There is simply nothing quite as peaceful and autumnal as a stroll through Central Park in New York City in the fall. I spent this quiet Thursday morning with Grace and Luke in Central Park to celebrate their engagement with a photoshoot that embodied their ethereal grace and elegance.

It’s important to me that every couple feels like their engagement shoot is finely tuned to them; there’s no one single approach that I take to telling a couple’s story. Every couple is so different. I send a questionnaire ahead of time to get a sense for what my couple is envisioning and what we could do to make the shoot individual to them and their relationship. For Grace and Luke, they told me that they wanted to do their photos in Central Park to tell the story of how their relationship has bloomed in New York City, and they said that they are fun and playful but hold themselves with a lot of poise. So we spent the shoot walking around the park and I captured that essence of both playfulness and elegance.

We started at the popular Bethesda Fountain, which was perfectly quiet and empty right at sunrise. Then we walked across Bow Bridge, around the pond, and backtracked to the Literary Walk and main mall. I can’t get enough of Central Park in the fall, especially for an engagement session.