This love between you two? This love that led you to feel not just ready — but excited — to share vows in front of friends of family? This love that made everything click? 

It tops the list. This is it, and it couldn’t be better.

kaitie brainerd

Kaitie Brainerd is a film and digital Santa Barbara wedding photographer creating true to life imagery that endures.

Los Angeles Arboretum Engagement Photos | Los Angeles, CA

los angeles arboretum engagement photos bamboo

Kylee and Ben chose the Los Angeles Arboretum for their engagement session in Los Angeles, CA.

With their Santa Barbara destination wedding just over a month away, this LA Arboretum engagement session was the perfect warm up for their wedding day portraits. The Arboretum is a botanical garden that contains plants and trees from all over the world. There is no shortage of photo locations, from cactus gardens, to towering bamboo shoots, to blooming pink blossoms, you really could get lost at the LA Arboretum for an entire day.

Kylee and Ben were up for exploring the different geographic groupings of the plants all over the garden, and though it involved a lot of walking, we were able to get some amazing and unique engagement photos with awesome natural backgrounds.

A permit is required to shoot at the Los Angeles Arboretum so keep that in mind when planning your engagement shoot. The LA Arboretum requires a $50 fee plus admission for each person. Make sure to arrive early on the day of to purchase the permit. More info here.

We decided to shoot as late in the day as possible for the best light, arriving around 3:30 pm before the garden closes at 5pm.

The Los Angeles Arboretum was such a great location for engagement photos!