Alexandra and Ryan Engagement Session Fort De Soto St. Petersburg FL
Alexandra and Ryan were a lot of fun to shoot with on their engagement session. We showed up on a pretty hot day to the Fort De Soto Park, but it didn’t stop us from shooting.
These two are fun and funny, yet a still romantic and beautiful couple. I told her that I would submit these photos to Vogue. All in all, I’d give a 10/10 on this session. They really worked it and made it such a beautiful and amazing engagement session!!
HOW THEY MET
Ryan and Alexandra met at a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game on a “cold” Florida night. After the game, Alexandra saw that he and his friends were standing around an outdoor heating post.
She had made a snide comment to her friends about how they were hogging the entire heater, he overheard me, and the rest is history. They bonded over time and have strengthened their love for each other over the years.
THE PROPOSAL
Having always been busy with work, Ryan & Alexandra never really got to go on a “real” vacation. They started talking about it and decided that if they were going to plan a vacation, we were going to “go big or go home”. They planned an epic trip to Singapore & Bali at the beginning of March. It took 4 different planes and 28 hours in the air, but they had finally made it to the other side of the world for the first time.
While in Bali, the two of them snorkeled in the Indian Ocean over shipwrecks, visited an elephant sanctuary, and hiked through a monkey forest. They then jumped over to Singapore for a few days to experience the famous sites, amazing culture, and phenomenal food. Alexandra’s favorite flower being an orchid, a definite on the bucket list included a stop at the National Orchid Garden of Singapore.
As they were immersed in the beautiful scenery, Ryan proposed to me in front of thousands of Alexandra’s favorite flowers. Needless to say, it was a trip of a lifetime for them, and they will both cherish it for the rest of their lives.
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION
Fort De Soto Park in St. Petersburg is quite the location. The largest park within the Pinellas County Park System, Fort De Soto Park consists of 1,136 acres made up of five interconnected islands (keys). These keys are home to beach plants, mangroves, wetlands, palm hammocks, hardwoods, and scores of native plants. Each of these species plays a vital role in the preservation and protection of the natural environment. It also houses an old battery ruins on the beach which gives this location even more of a historical vibe.
THE ENGAGEMENT SESSION
When we showed up to the Fort, it was extremely hot. We had “Godzilla” The largest Saharan Dust Flume in history on the day of this engagement session. It gave us a beautiful overcast as well as a stunning sunset to work with as well. During the engagement session, we explored the different ruins of the Fort.
We started out at the base of the Fort where we captured some unique images in the old abandoned rooms from where they used to produce the electricity and heat for the Fort. Thereafter we moved on to the different stations where they had different cannons set up. As we moved along the different locations for the engagement session, I looked for unique opportunities for Alexandra and Ryan to be able to have some fun and intimate moments.
The beach was next, we walked out to a mesmerizing and extremely unique beachscape with bits of the old battery sticking up out of the water for what I can probably say Is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been for an engagement session yet.
