Best Engagement Photo Locations in San Francisco Bay Area
We love engagement sessions for a number of reasons! On the top of that list is the extra time we get to spend with our TréCreative couples getting to know them and making them feel comfortable in front of the camera.
San Francisco area is one of our favorite places in Northern California for engagement photography. The city is alive with culture and character filled with hidden photo spots everywhere you look. Over the years, we’ve been able to explore many iconic locations that we’d recommend to any couple looking for engagement photo spots in San Francisco. Even with the amount of times we’ve traveled to the city, there are still plenty of locations we would love to photograph. This blog post was created as a resource for our Bay Area couples but as well as anyone wanting photos in San Francisco. We’re including our own engagement sessions from areas we’d recommend as well as engagement locations we’d love to explore in the future!
1. Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts is in the Marina District of San Francisco. It was constructed in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in the World Fair. The architecture is stunning and the lush grounds are beautiful. We suggest planning your engagement session here during a weekday because on the weekends its packed with tourists.
2. Baker Beach
This beach has the iconic view of the Golden Gate Bridge. There is lots of parking in two different lots and perfect beach access. There are also several great woodsy forest filled photo locations just walking distance from the beach. We also recommend weekdays for this spot, as you’ll get more of the place to yourself!
3. Lover’s Lane and Presidio Park
Lover’s Lane features windy long rows of towering trees. It is a stunning and iconic place in the heart of San Francisco. This location is close to several views of the Golden Gate Bridge and lots of photo opportunities in the surrounding neighborhood.
4. Sutro Baths
This used to be a privately owned public saltwater swimming pool complex. Seeing the historical photos of what it used to look like is wild! Now its the remains of the baths right on the beach front with amazing views at sunset. Lands End is right there with lots of great hiking trails as well.
5. Thornton State Beach
This one’s off the beaten path a bit, down south of San Francisco in Daly City. There’s a sweet greenery filled hike down to the beach full of rolling hills that make any engagement session look gorgeous! If you’re planning for this spot for your San Francisco engagement session, make sure you block off a little extra time to get there.
6. Rodeo Beach in Marin Headlands
One of our favorite little hidden city overlook locations we’ve ever photographed a couple in San Francisco! The ocean views and rolling greenery is just breathtaking, especially for a sunset engagement session. We really hope to be back here soon!
7. Your Favorite Neighborhood
We always encourage our couples to think outside of the box. Choose locations that are meaningful to them. Oftentimes the stoops along the city or favorite coffee shops can make for the best backdrops. Make your engagement session unique to you and explore the beauty the city has to offer everywhere!
Engagement Session Spots On Our “Must Shoot At Soon” List …
San Francisco City Hall - Beautiful elopements and engagements happen here all the time and we would love to be a part of one. The architecture is breathtaking and there are so many amazing photo locations inside this building. We can’t wait for a future session here. Edit: CHECK! So beautiful!
Legion of Honor - We are suckers for clean white walls and crisp bright backdrops. Sometimes simple is best and can really highlight your engagement or wedding attire. This area is part of the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco and there are so many great photo locations around.
Lands End Point - Right near Sutro Baths, this engagement location has breathtaking views and ocean overlooks we have been dying to capture. We’ve explored a few locations around this area, but would love to see more. This spot would be especially amazing around sunset with the lush greens and ocean cliffs. Edit: CHECK! Loved the light here.
Honorable Mention: Thornton State Beach…worth a little bit of a hike for this spot South of San Francisco.
2021 Update:
It’s been a couple years since this blog post went live and it’s been one of our most popular resources for couples in the Bay Area planning their upcoming engagement session locations!
If you found this helpful, you may be interested in hearing about another popular resource we’ve created since this post to help you with another tricky part of wedding planning… the finances!
We have a 7 day training on how we’ve created six figures in passive income outside of our wedding business and how now many of our couples are now using this same method to make money online. Sounds wild, but check out the video on this page which explains everything…