The weather in Austin, Texas lately has not been nice to wedding photographers.  When Emily and Riley’s engagement session date fell on yet another rainy day, instead of cancelling, they decided to switch locations.  I had the joy of taking their Barr Mansion engagement photos on Tuesday and the mansion was the PERFECT backdrop for their images!

Barr Mansion is the BEST location for natural light portraits on rainy days because it has a beautiful wrap around porch and balcony!  The railing of the porch and balcony adds a bright white to images, when rainy days usually photograph gray-ish.  The beautiful architecture also allows for some fun leading lines and unique framing within engagement photos taken at Barr Mansion.  More than that, if you stand on the balcony or porch, you’re protected from the rain, but still have access to natural light.  Since it’s protected from the rain, you’re not worried about walking around in the mud during your session.  That is the reason Emily and Riley wanted to switch locations and it was a great call!  Here’s a peek at some of my favorites from their Barr Mansion engagement photos!

Emily’s beautiful gold and black dress is from Altar’d State. I loved the flowy-ness of her dress!

In case you’re wondering, yes, they’ll have enough images from just this one spot for a FULL gallery of images.  We did not leave the balcony until I knew they would have enough images, just in case the rain started or the grounds were too muddy.  Spoiler alert: it did NOT rain and there were minimal puddles on the property, even though it had rained most of the morning.  Nevertheless, we could have ended their session with the balcony and they still would have had enough images for a full gallery!

Barr Mansion is a historical landmark. It’s been standing for over 100 years.

Couples can pick from a large variety of backdrop options for their Barr Mansion engagement photos!  We couldn’t even fit them all into our hour of shoot time.  I do love that there was so much GREEN on the property!  There were even signs that Spring is coming with various blooms around.  THAT makes this wedding photographer’s heart SO happy!

This next shot is one of my favorites of their Barr Mansion engagement photos!

Riley and Emily met while both working at a car dealership.  She worked in the service department and he worked in parts.  They both knew there was something special about the other one and became friends.  Soon enough, their friendship bloomed into something more.  As they were both leaving work one day, they had the conversation of maybe trying to be more than friends.  They both thought it was worth the risk and they’re now engaged to be married!  Emily says that once they started dating, it felt like she had always known Riley her entire life.  They’ll tie the knot in October!

I promised Emily and Riley that this next image would be their sneak peek!  I think it shows their playful, silly side!

We captured these last few images on the way back to the parking lot.  (Yes, they trusted me enough to photograph them next to a parking lot!)  I love that it looks like we’re out in the middle of nowhere and that you can see some of the rolling hills behind them.

Thank you so much for being flexible with y’all’s start time on Tuesday, Emily and Riley!  Y’all gave us just enough light left in the day with your willingness to move your session up by half an hour, and I’m so glad!  Y’all’s Barr Mansion engagement photos were so much fun to photograph!  I’m very much looking forward to celebrating with y’all this Fall!

– Mylah Renae

Barr Mansion Engagement Photos