Today we are sharing an engagement session that we just shot here in Richmond at Belle Isle. It was Natalie and David’s engagement session. And it was a sunrise session. A Sunrise Belle Isle Engagement.

Richmond Sunrise Session

This was our first time doing a sunrise session on the James River at Belle Isle. And now we want to do all of our sessions there at sunrise.

I think sunrise sessions are severely overlooked. I understand the difficulties if you’re not a morning person can be tough to get yourself photo ready early in the morning, especially if you are trying to get your hair and make done for your session. But sometimes you can just turn out to be so so worth it. 

I think you can especially be a good idea in the fall. Because the later you wait you really don’t have to start that early. I think we started the session around 7 AM which really isn’t that bad.

We had to do a sunrise session because they’re just literally were no more fall dates. Natalie and David were coming in from out of town and really wanted to do their engagement session this fall and this was pretty much the only way we can make it happen.

They graciously allowed our little foster baby to come along. But if you saw on Instagram he slept the entire time thank God. But I’m so glad we were able to make it happen because it was beautiful. 

We had a great cloud coverage that day which made shooting anywhere really easy. But also Belle Isle has a wonderful tree line which gives you a bit of a break from the direct sun.

Planning a Belle Isle engagement shoot

The tricky thing about Belle Isle, if you’re planning on doing an engagement session there, is that it’s quite a hike to get over. You need to make sure you buffer in plenty of time to park and walk over the bridge. 

And then the way that we typically run these sessions (and what we did for Natalie and David) is shoot the first half of our session on Belle Isle. Then we walk back over the bridge so that they can change and spend the rest of our time in the Tredeger area. 

Tredegar is one of our favorite places to shoot in Richmond. It’s gorgeous and historic and has beautiful brick architecture. But also it’s nice when you spend your first half of Belle Isle to have some variety with a completely different shooting area.

They were up for anything this session. For example, they did a ton of different holding poses and most were their idea! They were totally fine with walking around the rocks at Belle Isle and getting super close to the water. Natalie kept telling me that they are outdoorsy and were up for anything and we just love that!

I hated that we had an engagement session that we had to get ready for out of town later that day because it meant that we couldn’t go to Nate’s bagels with them. So next time you guys are in town, Natalie and David, let’s go!

Enjoy a few of our favorites from this sunrise Belle Isle Engagement. Love you guys!  Congrats!!! 

Liked this session? See some of our other favorite Richmond shoots:

Pony Pasture + VMFA

Maymont + the Fan 

Maymont + Scoop ice cream shop