

I shot My Own Engagement Photos At The Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, UT. Pink sky and purple mountains

The big day is finally here. The love of your life said yes and now you have face the mighty and intimidating camera. You hate taking pictures. You’ve always sucked at taking pictures. What do you do with your hands? What side is your good side? What if your smile is weird? How are you possibly going to be able to pose for an entire hour?

Fret not! These are common fears before your first photo session. If you’ve hired a pro, which I hope you have (check me out here if you haven’t :)), then you have nothing to worry about! Photographers know how to pose everyone from outgoing extroverts to camera-shy introverts. But if you’re still anxious about what to do, the check out these classic pose ideas for your engagement shoot that even you can’t mess up.

Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT

Wendover, UT