Imagine you get your dream inquiry to capture a sleeping bear dunes engagement session in Northern Michigan. You set the date, but then as the session approaches Michigan weather has other plans. Of course the day of it, it doesn’t rain at all until your session is supposed to begin and end. Sometimes you just have to laugh it off. You decide on a new date, and this new date is a photographers dream. Instead of rain, you get the perfectly lit, sun diffused day. There wasn’t exactly a sunset, but we ended the night with gorgeous cotton candy skies. It was magical and dreamy. 

A warm Michigan summer day

We started the session off by meeting at Cherry Public House, in Glen Arbor. It was packed with people, as this was the week of the 4th of July. It was my first time visiting, and I was so impressed. Not only was it absolutely adorable there (cute mini village vibes), but the staff was AMAZING! some anxiety set in when I spotted a working heading towards us. I instantly thought, oh no!! I forgot to call and get permission to shoot here. How could I forget? I’m usually so great with that, but it just slipped my mind this time around. But instead of telling us to kick rocks, the worker said “Congratulations on your engagement! We love seeing couples take photos at the Cherry Public House! Here are some goodies to take with you!” As she walked away, we looked to see that she had dropped off a couple large delicious cookies! Can we talk about how generous and kind that was?! I will definitely be going back, and recommending a visit to everyone I know. 

Sleeping bear dunes

After we finished our portion of photos in Glen Arbor, we drove to Pierce Stocking Drive, over in Empire (Only about 20 minutes from Glen Arbor! You get the best of both worlds) I fully expected it to be PACKED with people. But when we got to stop #9/#10, the parking lot was surprisingly empty. It was only a quick 1 minute walk to the overlook.  And wow, was the view stunning! I started playing a playlist I created with Mary + Brennna’s favorite tunes. And we went through a variety of fun prompts and poses. We captured all the laughs and giggles. And we got lots of exercise running through those dunes (do it for the photo! Ha) 

Sunset portraits, along the beautiful Lake Michigan

As sunset began approaching, we decided to head over to Empire Beach to end the night with some romantic portraits in the water. I didn’t have to do much persuading to get my couple to roll around in the sand, and get waist down in the water to get to epic shots! They were up for it all. And I got to live my best photographer life over here doing what I love with two beautiful, down to earth humans from Chicago. 

Watch my viral tiktok for some epic before & after shots of this engagement session here

The Empire beaches and dunes will always be one of my favorite locations to photograph couples. Thank you, Brennan + Mary for allowing me to capture your destination engagement session! 

Check out more of my couples portfolio here