best portland engagement photoshoot locations

Congratulations! You are getting married! Time to pop some bubbly and start planning an engagement photo session!

To help with your planning, I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite engagement photoshoot locations in Portland and slightly beyond the city. We are so lucky to have mountains, rivers, ocean, and forest in our backyard! There are places I like to shoot because they offer beautiful backdrops, room to move around, and a place to explore.

Why do an engagement session? It is the perfect way to celebrate each other and a great way to take a break from all of the wedding planning. It’s something to look forward to in your calendar, and it’s THE BEST REASON to get dressed up, go out of the house, and spend an evening exploring. Bonus points if you plan for a fun dinner afterward! Another reason people choose to do an engagement session is because it allows us to get to know each other before the wedding. To me, engagement sessions always feel like meeting a new set of friends. We laugh, we play, we truly have a good time. Getting on this level of comfortability with your wedding photographer is amazing because when your wedding date arrives (it’ll come up quickly!), we will already have some inside jokes and can pick up right where we left off!

The biggest question I get when couples book an engagement session:

Where are the best places to take pictures in Portland?

My list of recommendations is always growing, and there are three things I look for when determining the best engagement photoshoot locations in Portland and surrounding areas: light, space, and privacy.

I can’t stress enough how important lighting is for beautiful photos. The earth moves! I know that seems obvious, but locations can look incredibly different based on time of day. As a general rule, I recommend engagement photoshoots to take place around the hours of either dawn or dusk, and this can be doubly convenient because sessions can be scheduled around your work day and around the heat of the day! While bright, sunny days are common in the summertime, fall and winter tend to be overcast. Clouds can actually create a beautiful soft box effect, so please don’t stress if the sun isn’t shining on the day of your session.

All of this to say: different locations provide different lighting. Photos taken in a dark forest will have a completely different look than photos taken in an open field. Are you wanting a darker, cozier vibe, or are you wanting a brighter, golden vibe? Do you feel more comfortable waking up for a sunrise session, or would you rather wait until evening?

Oregon is unique because there is so much space for exploring! The best engagement photoshoot locations in Portland are ones that encourage walking and provide different backdrops. You can certainly find this in the city if you’re wanting an urban engagement session, and I have great recommendations on where to go downtown and near the Waterfront! Or, we can head out into the Columbia River Gorge or to the Oregon Coast to have even more room to move around.

This leads me into my last criteria for the best Portland engagement photo locations: privacy. I’ve been a Portland wedding photographer for almost a decade, and in that amount of time, I’ve seen beautiful locations turn into the best spots for tourists to get to know our state. I totally respect that and love that these photoshoot locations have become more accessible to folks wanting to experience The Oregon Coast, The Willamette Valley, and The Columbia River Gorge, but I do think it’s best to avoid some of these locations on certain days. Photoshoot locations that offer privacy allow you the ability to be yourselves, rather than experience the awkwardness of sixty people watching you have your photos taken. Also, busy places just look busy. I promise you won’t want your photos to have bus loads of people in the background. So, if you are wanting photos at a famous waterfall, let’s do a sunrise session on a weekday! If you’re wanting to head to the cherry blossoms at the downtown Portland waterfront, let’s go right before or after peak bloom!

so.. let’s get to it! the following are the

best engagement photoshoot locations in Portland, Oregon

(and just outside the city)!

Powell Butte Park

Powell Butte is among one of my favorite places to shoot and explore. The trail system is incredibly well marked, and you get a variety of different settings: golden fields, dense forest, mountain views, and amazing sunrises and sunsets. This is one of my favorites places to experience golden hour, and on sunny days, the views are spectacular. Powell Butte sits high above the city (it is a cinder cone volcano!), so you truly get the some of the best light Portland has to offer. Some tips: parking can fill during popular times, so make sure to arrive with enough time to find a spot. If need be, you can park below, but the walk up is pretty steep and takes about fifteen minutes. Dogs are allowed on leash and on trails. More information here.

Powell Butte is also one of the few places in Portland with some mountain bike trails, which are fun to ride for an afternoon! If we shoot here, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for coyotes, pheasants, foxes, deer, and cute lil chipmunks. I’ve seen them all at Powell Butte!

Hoyt Arboretum

The trails are lined with over 2,300 species of trees and ferns at Hoyt Arboretum, and the setting is quintessential Pacific Northwest. If you make it to the Redwood Deck, you are surrounded by giant trees that seem to stretch into the sky forever. The scenery at Hoyt Arboretum changes depending on the season, and it’s one of my favorite places to shoot for moody vibes. If you go early in the morning, you can even get some beautiful fog! This is the best place within city limits for escaping the buzz and noise of traffic and downtown. We’re so lucky to have this extensive park. You can find more information about it here.

Cathedral Park

This bridge is one of the most beautiful structures I’ve ever encountered. I’m always awe struck by it’s beauty and magnitude, and Cathedral Park, directly under the bridge, offers some amazing views. Not only are there views of the bridge, there’s also access to the river. Walking around the streets is a lot of fun too, and after your session, you can head into St. John’s for a brew or bite! I love Cathedral Park. More information on Cathedral Park here. And here’s a fun fact! There was a time capsule buried by the Cathedral Park Committee in 1980 that will be opened in 2030. The Oregon History Committee has a direct map of where to find the time capsule. I wonder if it contains some sweet late 70s tunes.. maybe Whitney or Prince?

Bonus points for Cathedral Park: if it’s raining, you’re somewhat sheltered under the bridge. And, if it’s golden hour, the sun sets beautifully behind the West Hills.

Mount Tabor

This spot is so easy to access! Located in the heart of Southeast Portland, Mount Tabor is home to views of downtown, two water reservoirs, and lots of trails winding through lush, green forest. On a sunny day, the light peeks through the leaves in the trees, making for truly breathtaking photos. There are some areas at the top that have access to open fields, and the reservoirs are a historic addition with beautiful architecture. My favorite time to shoot here is early morning— often, you’ll get fog in the trees, which is almost otherworldly. More information on Mount Tabor here, and if you go, be sure to chat with one of the friendly volunteers from Friends of Mount Tabor Park, the organization that maintains the park.

Eastbank Esplanade

Portland isn’t just trees and greenery! If you’re wanting a more urban vibe to your photos, the Eastbank Esplanade is a great place to start! The city’s infamous bridges are nearby, and OMSI has a building with beautiful, brick walls nearby. Many Portland engagement photoshoots take place in nature, but I know lots of couples prefer a cityscape. Portland really is a great place for urban photos, and I love heading down to this spot by the water. It’s nice to go there at sunset.. before the city wakes up and the streets are still quiet.

Government Cove

In just a short drive headed east outside Portland, you’ll run into snow capped hills, misty trees, an old historic highway, and the Columbia River. There are many pull outs off of the historic highway, and one of my favorites is Government Cove. It’s become a popular spot over the last couple years, and even when it’s full of people fishing, hiking, and taking photos, there is still plenty of space to find solitude. It’s always a bit windy here, and that’s a good thing! The air feels crisp right off the river, and it’s the perfect place to escape the noise of the city. Government Cove is about a 40 minute drive east of Portland.

portland waterfront

This is another urban location that’s very popular in early spring because of the famous cherry blossoms. These trees were actually a gift from Japan, and the entire area is utilized to raise awareness of diverse cultures in America. Not only do you get the cherry blossoms in early spring, but if you take a walk around the area, you find quirky urban buildings and murals that make for uniquely pdx photo backdrops. I love exploring this area!

International Rose Garden or Peninsula Park

Imagine being surrounded by rows and rows of roses. Portland is known as The City of Roses for good reason! While the International Rose Garden remains a top spot to see and smell the blooms in June and July, Peninsula Park in the Piedmont neighborhood of NE Portland is my favorite place to photograph the amazing florals. A history tidbit: Peninsula Park used to host horse races in the early 1900s! Now, it’s home to a bandshell, the second oldest playground in Portland, and of course, beautiful roses. The rows of flowers are set up in a way that allows you to immerse yourself in a sea of color, and since this spot is a little less touristy than the Rose Garden, there is generally more room to move around. If you want to infuse amazing color into your photographs, I’d recommend considering either of these two locations! More information on International Rose Garden in Washington Park here, and Peninsula Park here.

Pier Park

So many trees in Pier Park! This special place is also home to one of Portland’s best disc golf (aka frolf) courses. I’d highly recommend coming here for a picnic or some frolfing, even if you aren’t doing your engagement shoot here! I love the trees in Pier Park because they are all very tall and symmetrical. The fall season is truly unmatched as some of the trees begin to shed their yellow leaves, and this place is magical on an early morning when the fog rolls in. Pier Park is located in St. Johns in North Portland. You can find more information about Pier Park here.

Whew, thank you for reaching through all of this information! I absolutely love the city of Portland and love exploring all of these parks and places with my couples. Even if I’ve been to one of these parks a hundred times, I always find something new and different. Keep in mind that these are engagement photoshoot locations within the city limits of Portland, Oregon. I’ll be following up with two more blog posts that contain recommendations for engagement shoot locations on the coast and in the gorge!