Despite living on Stanford campus for four years, until this Palo Alto engagement session last February, I had only been to the Arizona Cactus Garden once! Funnily enough, it was actually for a photography course I took during undergrad and I still remember taking a macro photo of a caterpillar on a cactus there. I didn’t see any caterpillars this time, but the sweetest little pup did make an appearance during Nikki and James’ engagement session at the Cactus Garden.

Nikki and James live down in Southern California, but Nikki’s parents live up in the Bay, so we scheduled their engagement photos for a weekend when they were up visiting. Unfortunately, a few days before the session, it looked like it was going to be raining! Nikki had already scheduled her hair and makeup trials though, so we decided to risk the rain in hopes the weather forecast wasn’t accurate. I’m so glad that we did, because the weather ended up being perfect and we couldn’t have asked for better light at the Arizona Cactus Garden.

Planner: Leandra Events
Hair: Beauty by Xiomara
Makeup: Makeup by Toni

If you liked this engagement session, you might also like this Silicon Valley Engagement Session or these gorgeous engagement photos on the rolling hills under oak trees.

I’m currently booking 2022 weddings and would love to chat with you if you are looking for a wedding photographer! Please contact me via my contact form or email me at alice@aliceche.com