Arches National Park Engagement

Eden and Cade live in Iowa, are getting married in Colorado, and made a special trip to Utah for their Alt Session this past weekend, which is exactly the kind of dedication to photos we love to see! So Jesse and I wanted to make sure this Arches National Park engagement session was completely worth it.

We first stopped at Double Arch, which is probably my favorite formation in the park. However, the main draw to Arches is Delicate Arch. This is the most famous natural arch in the entire world. It’s on Utah’s license plate and their state quarter. The 2002 Winter Olympic torch relay even went through the arch (though I can’t image how, with steep drops all around the formation). So, of course, we had to include that in our shoot. The original plan was to wait for the sun to set and capture the stars along with the arch, but we realized early in the day that there were too many clouds to see the stars.

Luckily, the best photos usually aren’t what we’ve planned. Instead, we arrived at the end of the 1.5-mile uphill hike just in time for one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen. Between the vastness of the sky and the age of the landscape, it was an incredibly humbling experience. By the time the sun dipped below the horizon, all the other hikers had headed back to the parking lot and the four of us were left alone to watch as the light slowly faded.

Their willingness to follow us into a place they’ve never been had already convinced me that Eden and Cade would be fun to work with. But I really knew they were our kind of people when we ended the evening in a Moab dive bar with shots of Fireball!

Eden and Cade, we cannot wait for your wedding in May! Special thanks goes out to the salt bed beneath Arches for making these incredible formations and to the National Park Service for providing access for this crazy Arches National Park Engagement!