Skating Engagement Session at River Oak

Earlier this winter, we met with Lauren and Alex to photograph their skating engagement session at River Oak near Ottawa. Lauren considered getting married in winter, but opted July instead, and because they both loved skating, it was the perfect option for them.

When I first met Lauren, we connected instantaneously on both of our love for the tiny white house that made her choose the Cumberland Historic Museum in Ottawa as a wedding venue for her wedding coming up this summer.  You see, I already had the chance to photograph Courtney and Matt in the best light in front of the tiny white house, and Lauren was smitten! Unfortunately, Michael and I were already booked on Lauren’s wedding day in July, and Lauren chose our associate lead photographer Rosie from our team to photograph her wedding.

Since Rosie will be photographing Lauren and Alex’s wedding, she accompanied me to photograph their skating engagement session at River Oak. It was a great opportunity for them to connect and get to know each other before the wedding, but also for Lauren and Alex to get to know Rosie’s shooting style. Although an engagement session is not included in all of Rosie’s associates collections, we strongly encourage our couples to choose to have one anyways, because we find it enhance the overall wedding photography experience for our couples.

Most couples choose to do their engagement session from May to October due to the nicer weather, but we still photograph a few engagement and proposal sessions in winter. The temperature and weather is often unpredictable in winter (particularly this past winter) and you never know what you will get. We were really lucky for Lauren and Alex’s skating engagement session at River Oak, because it was really sunny and not quite as frigid, unlike the few weeks preceding. Although it was milder, it was still double digits below zero and we used the skate changing cabin and the outdoor fire to warmup. We ended the session in the cabin chatting over some hot chocolate.

Photos taken by Charlie and Rosie for The Barnett Company