Blog— 2022 —
Roger Williams Park Engagement Photos
Gianna & Nick
Roger Williams Park, Providence, Rhode Island
October 29th, 2022
It never fails that every fall there's always one weekend toward the end of October that is absolutely bonkers for me in terms of trying to sneak in as many engagement photo sessions as possible before the fall foliage disappears. I usually love this weekend as it's hectic, jam-packed and leads to a ton of awesome sessions but the key to making this work is starting off on the right foot.
That's why I was so excited that Gianna and Nick were my first of five portraits sessions at Roger Williams Park over a period of 31 hours on Halloween weekend this year. Even though I had only just met and booked them a week prior, there's something about the energy these two had that told me right away they were my type of couple and, man, I knew within minutes I was right on the money.
If my goal was to start the weekend off on the right foot, I couldn't have picked a better way to do so than with these two and, by the time their session was over, I knew their fall 2023 wedding will be one of my favorite to shoot next year for sure.
My time with Gianna and Nick started easy enough as we met at 10:30 a.m. at the park's carousel parking lot (my preferred meeting spot for Roger Williams Park) and as I took a look around the area, I immediately noticed everywhere in our vicinity looked great. Talk about a solid start.
Typically, what I like to do when I'm shooting an engagement session is get a feel for a bride and groom by choosing a location I don't care about and walking them through some simple poses but, for Gianna and Nick, it turns out choosing a random spot in the shade above the carousel parking lot was actually a fantastic call as the lighting was perfect and led to some of my favorite shots of the entire session before we even got into a rhythm.
I love Roger Williams Park because there are so many places to go and you can truly get lost spending an entire weekend in the park without revisiting a spot more than once but there are drawbacks. For one, there are certain spots in the park that look best at certain times of day.
That's why the one and only disappointing aspect to Gianna and Nick's session was that the Japanese Gardens were far too bright to spend a lot of time in. To their credit, though, Gianna and Nick were great sports and totally flexible in what we did so we took a few test shots on one of the Japanese Garden's famous bridges, called an audible and ended up at the Iron Footbridge instead.
Which was a fantastic call as the trees behind these two looked incredible.
One of the reasons I love when my clients are flexible and willing to go with the flow is, often times during an engagement session I'll have one thing in mind and switch it up entirely. Which is how I ended up having Gianna and Nick posing on a random bench on our way back to our cars from the Iron Footbridge.
I just loved the nice shade in this area and it really brought to life their comfortability with one another and, I think, their fun personalities.
What was great about working with Gianna and Nick is, as their session went along, they became more and more comfortable in front of the camera. That's why we were able to capture my favorite shots of them when we made our way to the Temple to Music.
First, we stopped at a nice little tree ...
But, more importantly, we were able to let the groom be himself in the best way possible as the Temple to Music was the perfect spot for him to don his New York Jets jersey and take a bunch of silly photos that made Gianna roll her eyes in the best way possible and provided plenty of laughs along the way.
I truly think that silly little break in the seriousness of their engagement session was exactly what Gianna and Nick needed to feel like their best selves and we closed out our time together with shots by the iconic Temple to Music that, in my opinion, were the best ones taken all day and perfect for their future save the dates.
I didn't have a ton of time to reflect on Gianna and Nick's engagement session as I rolled right from them into a surprise proposal but, when I got home that night, their photos really brought a smile to my face.
I love when couples can do something as meaningful as an engagement session but still be super silly at the same time and these two walked that line perfectly.
It might be a full year until they walk down the aisle and say "I do" but I know if their November 2023 wedding is anywhere near as fun as this engagement session was, it's going to be one of my highlights for next year for sure.
So thanks Gianna and Nick for such a great time and I can't wait to see you in 2023 so we can do it all over again. :)
-Paul J. Spetrini
