Kari & Will | Taughannock Waterfall | Destination Wedding Photographer

Kari and Will are the lovely models for this styled bridal destination wedding shoot at Taughannock Waterfall in Ithaca, New York. These photos were taken right before Will’s surprise proposal to Kari. My fiance joked with me that this styled bridal shoot would push pressure onto Will to propose. Pressure, no way (Will had a proposal on his mind for a while), but it definitely presented a unique proposal opportunity! 

For a while now I had this photo shoot idea in my head to take images in a rustic waterfall setting. A simple dress and bouquet, a beautiful couple, and a tall waterfall backdrop. Getting an actual couple out all this way for images wasn’t in the cards at the time (But I’m always looking for adventurous couples who are up for it), so I created this styled shoot with Kari in mind. Back in college we were in the same photography department and I often modeled for her creative photo shoots. It felt like “the good old days.” 

The waterfall presented some obstacles. For one, we weren’t actually allowed near the waterfall. We got away with a lot more than we should have because of the wedding dress and Will’s uniform, but we still decided to keep a safe distance for these photos, even though my wild photographer side wanted to get much closer. Obstacle two; It was actually a very hot day and we had to take a hike to get to the waterfall while Kari and Will were dressed in layers. Obstacle three; there were people everywhere. With a creative angle, we were able to keep most of the people out of the images. Near the end of the shoot I turned around and noticed that we had an audience of about twenty people watching us from the bridge behind me. I was so in the zone that I hadn’t noticed and Kari and Will were such great models that I had no idea they were being watched the whole time, it didn’t once effect their focus. Obstacle four; we had to take the images quickly so we could change and get to the sunset spot for Will’s proposal all without Kari noticing. We pulled it off effortlessly. A special thank you to Kari and Will for making this dream photo shoot a reality! You’re both stunning! 

These cute poses were Will’s idea. He said a movie that they love is called “An Officer and Gentleman,” and at the end of the film, the main character carries his girl this way. I’ve never seen it, but if it helped create images this cute, then I need to add it to my must-watch list! To see more photos, like Live Lovely Photography on Facebook and follow Live Lovely on Instagram @LiveLovelyPhotography. 

If you are interested in a creative wedding (or engagement) photo shoot of your own, please contact me via the contact page on this blog or through Facebook. I am always looking to work with adventurous couples who want to create unique and meaningful imagery for their engagements, elopements, and destination weddings. Let’s tell your story together.