“You want the moon? Just say the word, and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down.”
I recently got engaged, and as a photographer, there was never really a question about whether I would take engagement photos.
The question was: What kind of engagement photos could I create that actually felt like us?
My fiancé and I have always had a very whimsigoth, witchy, and whimsical aesthetic. I love celestial imagery, tarot, vintage artwork, fairy tales, mixed media, and anything that feels a little bit magical.
Our wedding is going to follow that same philosophy. We're taking inspiration from fairy tales and movies like Ever After and A Midsummer Night's Dream, while creating something that feels personal to us.
So instead of traditional engagement portraits, I decided to create something completely different: An engagement portrait of us sitting on the moon, surrounded by stars.
The Inspiration
One of my favorite movies is It's a Wonderful Life, which I watch every year. I've always loved the romantic idea behind the line about lassoing the moon for someone you love.
I was also looking through my vinyl collection when I came across The Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The dreamy, surreal imagery sparked the idea of combining a vintage moon, stars, and our portraits into one whimsical piece of artwork.
I wanted the finished photographs to feel less like traditional engagement portraits and more like a vintage storybook illustration.
Creating Our Engagement Photos
I photographed us in my home studio using a tripod and a timer. Since I had injured my ankle that weekend, getting back and forth from the camera was more of an awkward hobble than a graceful photographer's run!
I created a paper moon from poster board so I could use it as a guide when building the final composition.
After taking the photographs, I brought everything together in Photoshop. I combined around eight source images, added shadows and paper texture, and created the final whimsical, slightly cartoon-like look.
The entire project took about 10 hours, and I created three final images.
The paper moon also has a second life: my fiancé is using it as a template to create a wooden moon for our wedding.
A Personal Creative Project
My artwork is heavily influenced by tarot, music, celestial imagery, witchy themes, and mixed media, so those influences naturally found their way into this project. I love creating images that feel like they belong in another world. That's also what I love about creative and alternative engagement photography. Your engagement photos don't have to look like a standard collection of poses in a park. They can be inspired by your favorite movie, a song, a fantasy world, an aesthetic, or simply something you've imagined in your head. They can be weird. They can be romantic. They can be whimsical.
Most importantly, they can feel like you.
Our Engagement Photos Became Part of Our Wedding
One of the things I love most about this project is that these aren't just photographs sitting on my hard drive.
I designed our engagement party invitations, wedding invitations, wedding website, and social media artwork around these images.
My fiancé loved the vintage and whimsical feel, and now these photographs have become part of the story of our engagement and wedding.
And yes, I created all of the editing myself. There was no AI used in the making of these images.
Looking for Unique Engagement Photos in Phoenix?
I'm a Phoenix-based photographer who loves creating unique, creative, fantasy-inspired, and alternative engagement photography. If you're looking for something more personal than traditional engagement portraits, I'd love to hear your ideas.
Bring me your favorite movies, music, aesthetics, hobbies, or completely wild concepts. Whether you want something whimsical, gothic, celestial, vintage, editorial, or something I've never seen before, let's create something that feels like you.
