Congratulations! You’re engaged! After months of dropping hints, the Big Q has been popped on bended knee, and after you picked your jaw up off the floor, you said, “Yes!!”

Now comes the fun part: Wedding Planning! Okay, don’t panic! It’s not that hard! Here are the highlights:

Step 1: Pick the perfect date!

Step 2: Pick a venue!

Step 3: Pick an amazing photographer (aka ME!)

Step 4: Pick exactly the right location for your engagement session!

Step 5: Have your dream engagement session with your dream photographer (again, aka ME!)

Step 6: All the rest of your wedding plans fall into place, you get married, and live happily every after!

Sure, there’s some other stuff in there too, but that’s the gist! Now that you have an extremely specific and detailed game plan for your wedding planning, let’s skip ahead to Step 4:

The Goldilocks Location for your Engagement Session!

Important things to think about: Do you want a rustic, outdoor setting, or an urban, architectural setting? Do you want a big scenic overlook, or a water feature of some kind? What time of year do you want your session? (HINT: I hate photoshopping out mosquito bites, so I vote not July or August!)

Do you like grassy fields? Creeks and waterfalls? (Reference the mosquito bite note above, please!) Cliffs? Carefully groomed flower beds? Sunrise and/or sunset views, for the perfect silhouette photo?

How do you feel about architectural features like bridges? Man-made water features? Castle-like towers? Italian-themed stonework? Archways?

Think about the most beautiful and stunning pictures you’ve ever seen…picture them in your mind. Imagine you and your fiancé in them, looking fabulous…and then reel it back a notch or two! Let’s face it, this is Dallas, Texas, not Antelope Canyon or Angel Falls! However, there are still lots of gorgeous places to take engagement pictures here in DFW, and I want to tell you about some of my favorite ones!

Okay, truth be told, it was really hard to whittle down my favorite ones, so I had to divide this blog into 2 parts, but who’s complaining? More beautiful places for you to choose from! And here we go!

1. Adriatica Village — McKinney, Texas

Woo, starting off with a beaut! This is one of my favorite places to shoot in the metroplex, and it should be easy to see why! It has European-style architecture, cobblestone streets, the beautiful Bella Donna Chapel, and countless little nooks and crannies to take amazing pictures! Plus, there are some really tasty restaurants here to have a date night after your session – after all, you’re already dressed up and looking fierce!

The lighting is always perfect here; it’s really a photographer’s dream come true! You know, as long as your dream is to capture perfect images in a tiny village in Croatia. Otherwise, it’s whatevs. It’s okay, I guess, if you’re into that sort of thing. (Gotta play it cool, guys, or it’ll figure out how much I’m into shooting pictures here! Do you think it likes me too? Check “yes” or “no”!)

2. Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center — Denton, Texas

This fabulous nature preserve is a hidden gem in Denton off of Highway 380. I just discovered it for the first time last month, and I already have 2 more sessions booked here once I’m off maternity leave! There are grassy fields, dirt paths, part of the Trinity River, and a “quarry trail” that sounds really intriguing! And, of course, fantastic lighting everywhere we went!

Because I was 34 weeks pregnant with the twins at my last session here, our exploring was minimal, and we still got so many amazing pictures! I can’t wait to go back and see just how many beautiful places there are for pictures hiding in here!

3. Coppell Nature Park — Coppell, Texas

Coppell Nature Park is an adorable natural wildlife and bird habitat, tucked in a small corner of Coppell near 121 and 635! Grassy fields and prairies (are you sensing a theme? I’m a sucker for a grassy field with great lighting!), 5 miles of trails, wooden paths and bridges, a small pond, and adorable creeks! It would be just right for an adorable picnic-themed engagement shoot!

4. Klyde Warren Park — Dallas, Texas

I’m not going to lie, when I first started looking at this location for an engagement session earlier this year, I was a little skeptical. A park in downtown Dallas? Ummmmm….

But then I looked at some pictures, and ooh – color me intrigued! And then we got down there, and oh my geez, so great! Archways galore, really neat architectural details, food trucks (for dinner after, and for some neat backgrounds!), and some beautiful trees! It’s such a cool, funky park that’s so unique to Dallas, and is a super neat place for an photo session!

I think I need to wrap up Part 1 of this blog before it gets so long, Harry Potter would need a fourth scroll of parchment to document it all! There you have it, folks – the first 4 places I’d recommend for an engagement (or family or maternity or senior) session in the DFW metroplex!

Coming soon: the next 4!

P.S: (So that no location’s feelings get hurt, these aren’t in order of preference – all locations are created (mostly) equal!)