Take a walking food tour for your engagement shoot

Thanks to social media, we've been inundated with photos of what engagement photos should look like: nose-nuzzling, influencer-grade American Eagle ads. For camera shy folks like me and my partner Anthony, the mere thought of immaculately posed pics made us feel stiff and awkward.

We knew we wanted our engagement shoot to capture our goofy and adventurous sides, but sun-dappled, wind-in-hair photos on a beach just weren't it. When we thought of our favorite memories together, they involved food and exploring new places.

So, we booked a weekend getaway to a city we'd never been to before, St. Augustine, and asked Alex of Alex and Cammy Photography to spend the afternoon with us capturing our adventure on a self-guided walking food tour engagement shoot.

SPOILER: There are a few photos I'll share later where I was like “D'oh! What the hell was I thinking here?” But I had a good time laughing at myself and I hope you will too.

Anthony and I were both feeling a bit self-conscious when we arrived at the shoot. We had made the mistake of spending the morning in the Florida sun which resulted in dramatic tan lines and sunburns that no amount of photo-editing could save. But honestly, Alex made us feel so comfortable and we had so much fun drinking, eating, and traipsing around historic St. Augustine that we stopped caring about what we looked like on camera.

By the end of the shoot, there were pizza stains on my dress, Anthony had cannoli cream in his beard, and none of it mattered because we were having a blast.

Alex even managed to pose us, yes, POSE US once he could see we had loosened up.

Anthony and I were totally nervous that our food tour engagement shoot idea would be a bust. How attractive can stuffing your face with cannoli really be? But when we got our photos back, our hearts soared. We didn't look awkward. We looked like a couple have fun, and that made us look fucking awesome! Even in the ever so dreaded posed pics.

Each photo was bursting with the energy we wanted to convey to the world: a fun, playful, and adventurous team ready to take on the next chapter of our lives together.

Oh, and here are the silly photos as promised.

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So if you're on the fence about your nontraditional engagement shoot, this is your sign to JUST DO IT! Stop worrying about what your Save The Dates will look like on Grandma's fridge and focus on a shoot that reflects who you are as a couple.

Looking for a photographer who's just as stoked about nontraditional engagement shoots as you are? Find them in our curated Offbeat Bride Vendor Guide.