Retro Cocktail Bar Engagement Session at Bartender’s Handshake

For Kelsey & Matt’s engagement photos, we started at a cool (and beloved) neighborhood cocktail bar called Bartender's Handshake. The dimly lit bar is a sensory treat, with all of its eclectic artworks and vintage decor covering the walls, always good music playing, little tea candles lit on the tables bouncing light around you and your love’s intertwined fingers, ugh it’s so dreamy!

And of course, absolutely delicious drinks to sip during your visit, and an amazing food menu… Every time I’m here and someone orders the ginger snaps, I wish it was me who had ordered them. Ah – Sorry, back to the session…

After getting thoroughly warmed from snuggles and cocktails, they ventured to the woods to walk hand in hand, crunching the fallen leaves under their feet and bare branches overhead. A little bit of crisp nature to contrast the cozy and warm bar… Kelsey & Matt have such a natural connection and genuine affection for one another, and I loved documenting that love between them in this more raw-feeling filmy flash aesthetic.

The park where we shot is completely surrounded by huge, old trees that are gorgeous in any season. I wanted to shoot here in the late fall when most of the leaves were on the ground, to capture the incredible canopy of branches in the background.

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Photography by Alyssa Leicht