Hatley Castle engagement Vancouver Island

Planning a wedding can be a difficult task for most of us. Now how about to plan a great engagement session? You think that is an easy task don’t you? Yes, usually it is an easier one than the wedding day on its own. But what manny people do not realize is that the engagement portrait shoot could be one of the most important dates with a wedding photographer you could ever imagine.

Clients usually ask me for suggestions where to have the portrait engagement session done. Then the next question is what to wear and what props to bring to it.

For a photographer location for a photography session is as crucial as the time of it. So when I heard from Sherry that she studied at Royal Roads University at Vancouver Island I was sold on the location. If you are looking for a real unique wedding location then Hatley Castle is one of those.

We set the day according to the light I wanted to capture at multiple locations of our trip. We started at harsh midday sun on the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria Swartz Bay. Then we drove to the magic Hatley Castle grounds and the last session took place at the sunset on the last 9PM ferry back to Vancouver. Just a week ago we were planning to stay on the Island overnight so we could photograph as long as we needed at the Castle. Unfortunately there was an unexpected change in one of my other clients wedding venue and due that I had to be back in the downtown next day for a busy wedding event 🙂

Guys brought 3 sets of outfits. The warm up started in casual, then we had a spin in classy dark suite with gorges traditional red Chinese dress and on the ferry back we went again a bit casual to wrap the day.

Most of the images here was created with a scenic approach to the portraiture. There is plenty of close up portraits of them, I just decided to share more of shots captured from a faraway distance and concentrate on the location with a touch of the couple in them. Couple requested if we keep those intimate ones for their private viewing and I am always glad to respect the wishes of mu clients 🙂

If you think that just the building of the Hatley Castle is really photogenic and amazing looking, then you had probably never been in Japanese or Rose gardens here. We had time only for the first one yet imagine how a wedding bride and groom portraits can be done here. Beautiful and breathtaking views, romantic corners everywhere you look, just like a princess was about to walk out of there.

Greenery mixed with wooden bridges and lake with twisted walking path around it… And we got some amazing clouds across the sky with a soft light coming through the trees. Simply wow. Cool timing and couple who knew what they wanted. And me just happened to be at the right place at the right time :). Haha, yes the planing for these engagement portrait sessions is the key to the success. We had blast, we were sweating and we deserved to have these results at the end of the day!

Those of you who had a chance to work with me get the idea how exhausted these two guys had to be on the way back to the ferry. We were able to cruise around the Hatley Castle and the gardens two times. They were able to change two sets of outfits. And as a bonus we had a chance to get to know each other before their big day comes and I will be spying on them with a long telephoto lens to capture more emotions then posed pictures from their wedding celebration 🙂

But if you think the session was over, you are wrong. We still managed to have a mini-session on the ferry with absolutely fascinating sunset light. Juts look at those colours. Cool engagement session and superb finale at the end of the day.

Thank you S+M for an amazing day we spent together. I cannot say enough how I enjoyed to photograph you and how much I am looking forward to your wedding day.

Just order another amazing weather for your day and let’s create some more art for you together.

Jozef – Povazan Photography – Vancouver wedding photographers