Washington Oaks Engagement Photos: Rain, Wind & a Very Florida Evening

Washington Oaks is one of those places that gives you a little bit of everything for engagement photos.

Huge oak trees. Gardens. Flowers. Greenery everywhere. And then you can head across to the beach and somehow end up with photos that look like they came from a completely different session.

Which was exactly the plan for this engagement session.

The part that was not in the plan?

Rain.

Because Florida.

Why We Love Washington Oaks for Engagement Photos

Washington Oaks is easily one of our clients' favorite engagement session locations, and I completely get why.

The gardens are HUGE. There are giant oak trees, winding paths, flowers, tropical greenery, and all these little areas that look completely different from each other.

You can get a ton of variety without spending half your session driving between locations.

And then there's the beach.

So if you can't decide between romantic garden engagement photos and something a little more beachy, you don't really have to.

We started their session in the gardens, wandering around and taking advantage of as much of Washington Oaks as we could.

Everything was going exactly as planned.

Which, apparently, was unacceptable to Florida.

And Then It Started Raining

Right in the middle of their engagement session, it started raining.

And here's the best part:

IT WASN'T EVEN ON THE RADAR.

Just a random Florida rain cloud that apparently had somewhere very specific to be.

Directly above us.

So we spent about 20 minutes hiding underneath a tree waiting for it to pass.

Very glamorous photographer things.

Eventually it moved along, everything was a little soggier and approximately 400% more humid, and we got right back to it.

And honestly?

We were still getting freaking gorgeous photos.

That's something I think couples worry about way more than they need to when they're planning engagement photos in Florida.

Weather happens.

Sometimes we wait it out. Sometimes we change the plan. Sometimes we just keep going.

Your session doesn't automatically fall apart because the weather didn't read the itinerary.

The rain did put us behind schedule, though.

And since we were planning to do both the gardens and the beach, those missing 20 minutes had to come from somewhere.

Thankfully, the beach wasn't their biggest priority.

The gardens were.

Knowing that ahead of time made the decision really easy: we weren't going to rush through the part they cared about most just so we could check "beach" off a list.

So we kept exploring.

And THIS is exactly why I love the garden side of Washington Oaks so much.

We can go from giant oak trees to roses to tropical greenery to little tucked-away garden areas without ever making the session feel like we're taking the same photo over and over again.

And eventually, it was time to say goodbye to the gardens and see what we could manage at the beach with the time we had left.

Surely we'd already gotten the weather drama out of the way.

Right?

RIGHT?

We Finally Made It to the Beach

And the wind was absolutely ridiculous.

Because apparently the surprise rainstorm wasn't enough.

We didn't have a ton of beach time left, and the wind definitely wasn't interested in cooperating with us.

But again...

We worked with what we had.

And honestly, when you're photographing on a Florida beach, sometimes you just have to let the wind do what it's going to do.

Hair is going to move.

Clothes are going to move.

Sea oats are going to be flying around.

Perfectly controlled isn't really the goal anyway.

Between the surprise rain, hiding underneath a tree for 20 minutes, losing part of our beach time, and then getting absolutely blasted by wind once we finally made it over there...

These two still ended up with 102 images in their final gallery.

102

So no.

A little Florida weather does not automatically ruin your engagement photos.

Sometimes it just becomes part of the story.

And This Was Only the Beginning

Here's the other part of their story that makes me ridiculously excited.

When these two originally booked us, they booked their engagement session.

Of course, we asked about the wedding too.

That's when they told us it was going to be in West Virginia.

Which basically turned into:

WELL. We travel.

😂

They didn't actually have to find one photographer for their engagement photos in Florida and then start all over with someone completely different for their wedding.

So now they get us for both.

And I LOVE that for them.

By the time we show up in West Virginia for their wedding in 2027, we've already done this once.

They know what being photographed by us feels like.

We know how they interact together.

We know what makes them laugh.

And instead of meeting their wedding photographer for the first time during one of the biggest days of their lives, we're already going to have this weird rainy, windy Washington Oaks adventure behind us.

Now we just have to wait for 2027.

Which feels incredibly rude because I'm already freaking excited.

Planning Your Own Washington Oaks Engagement Session?

If you want engagement photos with giant oak trees, wild gardens, flowers and the option to finish at the beach, Washington Oaks Gardens State Park is one of our favorite places to do it.

And if Florida decides to create its own weather forecast halfway through?

We'll figure it out.

If your engagement session is here but your wedding is somewhere completely different?

Well...

We travel.