You got engaged over the summer. The ring has been passed around at a few family dinners, someone has already asked about save-the-dates, and the clouds are starting to settle on the North Shore mountains for the season. Wedding-planning guides tend to suggest an engagement session eight to ten months before the wedding when the photos are going on save-the-dates, so for a summer wedding next year, this fall is the window.
The leaves get the attention, but we'd shoot in October for the light: low and warm by mid-afternoon, with no waiting until nine at night for the sun to drop.
The light this month
At the time of writing, the sun sets in Vancouver at about 6:30pm in mid-October, close to 5:50pm by the end of the month and around 5:35pm by mid-November. It's a gradual slide, so the last week of October needs an earlier start than the first.
B.C. no longer turns its clocks back, so sunset doesn't jump an hour earlier in November.
Work backwards from sunset. A session usually runs around an hour, longer with an outfit change or a second spot nearby, and you want it to end as the sun goes — in October that means a late-afternoon start, and in November an afternoon off work.
The sky changes too. As November goes on, grey days come more often, and that light is soft and even: kind to faces, flatter on a wide view. If the mountains matter more to you than close-ups, go in October.
A local photographer already knows where the light falls at Spanish Banks at five, and which side of a garden still has colour in the last week of October. That beats any sunset table, so ask them before you settle on the spot.
Gardens: the colour, and the rules that come with it
Destination Vancouver puts the city's fall colour between mid-September and early November and names Queen Elizabeth Park, VanDusen Botanical Garden and UBC's gardens among the places to see it. None publishes a peak week, so if the maples are the point, aim for October rather than one weekend.
At Nitobe Memorial Garden on the UBC campus, the Japanese maples turn dark crimson and gold in the fall. It's also the garden with the clearest rules. UBC Botanical Garden welcomes casual photos, but tripods, large equipment, costumes and special-event attire aren't allowed for casual visitors, so a planned engagement session goes through the garden's own photography program. At the time of writing, that's $300 for a two-hour session with garden admission for up to 15 people, plus $50 to use Nitobe itself, which has to be arranged ahead. It asks for at least 15 business days' notice, so a request sent in mid-October puts the session in November at the earliest.
Queen Elizabeth Park sits at the city's highest point, with evergreens mixed among the deciduous trees, so its Quarry Garden, a former basalt quarry, still has green in it once the maples are bare. The Bloedel Conservatory at the top of the park works differently: at the time of writing, staged shoots, engagement sessions included, aren't allowed during business hours and are arranged before opening or after closing.
VanDusen closes before sunset through October and in the early afternoon from November, per its own page, and like the Bloedel it doesn't allow photo sessions during business hours — those are arranged through its rentals office, outside opening hours. Otherwise treat the garden as a daylight colour stop.
Water and beaches
Spanish Banks is the easy one: three sections along the seawall, washrooms, and the North Shore mountains across the water. At the time of writing, off-season parking there is free for the first two hours — enough for a session — and $3 an hour after that.
Destination Vancouver also names the seawall around Stanley Park and the stretch from Canada Place through Coal Harbour, with trees, harbour and mountains in the same frame.
Further south, Garry Point Park in Steveston has beach logs along the shore, the Kuno Garden and the working fishing harbour next door — the boats and net sheds give you a rougher texture than a garden path, a short walk from the logs.
At the Howe Sound end of Marine Drive in West Vancouver, Whytecliff Park has a rocky coastline with protected water offshore, a marine reserve since 1993. Wet rock is slippery, so wear shoes you can climb in and change once you're in position.
Once the clouds come in, the mountains go soft — and that can be the better photo.
Forest and the North Shore
Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver wraps old-growth forest around the Point Atkinson Lighthouse, a National Historic Site. Under trees that size the light fades well before sunset, so start earlier than you would on a beach.
In North Vancouver, keep the two Lynns apart. Lynn Canyon Park, run by the District of North Vancouver, has the free suspension bridge, and its seasonal paid parking ends with October, at the time of writing. Lynn Headwaters Regional Park belongs to Metro Vancouver and sits in the same valley; at the time of writing its gate closes at 7pm until November 2 and at 6pm after that, so tell your photographer which one you mean.
Closer to town, Deer Lake Park in Burnaby has a heritage garden of Japanese maples at Eagles Estate, on the lake's southeast shore, and it's open dawn to dusk year-round.
The rain plan
By Environment Canada's climate normals, November is one of Vancouver's wettest months, and wetter than October. If your date is in November, set a rain date when you set the first one, and check what the photographer's contract says about moving it.
Light rain isn't a reason to cancel. A clear umbrella, wet pavement under shop lights, and the cobblestones and awnings of Gastown make a street session that looks better wet than dry. In the forest, the canopy catches a lot of the drizzle.
On the seawall in a cold wind, a long coat and boots hold up; on a forest path in October mud, anything that trails on the ground is hard work.
For a session fully under a roof, the Bloedel Conservatory is the indoor option here, arranged ahead and outside its opening hours.
What to sort out before you go
At the time of writing, Metro Vancouver requires a permit for commercial photography, weddings included, at Aldergrove and Campbell Valley regional parks, and its permit rules keep props and equipment minimal, ban drones, cap the group at 20 people and keep shoots to maintained areas and trails.
For the other city and North Shore parks here, we didn't find a rule written for a two-person session, so ask your photographer what they usually arrange and check the park's own page the week before.
Photos by Asso Myron, Leon Tsang and Kharl Anthony Paica on Unsplash.
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