Did you have an engagement photo session before your wedding day? I didn't and always thought that it would have been fun to, maybe in Rome where we got engaged on Valentines Day.

Our real bride Emily, who is getting married at Chateau de la Ligne in 2017, is taking us through her engagement photo session and introducing us to her photographer.

Emily: "We had a wonderful time shooting our engagement photographs with our photographer, Zach, from Third Element Photography & Cinema. We knew we wanted to return to the Marin Headlands, where Jeff proposed, because of how sentimental that location is to us. Prior to shooting, we shared a glass of champagne with Zach and spent some time getting to know him, which set the festive and celebratory mood!

Zach was inquisitive and adventurous, funny, and put us completely at ease. Together, the three of us rolled through the photo shoot sharing a lot of laughter, with Zach directing us and shooting away. It was an experience Jeff and I will certainly remember, and we will be using these photographs for our wedding website!

Zach did a great job summarizing our work with him, so without further ado, here is Zach:

I am Zach, owner of Third Element Photography & Cinema based in California. I was really excited when Emily and Jeff contacted me to photograph their engagement! Emily and Jeff found me from work that I had done for a friend of theirs, which is one of my favorite way to connect with new clients. I love when they have a connection to my work through a friend, family member, or acquaintance. While it is possible to market yourself as a photographer using portfolio images, I much prefer to market using real weddings and real sessions so that prospective clients can see what their session or wedding could look like and they can picture having those images with them in them.
Emily and Jeff chose to have their phtotos done at the Marin Headlands, a location that I did not have extensive experience with, but that they both knew well and had a connection to. We met up Cavallo Point, another location that had special meaning, it was where Emily and Jeff had champagne after their engagement, so what could be a better way to kick off their engagement photos than to pick up right where they left off after they got engaged! We spent some time catching up and talking about life, wedding planning, family, and just about everything in between. The client-photographer relationship is supremely important. As a photographer I am being entrusted to capture a portion of my clients lives so building a strong relationship is almost as important as the images themselves. Once we got shooting it was a fun and exciting experience, it was obvious from the time that I first met them that they weren't just in love, but they were head over heels in love with every single part of each other. I love getting to work with clients like this because they truly make my job easy! I don't have to create emotion and connection, it is already and I get to focus on making beautiful photos instead of coaching connection.
While I did not map out our locations before we started shooting I worked with Emily and Jeff to create a general guideline of some things that we wanted to do and from there I focused on finding the best light wherever we were at. There was one time, right as the sun was setting that we all looked up a hill and almost without speaking we all had the exact same idea - the light at the top of the hill was amazing, so we all jumped out of the car and sprinted up the hill and snagged the last 30 seconds of sunlight capturing some of my favorite images from the entire shoot. Emily and Jeff also remarked that it was funny that we utilized that location as they had been eyeing it wanting to stop and explore the top of that hill for quite a while and it was exciting to get to adventure up there as part of their engagement photos.
After finishing up at the beach, Emily, Jeff and I got to reflect on their session, they told me that their session felt so easy and fun and that it was like one adventure of a date. Those words are exactly what I love hearing from clients at the end of their sessions. If I do my job right, clients will love their images even before they see them because the experience of taking them was one of the best dates that they have had, full of new experiences, new ways of connecting, lots of laughs, and maybe a few adventures."

Emily's Wedding Vendors so far:

If you are looking for ideas and inspiration on planning your wedding in France, don't forget you can catch up with Belle Bride Emily and you can find all the Belle Brides past and present here.