Blog— 2022 —
Providence Engagement Photos
Elizabeth & Arthur
Union Station Brewery, Providence, Rhode Island
November 17th, 2022
Without a doubt, the hardest part of any engagement session is getting to know a bride and groom in what is typically your first "real" interaction with them as an actual couple. This can be especially tricky because, truth be told, most brides and grooms are nervous in front of the camera so, as a photographer, your number one job in most of these sessions is to try to pull even just a little bit of their personalities out in the photos you take in the small amount of time you have together.
And then there are couples like Elizabeth and Arthur, who came to their November engagement session in downtown Providence knowing exactly what they wanted and exactly who they were.
I absolutely LOVED these two.
Elizabeth and Arthur are a fun pair who love each other, love spending time together and love to drink and working with them was so easy it felt like reconnecting with long lost friends. Suffice to say, this was a fantastic way for me to close the books on my slate of fall engagement sessions this year.
I knew before Elizabeth, Arthur and I even met up for their engagement photos that this would be a session unlike most I've had this year. Elizabeth and Arthur had a clear vision for their photos and wanted to make their session a fast, easy and carefree one that showed one of their favorite places to spend an evening (Union Station Brewery in downtown Providence) and had a beer-drinking theme.
And if you've followed me long enough you know I love a good theme.
First things first, though, I wanted to spend some time with Elizabeth and Arthur around the area near their brewery and Waterplace Park to make sure we had at least SOME traditional engagement photos.
So what does "traditional" mean for a couple like Elizabeth and Arthur? Well, finding poses that feel natural but also look nice. After a quick test round outside of Union Station Brewery, the three of us made our way around Waterplace Park.
I loved this portion of our session together as it really let me see their relationship at work in the real world.
True to form, these two were real jokers and made each other laugh. A lot. And it was just as much fun for me as we worked around some truly odd Providence weather that at times was blindly bright with sun and then, moments later, started snowing.
Elizabeth and Arthur were real troopers though and bringing out their personalities in this portion of their photos was really a great time.
Where Elizabeth and Arthur were their true selves, though, was at the brewery itself and I could tell the minute they switched into adorable "I said Yaaass" and "Beer me, I just got engaged shirts" that this was the look that felt most like them.
Seeing Elizabeth and Arthur interact in the pub sitting across from one another, I could picture them doing this very same thing countless times in their relationship and could just feel this is where they truly felt most at home.
I always love seeing people in their true element and that's one of the reasons these photos were some of my favorites of the whole session.
By the time Elizabeth, Arthur and I bid adieu, I know they felt 100 percent more comfortable in front of the camera and far more at ease than they expected and that bodes well for their fall wedding next year. I love working with easy couples like these two, folks that can be themselves and bring out the best in one another and I look forward to seeing how we work together to top this session next October.
So thank you Elizabeth and Arthur for a great engagement session. Enjoy the holiday season and have a Happy New Year and I'll see you both in 2023!
-Paul J. Spetrini
