Couples all over the country are preparing for summer engagement photo sessions as the days grow longer and the weather warms. Although the blooming flowers and lush greenery make the perfect backdrop for engagement photos at this time of year, there can be one doubtful aspect: the heat. Will the humidity ruin that gorgeous bridal hairdo? And will sweat appear in gorgeous summer engagement photos? Even though we sometimes have to endure extreme heat, doing so produces some of the most stunning and unique engagement photoshoot ideas. Some of the top engagement photographers always tell their couples that eventually the duo will be having so much fun and they will be so into each other that they will forget about it! It is worth being hot for an hour!

The summer months are referred to as the "season of love" for a reason. Long weekends with trips to the beach and warm breezes are seriously romantic. Some might argue that the warmer months are just as suitable for engagements as the winter, particularly the time around the holidays. But some of our favorite summer engagement portraits from the long and lovely summer days beg to differ. We believe you will feel the same inspiration whether you are looking for a summer picnic engagement session or planning a day trip to the beach.

If the summer couple portraits that follow don't persuade you to put off planning a proposal or at the very least an engagement shoot, this couple's love story will. We adore how this couple's decision to have an amazing summer engagement photo session influenced the timing and setting of their warm-weather engagement photos. From memorable hiking trails and first dates to beloved beaches and biking routes, unique summer engagement photoshoot ideas are endless.

What's best? Although we are all for getting engaged in the summer, you are not required to do so in order to schedule an engagement portrait session. If you or your significant other got engaged in the fall, you might want to take those photos in the summer to capture the entire year leading up to your wedding. Perhaps you simply adore summer and want to capture this once-in-a-lifetime moment during a season that you adore. Or perhaps you prefer trendy summer engagement outfits to that of any other season because we know how sundresses look so lovely in these kinds of portraits! 

There are many different engagement photo styles to pick from, whether you want a relaxed session with candid and pre-planned poses or want to capture your actual proposal with a bent knee and spontaneous emotional moments. Couples are getting more creative with each passing season, and we can see that it can involve anything from having similar beliefs to engaging in shared interests. Many couples feel that their engagement photos are the most accurate representation of them as a couple because they include elements of their everyday style and natural surroundings. Due to the rise of social media, couple photography sessions have gained popularity over time as more and more couples want to share their love with the world before getting married.

Engagement portraits, which can range from simple detail shots to multi-location, six-hour carnivals with multiple outfits, are undeniably the new trend for newly engaged couples. These are the moments, whether you are getting married or engaged, that will last a lifetime, and having them captured in the most beautiful professional photography session will always serve as a reminder of the best reasons for beginning this new life.

On a sunny summer day in 2021, we swooned over the newly engaged couple, who brought back the innocence and whimsy of romantic love. We were thrilled to meet Lauren and Andrew because they had a blossoming sense of passion and a fantastic sense of style and chicness. They immediately won our hearts with their adorable smiles and upbeat personalities, and we were fortunate to be able to capture their new beginning in an elegant summer engagement photo session. This Jacksonville couple demonstrated to us how every bride's dream is to have a chic engagement session in the summer. The same level of gorgeous and energizing tone was achieved by our Jacksonville engagement photographers with brilliant storytelling!

The lovely couple selected Jacksonville to record their love story for all the right reasons, and we couldn't help but applaud them for their decision. Some of the most picturesque photogenic locations in the US can be found in Jacksonville, which is situated on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Jacksonville, Florida, also referred to as "Jax" locally, is the meeting point of the South and the North. The prideful Southern refinement, neighborliness, and cuisine continue today. Although this city has a rich cultural and historical past, there are also plenty of contemporary sights and activities to enjoy.

However, despite the tall office buildings and high-rise buildings in Downtown Jacksonville, the locals still firmly hold onto small-town values. The contrasts are perhaps more interesting and stark than anywhere else in Florida. Life in this river city is centered on the St. Johns River, which flows directly through it, and the ocean to the east. Photogenic places in Jacksonville also have a ton of surprises to offer. For instance, few people are aware that Jacksonville was the birthplace of Hollywood! Before anyone east of Los Angeles had ever heard of that other Hollywood, this was the world's center for motion pictures at the turn of the 20th century.

Jax residents are indeed fortunate to be situated next to a magnificent river, a close-by ocean with breathtaking beaches, natural wonderlands just outside the city limits, and enough outdoor recreation opportunities and tourist attractions to keep visitors busy for an entire year. Read on to find some of the best places to get engaged in Jacksonville and find out more about these places to visit in this vibrant Florida city.

Just get in touch with our engagement photographers in Jacksonville and schedule your engagement photoshoot. You can get started by visiting the gorgeous Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. More than 5000 works of art, some of which date back more than 3,000 years, are now housed in the museum. These include more recent pieces by artists like Winslow Homer, Thomas Moran, and Norman Rockwell, as well as the Wark Collection of Early Meissen Porcelain. There are actually four different gardens on the 2.5 acres of grounds, including an English and an Italian garden, each of which is over a century old and breathtakingly beautiful and serene in its own special way.

The next beautiful spot for your Jacksonville engagement photography session can be The Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary. This nonprofit organization's noble goal is to inform the public about the risks of keeping large cats as pets and the threats they face from things like changing weather patterns, pollution, declining habitats, and human hunters. Another beautiful and surreal location for photography in Jacksonville is the Kingsley Plantation. You can travel back in time here at the Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island, which is located east of the city. This is a fine illustration of a stately Southern mansion from the antebellum era. There are about 25 cabins, a plantation house, a kitchen house, a barn, and other structures for your engagement photography session in Jacksonville.

The next destination for your Jacksonville engagement photography can be Talbot Islands State Parks. This gorgeous place makes for a fun excursion to the Florida Atlantic coast, conveniently located just a short drive up the picturesque A1A highway from Downtown Jacksonville. Directly after passing through both parks, the highway crosses a bridge over Nassau Sound to bring you to the equally pleasant Amelia Island. Sand dunes, beaches, salt marshes, and maritime forests make up the landscape, and you might see anything from a thriving bird population to river otters there. Another quirky engagement spot in Jacksonville is the famous Florida Theatre! This venue has hosted some of the most well-known artists in the world, who have performed a wide range of musical genres, from rock to Rachmaninoff, happy holiday shows to children's theater, and pretty much everything in between. Another gorgeous place is the Fort George Island Cultural State Park. It is an area of abundant natural beauty, fascinating wildlife, and fantastic recreational opportunities, not to mention a lovely and calming silence for your Jacksonville couple photography session. 

As we have already mentioned, Amelia Island is a gorgeous place for your couple's photography in Jacksonville. Featuring red-brick Victorian buildings and sidewalks from the late 1800s, this destination is also filled with interesting galleries, shops, and restaurants. If you also want to enjoy the spectacular views and Jacksonville Skyline, head to the St. Johns River Taxi. You can take a ride along the river and enjoy the panoramic views of the city for your Jacksonville engagement portrait session. You can also head to the Jacksonville River Walks, along the Northbank and Southbank. This romantic walk can be perfect for your golden hour photo session in Jacksonville.

After considering every possible location for their engagement session— from mountains to the ocean, from bustling cities to enchanted forests and gardens, Lauren and Andrew decided on the Washington Oaks Gardens State Park for its unparalleled splendor and grace. This beautiful and serene garden setting is a wonderful location for memorable engagement photography sessions because it combines exquisite architecture with outstanding scenery. Due to its unparalleled adaptability and versatility, the immaculately kept garden engagement spot in Jacksonville exudes a warm vibe on chilly days and functions like a gulp of chilled beer on sunny days! 

Washington Oaks Gardens State Park in Palm Coast protects 425 acres of coastal scenery between the Matanzas River and the Atlantic Ocean. One of the largest coquina rock outcroppings on the Atlantic Ocean can be found along the park's eastern border, where it has formed a charming beach with many boulders. The park's core is made up of a community of coastal scrub that develops into a lush hammock with towering live oak, hickory, and magnolia trees that provide welcome shade. The picturesque tidal marshes of the Matanzas River border the hammock. 20 acres of formal gardens have been carved out of the surrounding landscape and placed inside the hammock to create a wonderful space for relaxation and nature appreciation. Here, the Young family constructed their winter home, leaving behind the structures and gardens that make up the Washington Oaks Historic District.

As the stunning Jacksonville couple started their sunny engagement photo shoot at this picturesque photo location, our hearts leaped with excitement. Our stunning fiancée Lauren chose a powder blue summer engagement dress with off-the-shoulders spaghetti straps for a breezy summer engagement look. The stunning summer engagement look looked absolutely gorgeous on our lovely to-be bride. She completed her flawless engagement ensemble with strappy white shoes and gorgeous engagement makeup that highlighted her flawless features. Her perfectly styled middle-parted hair, which was caressing her shoulders, looked stunning in her engagement photos. 

Our handsome fiance Andrew planned the ideal couple engagement look and chose to show off his fashionable front by wearing a crisp white shirt with light gray casual pants. The relaxed summer groom engagement outfit paired with a pair of brown moccasins looked stylish and eye-catching. The flawlessly coordinated couple's engagement outfits, which were perfectly accentuated by the lovely smiles that never left their faces throughout the day left a mark on our engagement portrait collection.

Shortly after their engagement session at the park, the couple decided to hit the beach and change their engagement outfits. Lauren opted for a second engagement dress which was a similar breezy white dress with cut-out sleeves as they headed to the beach. For the second engagement look, Andrew wore a navy blue casual shirt with a pair of light brown shorts! The beach-inspired engagement outfits looked surreal!

The sun-kissed couple explored the picturesque grounds full of photogenic settings at Washington Oaks Historic District throughout the day when the light sunbeams fell on them. Lauren and Andrew carefully brought in the intricate details of this photo location without skipping a single photo opportunity. This Jacksonville couple portrait session is definitely going down as one of the most cherished experiences for our professional engagement photographers. The engagement album was starting to fill up with priceless mementos from the intricate photos that included them cuddling up to each other in the vibrant flower beds of this tranquil garden setting to sneaking a kiss against the beach backdrops.

The dramatic backdrops of this charming Jacksonville photo location and the meticulous attention to detail were the ideal additions to our impressive newly engaged couple's professional photography session. This soon-to-be-married couple has a positively contagious energy that warmed our hearts and brightened the summer day in Jacksonville. Every precious moment was beautifully captured in an unforgettable album, whether it was the way they stopped in the middle to take a few dances or the way they adorably looked at each other with so much love. Our lovely couple planned their engagement photography session with such meticulous detail and picture-perfect perfection that it perfectly captured their keen attention to detail and sense of unmatched teamwork.