Lake Crescent Engagement Session

As a Lake Crescent Engagement photographer, I’m continually amazed at how every visit to Lake Crescent is different. As each week passes throughout the year, the seasons slowly change and show different aspects of this spectacular location.

Laura and Bobby’s Lake Crescent Engagement session took place in early fall, when the leaves were just beginning to show a shift in colors but there was still plenty of green on all the trees! I love how fall in the PNW is a slow and subtle shift from green into gold into yellow, always against the deep emerald background of the evergreens. It’s a different kind of fall than the brilliant reds and oranges of the east coast, but I love it possibly even more!

Planning for your Lake Crescent Engagement

Lake Crescent is a stunning backdrop for any engagement session, and especially a glamorous, formal session like Bobby and Laura’s! You can dress down in layers that are comfy and casual, or you can really dress up, like Laura in her deep aubergine BHLDN gown! Either way, I recommend getting a great HMUA (hair-and-makeup-artist) to make sure you look your best. An awesome HMUA will tailor their work to your style, so don’t worry about looking too “made up.” You can go for an au-naturale, sun-kissed skin and barely-there mascara look, or a dramatic dark lip color and dramatic smokey eyes!

What about the weather?

The weather plays a large part in your engagement session, and it’s largely out of our control! As with every session, I make every effort to plan around weather, but here in the PNW there are no guarantees. My strategy is to watch the forecast during the upcoming week and try to time your session for the least-rainy part of the day, but even then there still may be some drizzle! My experience with PNW rain is that it’s usually intermittent, with breaks and periods of lighter sprinkling in between heavier showers. The fact is, if you canceled plans because of rain, nothing would ever happen around here! So in my opinion, it’s better to go ahead and hope for the best, and sometimes you get wet.

Lake Crescent Engagement Locations

There are a handful of locations around Lake Crescent that I really love, and some that I’m excited to explore soon! My go-to fave spots are Bovee’s Meadow, the Moments in Time Trail, the Storm King Ranger Station and Boat Launch, Fairholm Campground and Boat Launch, East Beach, and the Spruce Railroad Trail. Bovee’s Meadow is my favorite for so many reasons—amazing views of the sunset and the eastern side of the lake, shallow clear water that is a couple degrees warmer than other areas, and those stunning views of the Olympics to the south. Bovee’s is also the best swimming spot on the lake, in my humble opinion!

The Moments in Time Trail starts at Lake Crescent Lodge and meanders through the woods to Rosemary Cottage at NatureBridge and then on to the Storm King Ranger Station area. It’s a great option for those mossy, ferny woodsy shots with peek-a-boo views of the lake through the trees. The Storm King Ranger Station speaks for itself — that iconic PNW cabin in front of the dense forest, with a grassy meadow in front. From this area you can also get views towards the west end of the lake and Storm King mountain itself. The Boat Launch is a great spot for the classic Lake Crescent dock shots!

Fairholm Campground and Boat Launch has some of the most stunning views of Lake Crescent, and it’s a little less well-known. The Spruce Railroad Trail is a bit of a commitment as a hike, but if you’re up for it, the trail offers dozens of locations along the north shore of Lake Crescent.