Oh man, what a beautiful couple Lauren and Eli are, both inside and out!

E-mailing Lauren back and forth while we decided where to do their engagement shoot was such a pleasure! I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone who is so able to convey such excitement, kindness and gratitude in a simple, short e-mail as Lauren. It’s something I can learn from and improve on myself for sure!

Lauren and Eli wanted to plan a fall engagement shoot since their wedding will be in the autumn of 2021. As the weather in Portland stayed super warm even into October I got a little worried that we might not have the gorgeous autumn hues that I’d promised them!

Adding to my trepidation, the week before Lauren and Eli’s session, we had about three days of quite heavy rain that managed to knock almost every orange leaf off of the trees! Seeing this I really began to panic and started driving around to a different park each evening trying to see where there might be some color left. I even had my husband out sending me videos of the trees when I was too busy to do it myself!

Luckily however, the Friday before their session the sun came out and we got a bit of a cold snap in the evening, so when we arrived at Hoyt Arboretum, fall was there!

Hoyt is an amazing place for autumn colors since it has over 2,300 tree species from 6 continents so from late September through November you’re more likely to find color there than anywhere else.

I met Lauren and Eli in the lower parking lot where we left a change of clothes for them in my Jeep and I hopped in their car to ride to the top. Hoyt is on this bog hill and Lauren was looking amazing in some heels she’d brought so I figured walking down might be the easiest! We practiced a few poses to warm things up and shake off the nerves and then started strolling around the beautiful grounds of the arboretum while I got to learn a little more about Eli and Lauren’s love story.

Eli and Lauren originally met in high school. Eli had just gotten out of a rough relationship and wasn't sure if he wanted to jump back into date again so soon, but he eventually asked Lauren out to the movies, seeing something in her that he was cautiously excited about.

Lauren really liked Eli so when the date wasn’t followed up with a request to start a relationship, she ended up writing him a letter about all the reasons they should date, easing Eli’s nerves and convincing him to give love another chance. Eventually they began dating and have been together ever since!

Eli purposed to Lauren last year around Christmas time. He had already discussed it with Lauren's parents and gotten their support and blessings so when almost all the presents had been opened he had her open the last box.

Eli and Lauren had discussed marriage and their future in a sort of general sense, but Lauren didn't know when Eli was planning to purpose, so it was quite a surprise for her when she opened up that box with her engagement ring!

She of course said yes and they embarked on quite an adventure in 2020 to kick off their engaged life by moving to Oregon!

While 2020 hasn’t exactly allowed for them to explore their new city too much, Eli and Lauren are really looking forward to getting into the beautiful outdoors that this area has. Lauren jokingly said that she gets overwhelmed when she looks up hikes near Portland since there are so many options! So, if you have a favorite hike, leave it in the comments below for Lauren and Eli to try out!

Although Lauren and Eli were both super nervous for their engagement session, Lauren prepared by looking up posing tips and read my bridal guide cover to cover! They shouldn’t have fretted however, as with their easy-going attitude and quickness to laugh they looked amazing in front of the camera!

We had a blast trekking all over Hoyt and we even got to take some photos by the MAX station with it’s beautiful Oregon vines which were popping with a mixture of late summer greens, vibrant red and early autumn golds.

To finish off the shoot we drove over the river to the South-East Hawthorne Swim Dock where we planned to take a dusk photo with the Portland Cityscape in the background to celebrate Lauren and Eli embracing their new home.

This being one of the last warm Saturdays, the dock was full of Portlander’s enjoying the last bit of summer and we even had the very “Portland” experience of having a few skinny-dippers race past us to jump into the chilly waters of the Willamette as we made our way down to the end of the dock!

It was a really beautiful evening spent with beautiful people and left me very excited to see these two on their big day next October!

Drop them some love in the comments below!