Destination pre wedding engagement shoot in Stavanger Norway

Edwin and Melisa’s destination engagement shoot in Stavanger

I say it all the time but I’ll forever be grateful for how photography has opened up the world to me in ways I never expected when I started my photography journey just over 10 years ago. I was having coffee with an old school friend last week who’s excelled in his career and we were talking about going back and telling our 20 year old selves how our futures were going to pan out, and how our 20 year old selves would never believe it. The conversation stemmed from me beginning a sentence with “when I was in Norway for a shoot last year” and that’s why this story is relevant to this post, because this is that shoot!

I’ve never, ever fallen in love with a country as quickly as I fell in love with Norway. I got off the plane in Stavanger, my bag was already waiting for me. I got to the car hire place – no queues and no faff. I got in the car and started driving and within a minute I was hit with movie quality landscapes. Unreal.

A couple of hours later I got back to the airport to collect Edwin and Melisa from the plane and meet them for the first time. I always expect these initial meetings to be slightly awkward and they just never are. How I get to meet some of the very best people in the world doing this job is beyond me, but long may it continue. We drove to Stavanger together, chatting all the way… and then we drove all the way back to the airport again because Edwin left his bag on the plane! Embarrassing for him no doubt but a definite bonding experience I think and something we chuckled about all weekend as we explored Stavanger and this insanely-picturesque little section of my new favourite country.

We did hundreds of miles in our little Toyota hire car as we let the magic of Google images and Tripadvisor guide us to some great places, but truth be told we could’ve just driven aimlessly and found beauty around every turn – and that’s what we did at some points! Travel is soul food for me, and locations like Stavanger are the ultimate cherry on top. I can’t wait to go back. Although food here costs more than diamonds, so I might just take a massive packed lunch next time!!

And at the end of the day after spending all day exploring this mind blowing place with Edwin and Melisa, as I lay there in my little hotel room, listening to Feels Like Rain by Buddy Guy, I just had one of those “what luck” moments about how being good with a camera had got me there. Unbelievable really.

I’ll be featuring Edwin and Melisa’s Landmark Hotel London wedding here soon but for now enjoy this little collection of photos, my favourites from their Destination pre wedding engagement shoot in Stavanger, Norway…