Foggy and Moody Diablo Lake Engagement Photos

Amanda + Matt | A rainy, foggy, and very moody engagement session at Diablo Lake | North Cascades National Park Wedding and Elopement Photographer

Diablo Lake Trail Engagement Photo Session North Cascades National Park

Update on Lake Diablo: If you have done a quick google search, you can see multiple photos at Lake Diablo in the North Cascades, you can even see photos on my website here. In 2020, I got in touch with the National Park services and currently, the meadow area at Lake Diablo Overlook is now off-limit. Many might try to get to that meadow area for photos but it is currently considered illegal to do so. Others might still take photos there but I am no longer taking on elopement at this location out of respect for the National Park services. There are plenty of other gorgeous locations in the park that I have gathered over the year that I am confident you will fall in love with as well.

Through these photos, you might now know that these photos were taken in August and it was so rainy and foggy. That’s the thing about North Cascades National Park and the Pacific Northwest in general. You can’t really plan for this weather but when it does happen, it is truly the best for photos. It made all my little PNW elopement photographer heart happy.

Living here in Washington, Lake Diablo has been on my list to visit for the longest time. I was just waiting for the right couple. Lake Diablo is stupidly gorgeous. It is located in the heart of North Cascades National Park, which has become my favorite place in Washington. Due to its high elevation, the weather here is very unpredictable and this beautiful place is not accessible year-round because of the snow. So yes, you betcha when the roads are clear, I will try my best to take everyone here 🙂

The week leading to this engagement session, I kept checking on the weather around Diablo Lake. Not until the night before that, I saw it was going to be rainy and foggy. So I immediately texted the couple and finalized the time we should meet.

I ended up meeting them around 4 am at their apartment in downtown Seattle. Meeting new clients is already nerve-wracking, meeting at 4 am when you’re sleep-deprived from a busy wedding season made it even worse. Hahaha.

Amanda and Matt greeted me with hot coffee and snacks they packed for me. How stinking sweet. From downtown Seattle to Lake Diablo of North Cascades National Park, it would take 2.5 hours. Yes, we sure did talk the whole entire time. (Little inside sneak, I am such an introverted extrovert that I can talk someone ears off when I feel comfortable with them)

We bonded over nerdy talks about healthcare and hospital work since we all have a background in medicine. The couples are physicians and I am a nurse. We joked about things that others would not appreciate and that helped us all feel so so so comfortable with each other. I won’t be able to share anything in specifics but just know the topic of “suppositories” were discussed 🤣 oh how mature we are.

By the time we entered North Cascades National Park and were about to start their engagement photos at Diablo Lake, it was getting just a bit brighter. We parked, got out of the car, and looked at each other in awe because we were all amazed at how insanely beautiful this place is.

Double exposure in wedding photography at Lake Diablo for this rainy, moody, and foggy engagement photo

The cold air hit our skin, the little raindrops landed on our cheeks, and the breeze gushed through between our fingers. It’s one of those things where you just have to experience at least once in your life to truly take in how beautiful nature is and how fortunate we are to live in this beautiful world.

As I gave the beautiful couple some privacy to change and get ready, I sneaked away and just sat down to take everything in. I do this a lot. Whenever I go somewhere new and amazing, I want to be able to take it all in. I want to look around, stare at the mountains, look at the trees on those mountains, watch the water rippling away, listen to the birds. After all, the reason why I started pursuing this dream of doing a destination, adventurous wedding, and elopement photographer is to see the world, to walk the Earth, to experience it all before my time is up.

Amanda and Matt quickly changed into their earth-tone outfits (as instructed in the emails I sent them), I am sure I screamed a little. They look so darn good!! We ran around the Diablo Lake Overlook then drove to the actual lake and finished everything by the cute little dock.

My favorite part has to be when the couple debated for a while whether or not they wanted to get into the lake. Although it was August, the weather change made everything freezing. I wanted to see how cold the water was so I immersed my hands in the water and quickly withdrew them as I looked at the couple like “Oh hell no, I won’t”. But hey, they did it 🙂

Matt carried Amanda into the lake so technically, Matt did it haha.

We ended this beautiful, moody, rainy, foggy engagement session at Diablo Lake with hot bowls of Pho. We were hungry, sleepy, and exhausted so when they asked if I wanted Pho. My answer was “Heck yes, Pho sure”. Oh, the dad jokes continued haha.

Amanda and Matt, meeting you guys last year was definitely one of the highlights of 2018 for me. The way you show your love, the way you care for one another, and the way you treated me, not as a photographer, but as a friend, meant the world. You opened yourselves and let me in. I opened myself and shared with you a piece of me. I put all the love I felt into photographing you both and a piece of my heart is forever with you guys via these photos.

I miss you both and I love following along on Instagram. I hope we get to cross paths again soon 🙂

Lots of Love,

Henry