Rustic Vintage Engagement Session at an Old Barn – Tara & Paul

Spring engagement photos

Tara & Paul wanted to have a very rustic vintage engagement session. They are actually getting married in an old barn at their venue at Bonnet Island Estate. We found a very unique old barn that is fairly local to them. They also had brought their boots due to the very rainy weather we had in the spring. I loved that she brought a ton of silly string to end their session with. I am planning an Audrey Hepburn style vintage session with them this summer and I can’t wait!

Their wedding venue deserves a quick mention here too. Bonnet Island Estate sits on its own private island along the causeway to Long Beach Island, and it began in the 1920s as a hunting and fishing retreat before being restored into the stone lodge and barn ballroom couples book today. A barn wedding at the Shore is not what most people picture when they think of LBI, which is exactly why it suits these two. Consider this rustic session a warm up for the real thing.

Old barns are a gift to photograph. The boards never line up quite right anymore, so thin blades of light slip through the seams and carve up the dark interior. Give me a couple, a dark barn, and a few light cracks and I am a happy photographer. Even the rain helped, leaving pools of water around the property that made the infrared reflection photographs in this set possible.

This is also why I build a get to know you session into every wedding. By the time Tara and Paul see me on their wedding morning, the camera will be old news. They have already wandered a farm in rain boots, been blasted with silly string, and learned that the best photographs happen when they stop posing and start playing.

If you are planning your own session, steal their approach. Pick a location that echoes your wedding venue, dress for the weather instead of fighting it, and bring one ridiculous prop. The rain boots earned their keep all afternoon, and the silly string gave us an ending no posed portrait could match.

And since these two are marrying near the water, here is a tip for anyone still venue hunting: my guide to the best Jersey Shore wedding venues covers my favorites up and down the coast, Bonnet Island Estate included.

Tara and Paul at their rustic barn engagement session in South JerseyTara and Paul laughing outside an old weathered barn in New JerseyVintage style engagement portrait of Tara and Paul by the barn doorsTara and Paul in rain boots during their rustic engagement sessionEngagement photograph of Tara and Paul against old barn woodTara and Paul walking the farm field at their barn engagement sessionRustic vintage engagement portrait of Tara and Paul in South JerseyTara and Paul cuddling inside the old barnTara and Paul under the barn overhang on a rainy spring dayClose engagement portrait of Tara and Paul at the rustic barnTara and Paul holding hands beside the vintage barnSouth Jersey barn engagement photograph of Tara and Paul
Infrared photographs are amazing with reflections like in this small water.Infrared reflection photograph of Tara and Paul beside the waterTara and Paul reflected in the rain pooled near the old barn
Tiny light cracks in an old barn are amazing!Tara and Paul lit by cracks of light inside the dark barnBeams of light falling on Tara and Paul inside the old barnDramatic barn light portrait of Tara and Paul
They crossed the streams!Tara and Paul spraying silly string to end their engagement session

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