6 Unique Ideas for Your Chicago Engagement Session
It’s engagement season! This also means it’s time to start planning your engagement session! I’m OBSESSED with engagement sessions, because not only do you and your love get some AMAZINGGGGGG pictures, but I selfishly also love getting to have some time to get to know you two before your big day! When planning your engagement session, it’s easy to just go with the default forest preserve, but there is nothing I love more when my couples bring some unique ideas to their engagement session to make it feel like them! Here are five unique ideas for your Chicago engagement session.
1. Show off Your Home Session
In-home sessions are so special and intimate. I love documenting a couple in their element. Let’s put on your favorite vinyl, snuggle on the couch, play with your fur babies and then spend the afternoon documenting you in the space you love the most. Set up your engagement session in your home and then we can spend a little time walking around your Chicago neighborhood and exploring the places you love the most.
2. Plan an Activity
Bake cookies or pancakes, paint a mural for your home, or sip beers up on your roof looking out on the Chicago skyline, plan a picnic, or take your dog to the beach for your engagement session. Adding a fun activity that you like to do together results in some AMAZING candid photos of you and your partner doing what you love to do the most!
3. Bring Some Props!
Fun sunglasses, champagne, or ride your vintage bikes around your Chicago neighborhood for your engagement session. Any little details that celebrate and showcase you, your love and your engagement all are great to include in your session.
4. Bring Your Pets!
I love when my couples bring along their pups or other animals to their session! If you do plan to bring a pet to your session, I highly recommend bringing someone with you to bring your pet to the session and bring your pet home after their part of the session! This way we can take our time and relax while photographing the rest of your engagement session in Chicago.
5. Go to Your Favorite Spots
Coffee shops, favorite bars or breweries, your favorite record store. There are SO many cool locations throughout Chicago perfect for engagement session and the best locations are the ones that mean something to you! The locations that already have memories within them, and that you love the most. Pro tip! If you plan to have your session in a busy location, call ahead and see if you can pop in for your engagement photos before they open or after they close! That way you can have the place to yourselves, and you can be sure that photos are allowed in the space.
6. Explore Somewhere New
If you’re looking for a little adventure, then consider exploring somewhere new for your engagement session! Check out a place you haven’t been to before like Montrose Bird Sanctuary or explore a new neighborhood you haven’t been to before like Edgewater, or Hyde Park. If you and your partner are big on exploring Chicago, put together a list of places you haven’t been but have wanted to go to, and let’s make some new memories there for your engagement session!
Cool Locations for a Chicago Engagement Session
If you’re really just in love with Chicago and want to explore somewhere new for your engagement session, check out some of these awesome places. These iconic spots throughout Chicago not only make for beautiful backdrops but also make for a unique experience for your engagement session!
James R Thompson Center- Futuristic vibes
Bonus Idea for Your Chicago Engagement Session
Use ANY of these engagement photo ideas, but create a unique experience by taking some engagement photos at night! I LOVE night photos, whether in the heart of the city surrounded by lights, or stopping by your favorite pizza shop and eating a slice on the curb, everything’s more fun with a little nighttime Chicago vibe for your engagement session.
And there you have it, 6 unique ideas for your Chicago engagement session with a couple of bonus ideas thrown in just for you! Hopefully, this list got you excited and thinking about all the possibilities for your engagement session. If so, I’d love to hear them. Head to my contact page to send me an inquiry and let’s make your dream engagement session a reality!
