Perhaps you just booked your wedding photographer and your wedding package includes an engagement session. That’s awesome! The stress that can come with finding a wedding photographer that you vibe with and want at your wedding had lifted off your shoulders! The sun is shining and there are smiles all around from you and your partner.

Suddenly, you look to your left and a dark cloud comes floating towards you. Booms of thunder shake you to your core and blinding lightning comes crashing down you! Oh God! How could you ever have forgotten? You NOW have to plan your engagement session!

Well hopefully our dramatics are exactly that… DRAMATIC! But seriously, we get that starting to plan your engagement session can be a really daunting task. For many, their engagement pictures are used to formally announce their engagement or included in Save the Dates and invitations (for many, these are the first impressions of your wedding!). That’s a whole lotta weight to put on your pictures and we encourage you to shift your frame of thought!

Instead of approaching your engagement session as your opportunity for pictures to announce your wedding, try to shift the priority to be that of a celebration! If you’re soon-to-be hubby came home from work and told you that he got a super awesome promotion, what would you do to celebrate? If your partner tells you that they went on American Idol and they’re GOING TO HOLLYWOOD, where would you go to celebrate their win? Use that frame of thought around your engagement session because when you do, you create images that feel authentically YOU!

So are you looking for some inspiration for a fun, unique engagement session? Look no further! Today, we’ll be walking you through one of the BEST engagement sessions we have ever shot! Come along as we go back in time to revisit Dane and Cam’s rainy day arcade engagement session!

Planning an Indoor Engagement Session: Arcades Are Where It’s At

When Dane and Cam approached us for their engagement session, they were fairly adamant about giving us full creative control. They said they were very drawn to the date night vibe idea but the particulars of that were free for us to choose as long as it was something adventurous and romantic!

We had heard about this vintage arcade/indoor mini golf in St. Paul called Can Can Wonderland. Complete with wacky sculptures, abstract wall art, and just an overall fun-filled vibe, we knew this would be the perfect little spot for a date night engagement session.

Now, most of our engaged couples strive to have their engagement photos done outdoors. There’s just something about the natural light that adds this amazing layer of romance to an engagement gallery. But as a personal challenge and as an adventure for everyone involved, Can Can Wonderland proved to be an amazing spot for an indoor engagement session.

And on the gloomy May afternoon we pulled into the quaint parking lot, we all were glad that we hadn’t planned on doing anything outdoors as it had planned to rain pretty much all day! We made a mental note that if we had some time, we’d grab a few shots outside so we could include some outdoor shots.

Can Can Wonderland: An Unforgettable Engagement Session

Walking into Can Can Wonderland’s vintage arcade, we were all blown away by the overall vibe. Amazing, colorful murals were painted on the brick walls and tons of vintage arcade games lined the building! Peeking into the mini golf area, elaborate sculptures of mystical animals and zany structures. In the best way possible, it looked like a rainbow threw up all over the mini golf course!

To start off this date night engagement session, we ordered some pizzas and drinks. While we waited for our pizza and drinks, we took to the arcade and played some pinball. We grabbed some super romantic shots of Dane and Cam playing at this pinball machine! The lights from the machine lit up their faces just right. From looking at the raw images on the camera, we knew our vision for this session was coming to life!

After sharing some delicious pizza (you betcha we got some shots of them feeding each other), we took back to exploring all of the cool arcade games Can Can Wonderland has to offer. From vintage Love Testers to arm wrestling with a dummy, they truly have all of those games you would see on a boardwalk in an old movie. We played some Skee-Ball and talked with Louie from the Love Shack about our futures. We headed around to take some pictures in front of some of the fun sculptures scattered around that arcade area. One of the staple pieces from Can Can Wonderland is their giant donut sculpture so we made sure to grab some adorable shots of these two lovebirds.

Arcade Engagement Session Turned Rainy Day Couples Shoot

Wrapping up at Can Can Wonderland, we walked outside to find a light drizzle soaking up the world around us. Recalling the note we made as we walked in, we asked Dane and Cam if we could take some pictures outside. Being the super dope people that they are, they agreed!

We keep these super awesome transparent umbrellas in our car that we have used for a few shoots so we grabbed those and set out for the next part of our adventure engagement session! Can Can Wonderland is located in an industrial block. There was an expansive set of exposed bricks to choose from. This paired super well with the dark, moody vibes the weather shown down on us.

Dane and Cam were do down for all of our shenanigans! We are so lucky to be able to find people like them who are so open to our creative expression and trusting us to deliver a magical engagement gallery.

As the rain began to pick up, Aaron had one final idea to set into action. We always keep some sparklers in our camera bag in case of creative emergencies. Aaron really wanted to get a shot of Dane and Cam in the rain with the sparklers. And boy did he ever! The picture you see down below was one of the most amazing moments we have ever captured! This photo even got featured by the Photobug Community as part of a monthly challenge! You can read all about this challenge and see more featured images from this challenge HERE!

This Is Your Sign To Hit Up The Arcade!

And with that, that’s a wrap on one of the most amazing engagement sessions we have ever shot! Energetically, we vibed so well with Dane and Cam and their trust in our creative vision truly added to their session! If you’re thinking about doing an arcade engagement session (or just an arcade couples shoot), take this as your sign that is 110% worth it! And maybe you’ll get blessed with a little rain so you can have rainy day couples shoot as well! A little rain never hurt and the end product (a stunning engagement gallery) is always worth it in the end!

If you’re on the hunt for an engagement photographer or wedding photographer, we gotchu! Head on over HERE to contact us and let’s get this party started! Let’s have an epic arcade engagement session or go on some other unforgettable adventure to craft that engagement photos that you deserve!

If you wanna check out Can Can Wonderland and have an awesome adventure of your own there, you can visit their website HERE!

Looking for some more engagement session inspiration? Check out this memory map engagement session that we shot in Minneapolis! The results are just as epic as this session, trust us!

Have a wonderful day, you beautiful humans! Until next time! xoxo