Bringing Your Pet To Your Engagement Session | Minneapolis Wedding Photography | Tips for Brides

I LOVE animals and I know I am not the only one! I love cuddling with my two cats who I swear have two goals everyday : one- must eat the moment their humans wake up and two- keep their humans lap warm! No complaints from me!(said human)  

Pets are part of the family! So I understand when you want to have them in your engagement photos; I have a couple of tips to make your fur babies photography experience great!

Bring a third party to look after your animal once they are done with photos! Majority of the time  your animal will only be in 1/3 of your totally engagment session. The other 2/3 of the time you want to focus on just you too and nothing with take up more time and attention then a cute distracted bored animal! To keep your focus on you having a third person their will keep everything running smoothly! 

It doesnt just have to be your dog in the photos. Dogs are the most common for sessions but you are welcome to bring any pet that you want to incorporate into your photos ! For bigger animals like horses it may be easiest to plan on going where they are housed over bringing them to your engagement spot ! 

Have treats at the ready. A photo session is exciting for even the most well behaved of animals. Having their favorite treat will help keep them motivated and help me to get their attention when he is the star of the photo!  

Bring a leash for all animals! Nothing would be more horrifying than losing an animal during the session! When we are out shooting in public, it is new territory for your pet and that can be intense for any animal. To make sure their fears and uncertainties don't cause them to flee , play on the safe side and put them on a leash or a harness to grab them at a moments notice if they get too overwhelmed.  If your pet is new to the harness definitely have them wear it a couple of times around the house to get used to it before the shoot! It is one less thing to trigger stress on the day of the shoot!

Same Tips Apply for the Wedding Day! <3

Do you have any helpful tips to add? Please leave a comment below to fill us in on things I over looked!  

St Olaf Engagement Photography | Alyssa & Geoff | Minneapolis Wedding Photographer

We have been emailing back and forth trying to pick the perfect day for this shoot! Canceled once to avoid an even colder day we landed on this past Tuesday ! We knew no one would fall asleep on this shoot because the chill we a good smack in the face! But by looking at Alyssa and Geoff's smiles you can't tell. They trooper through the snow and Minnesota chill to make magic happen! The also brought along for the journey the rambunctious Simba! He was so soft and did a great job chillaxing while we had shot a couple of photos of him. Our shoot was on the hills of St Olaf College where Alyssa and Geoff first met. Being in the same group of friends they have photographic evidence of meeting their freshman year in a human pyramid at a friends game night. It wasn't until a couple of years later they became closer friends. Geoff studying calculus went a semester abroad to Budapest to continue is math learning. They were just friends at this point but Alyssa really began to miss Geoff! Absence really does make the heart grow fonder! When he got back, they both knew this was something more than just good buds reuniting and decided to give them a shot.

It turned out for the better because here they years later planning for their September wedding! But before we get into that Geoff decided to put a ring on it and propose. He knew Alyssa being a true Minnesota girl loves lakes and made a reservation for a dinner that had a killer view. During their meal Geoff received a call from "an angry student." He apologetically took the call while setting the plan motion. Alyssa sat and waited for 30 minutes before receiving a text from Geoff to head for the car. Unbeknownst to her, he had slipped the car keys into her bag. After getting in the car she found a a mason jar with a clue of where to go. 

The clue lead her to a hill and she had a map to lead her. Not great with maps , Alyssa had another clue to lead her. 37 white origami cranes lead her to Geoff who then proposed! Ugh LOVE! 

Cant wait for their wedding later in 2018 and secretly hoping they bring Simba back so I can cuddle with him some more ;).

Aria Wedding Photography | Minneapolis Wedding Photographer | Jordan & Andy

As fall days go, the sun was shining through the yellow trees and on the smiling faces of Andy & Jordan!
The groom was one of my more stylish of this year in a deep blue suit with a velvet maroon tie! He was lightheartedly excited to see his beautiful bride Jordan.  The girls started off getting ready at the Minneapolis hotel a couple of miles from their wedding venue the Aria in Minneapolis. 

We went off before the wedding to shoot on the main street to capture fun times with their friends and family!  Once photos were done we headed back to Aria to tie the knot!  Jordan's dad passed away and couldn't be their to celebrate their day. So everyone made sure dad had a chair dedicated to him so he could be a part of such an important part of the day too. 

Their reception details were killer and so elegant, which made it a joy to shoot all the flowers and details in this reception space. 
The party was strong in these two because once they got married the party started and everyone was ready TO PARTY HARD! Spoiler alert: Lots of dancing under the neon sign! 
I wish Andy and Jordan all the happiness! Enjoy their wedding!

All joy and ready to party is the best way to describe this wedding group; I enjoyed shooting this wedding with Gina Zeidler Photography.