How to Choose the Right Engagement Session Location | Fayth + Mike at Temple Quarry Trail

The original plan was never Temple Quarry Trail.

Fayth had envisioned taking their engagement photos on her parents' property, surrounded by the spring greenery she loved. But after traveling from Southern California, there wasn't enough time to visit the property beforehand, and neither of us wanted to leave something that important to chance. Instead, we did what so much of wedding planning requires. We trusted the process, adjusted the plan, and found something even better.

That spirit of trust became the thread that quietly wove its way through the entire evening.

As a wedding photographer, one of the questions I'm asked most often is, "Where should we take our engagement photos?" Couples sometimes worry they need to have the perfect location picked out before they ever reach out. The truth is, choosing the right location is something we do together.

Our conversation usually begins with a few simple questions. Do you picture yourselves indoors or outdoors? Are you drawn to mountain landscapes, city streets, elegant gardens, open fields, or somewhere with personal meaning? What colors naturally speak to you? What do the two of you enjoy doing together?

Those answers tell me far more than a location name ever could.

From there, I curate a selection of places that fit your vision and share example photographs from each one. Together, we narrow the options until we find a location that not only photographs beautifully but also feels authentic to your relationship. By the time we arrive for your session, you aren't wondering if you chose the right place. You know we're exactly where we're meant to be.

For Fayth and Mike, that place became Temple Quarry Trail.

Tucked into the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, Temple Quarry Trail is one of my favorite engagement session locations in Utah because it offers so much variety within a relatively short walk. Open fields framed by the Wasatch Mountains, quiet pockets of lush greenery, a peaceful riverbed, and wide mountain views all exist within the same trail. It provides the feeling of being deep in the mountains without requiring a long drive through winding canyon roads.

One of the things I appreciate most is its accessibility. The trail is wheelchair accessible, making it a beautiful option for couples of many different abilities. The parking lot can fill quickly on busy evenings, which sometimes means parking across the street and carefully crossing the canyon road. Once you're on the trail, though, the pace immediately begins to slow. That's my favorite part of every engagement session.

Unlike a wedding day, where timelines naturally keep us moving, engagement sessions give us permission to slow down. We walk. We talk. We laugh. We learn about one another. Those conversations are just as important as the photographs because they create the trust that allows genuine moments to unfold naturally.

Fayth arrived exactly as herself, full of life and excited for every moment of the evening. She wore white jeans, an off the shoulder sweater, and a pair of sparkly silver Ferragamo heels that she couldn't stop smiling about. Mike complemented her perfectly in dark jeans, a brown windowpane shirt, and a black quarter zip sweater. Their outfits felt timeless, relaxed, and perfectly at home against the fresh greens of late April.

While Fayth was immediately comfortable in front of the camera, Mike needed a little time.

Somewhere along the trail, he exhaled.

It wasn't a dramatic moment. There wasn't a pose that suddenly made everything click. He simply stopped thinking about the camera and started paying attention to Fayth. Instead of wondering where to put his hands or whether he was doing things "right," he leaned into the person standing beside him. That's always the moment I'm waiting for.

Rather than asking couples to look at the camera every few seconds, I spend much of an engagement session watching how they naturally fit together. The way one person instinctively reaches for the other's hand. The quiet smiles that happen between conversations. The laughter that can't be posed because it belongs only to them. Those are the photographs that continue to mean something years from now.

Throughout the evening, I alternated between my digital cameras and a handful of carefully chosen frames on film. Film naturally slows my pace even further. Every frame is intentional, encouraging me to pay even closer attention to the small moments unfolding in front of me. I don't reserve it for any one part of the session. I reach for it whenever a scene feels especially timeless.

If there's one place at Temple Quarry Trail I always hope to photograph, it's the riverbed.

The oversized granite boulders create a quiet place to pause, and couples naturally settle into one another there. When I asked Fayth and Mike to sit together, they melted into each other. It wasn't something I had to direct or manufacture. It was simply the way they were most comfortable together.

The resulting portrait remains one of my favorites from the entire evening.

Looking back at this session now, I'm reminded that some of the best engagement sessions begin with an unexpected change of plans. The location may not have been where Fayth first imagined taking these photographs, but it gave us exactly what we needed: space to slow down, trust the process, and create images that feel honest to who they are.

Every engagement session asks couples to do something that feels a little unfamiliar. Stand in front of a camera. Hold each other while someone watches. Trust someone they've only recently met.

Marriage asks us to do that, too. It asks us to trust, communicate, and step into moments that feel uncertain knowing we're not doing them alone.

When I look at Fayth and Mike's engagement photographs, I don't just see a beautiful spring evening at Temple Quarry Trail. I see two people learning to lean into one another with confidence. My hope is that years from now these photographs remind them not only of the anticipation leading up to their wedding day, but also of the quiet truth that so many of life's most meaningful moments begin with trusting each other enough to take the next step together.