“Tayler took our 1 year wedding anniversary pictures for us and they were absolutely STUNNING!!! She was absolutely wonderful throughout the shoot, giving us posing suggestions and being the sweetest. She also had amazing location suggestions for us based on the aesthetic of pictures we were going for and completely understood the vibe we were looking for in the photos! We got back our entire gallery super soon and loved all the pictures! I could not recommend Taylor enough, she is AMAZING!!” -Shubhi and Abhi

This day of capturing cinematic engagement photos with Shubhi and Abhi was my literal love language. Not just because Shubhi and Abhi are such sweet, sweet humans (though, YES, obviously that too), but because this was the first time a couple came to me and said: “You. Us. Something cinematic?

Like, sorry– are you kidding me?! My heart practically sprinted to my camera bag. It’s not every day that a couple inquires about wanting cinematic engagement photos. But it is every day that I wish they would.

(Oh, and you thought that was the twist? PLEASE.)

Not only did they want these photos to celebrate their anniversary, they also wanted to announce something pretty major: ‘Surprise! We’re already married! And, yes, we’ve been glowing ever since.’

This cinematic engagement photos session was a celebration. A reveal. A love letter to their own real-life, slow-burn, stare-across-the-room kind of story. And it had to feel like one. Anything less? An actual offense to the genre.

So here it is — a visual ode to a very big kind of love… and maybe your sign to dream up a cinematic-feeling session of your own. (Emphasis on the feeling.)

The Kind of Love Story That Would Make Nora Ephron Reach for a Tissue

Before we go into how we give an engagement gallery all the cinematic feels, we’ve got to rewind for a sec and make space for the backstory because Shubhi and Abhi? They’ve got an origin story that would make even the most hardened rom-com hater do the double-hand-over-heart swoon.

Let me set the scene.

Their meet cute was digital (as all good modern meet-cutes are), and in Shubhi’s exact words: “Abhi and I knew very early on that life was sweeter with each other in it, and that if we could, we wanted to keep it that way forever.” (Like, hello?! Are we entirely sure Nora Ephron didn’t ghostwrite their relationship?) 

Cut to a random Wednesday night. Instead of debating the next Netflix binge, these two looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s get married.’ Not ‘let’s plan a wedding.’ No ‘but what about the guest list?’ Just: Let’s do this.

They secured a marriage license like romance movies everywhere depended on it, grabbed their little brothers, and said ‘I do’ lakeside in Minnesota on an otherwise ordinary Saturday. The world kept spinning and they kept the moment just for themselves.

They told their families, of course. But their friends? They saved that for these photos—these absolutely cinematic anniversary-meets-engagement-meets-rom-com-reveal photos.

I mean it when I say: their love story had film credits written all over it.

Step 1: Start with a killer cinematic engagement photos location.

Let’s start with the most obvious step in crafting a gallery that looks like a still from your favorite film: the setting.

The rom-com gods gave us the dreamiest of dreamy settings in the Minnesota Capitol Building in Saint Paul. Soaring ceilings? Columns for days? Like, if-we-get-the-angles-right-this-could-be-a-Roman-Holiday-in-Minnesota? I was– in all caps— IN.

Sweeping wide steps. Railings to lean into mid-laugh. Hallways built for those catching-up-to-kiss-you shots. Warm-toned marble EVERYTHING that makes each frame feel like it’s been pulled straight from a period film reel. It called for vintage feels, and this nostalgia-lover-with-a-camera had to answer (obviously). 

I leaned aaaalll the way in: Framing Shubhi and Abhi with the architecture. Pulling back for wide, dramatic stills. Getting them moving and playing for that I-can-feel-them-running-in-this-photo type of vibe. We’re talking subtle grain, soft tones, and wide shots that made the whole thing feel like a 1950s film still. 

You won’t find a lot of stiff cinematic engagement photos in this gallery because Shubhi and Abhi’s love has motion. It’s playful. It’s breathless. It’s alive with pinch-me-quick-but-don’t-you-dare-stop-kissing-me energy. 

Honestly, you don’t need a famous building to get this vibe. You don’t even need a building, full stop. (Seriously, a backyard engagement session can carry just as much cinematic magic). 

But if you do want to go the whole building route, I’d suggest picking somewhere with architecture to play off, shadows to slip through, and just enough space to forget about the camera and remember why you started loving each other in the first place.

Step 2: Dial up the drama for your cinematic engagement photos

There are a dozen tiny ingredients that go into crafting a cinematic-feeling gallery—lighting, framing, location—but if you ask me, the real secret sauce is movement.

From the first shutter click, Shubhi and Abhi were moving in that hands-everywhere, heads-thrown-back, I-can’t-believe-I-get-to-love-you kind of way. They wanted the traditional cozy couples shots, and we GOT them, but… their version. 

Abhi’s fingers hooked in her belt loops. Shubhi laughing with her whole chest, breathless with his mouth close to her neck. The kind of real, unfiltered affection I chase every time I pick up my camera.

As your cinematic engagement photographer, I’m not going to tell you to ‘look more in love’. I’m not here to choreograph how you hold the person who feels like home. I’m here to catch it from behind a column while you reach for your forever human mid-laugh because it’s comes so darn naturally to you. 

Yes, I will pull from the my internal catalog of movie magic concepts that live in my brain and frame you from your partner’s POV… but the spark? That comes from you.

I might shoot wide. I might get low. I might wedge myself behind a staircase or duck behind a marble pillar just to get that moment when you forget the camera exists and start swinging on a vintage lamp post like a modern-day Gene Kelly. 

But cinematic engagement photos aren’t achieved by reenacting something you saw in a movie once or me doing anything special behind the camera.

They happen when you live it. When you feel it. 

And Shubhi and Abhi understood the assignment to their core. Even when they slipped into fancier outfits, they weren’t waiting for a cue. They weren’t performing romance—they were it. And I was just lucky enough to be there with a camera in hand.

I’m telling you, I was absolutely gagged when I was editing these cinematic engagement photos. Seriously, Abhi spinning Shubhi by the railing, her arms wide and hair wild… there are some things you simply cannot fake, and a love as crazy cute as this one is one of them.

So my two cents? Move. Laugh. Let your hands wander. I’ll be over here— probably half-hidden behind a column and holding my breath within an inch of my life— chasing the light and turning stairwells into silver screens.

Because when it’s that good? All I have to do is keep up.

Step 3: Leave room for improv.

Let’s talk weather. 

On the day of their session, Minnesota decided to pull a fast one and dump eight inches of snow on us. In true Midwest fashion, of course. 

So what do you do when a February snowstorm crashes your love-soaked, cinematic-feeling photo session?

You don’t cancel. You bundle up. You play in it like little kids on a snow day. Snowflakes in their hair. Scarves and hands flying. Cheeks flushed from laughing so darn much. Pure serotonin.

These are honestly some of my favorite photos of the gallery because you can physically see the love. You can feel it. And more importantly, so could they.

It’s so cute to see which photos clients ‘heart’ inside their final gallery, and Shubhi went full heart-eyes on these. Maybe it’s because it’s her and Abhi doing what they do best: embracing the spontaneity of a moment in true ‘screw it, let’s do it’ style. Or maybe it’s because it honors the heart of their story: “I’m feeling it. You’re feeling it. What do you say we just go for it?” 

You can plan your outfits and pick the most picture-perfect setting, but it’s the unplanned moments that give your gallery that make it feel like a movie.

So, if it snows on your shoot day? Dance in it. Let your mascara run. Let your fingers freeze a little. That’s where the good stuff is.

So, what’s the secret to getting photos that feel straight from the movies?

Easy. You show up like the stars you already are. Main characters in your own rom-com. I’ll be behind the camera, capturing your love moment for moment, kiss for kiss, grin for grin.

This session wasn’t just an anniversary shoot. It certainly wasn’t just an announcement. It was a celebration of choosing each other— on every ordinary Wednesday, every EXTRA-ordinary snowy Saturday, and every love-drenched moment in between.

And let me tell you, when Abhi dropped Shubhi off at the door, parked blocks away in the blizzard, and walked in carrying her bag? Yeah, that’s the kind of movie-level romance I live to capture.

They already had the magic. I just got to press the shutter on it.

And the way it came together? One for the ages.