Oahu Engagement Session at Kualoa Ranch | Ivy & Marcus

Oahu Engagement Session at Kualoa Ranch

Shooting one of my best friends engagement session at Kualoa Ranch in Oahu was one of my favorite experiences of my liiiife!!!! We all went on vacation together in Hawaii last December and toured Kualoa Ranch for a potential wedding venue location. I had done a ton of research before we left and had a bunch of ideas where I wanted to do their engagement session while we were there, but I wasn’t ‘sold’ on anything yet. We had spent the island exploring and location scouting and obviously had no shortage of legit possibilities because Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places ever. But Kualoa Ranch is different and absolutely spectacular - it collectively took our breaths away as we were all looking around. I KNEW I HAD TO SHOOT THERE! As we were touring Kualoa Ranch (the filming site for Jumanji, Jurassic Park, Lost, and MANY MORE), I asked our guide, “any chance we can do their engagement session here tomorrow?!” I was half joking because I didn’t expect it to be an option, but she responded “uh, actually, yeah I think so! Let me see if I can get someone to cover my meeting so I can drive you guys around!” (!!!!! I STARTED SCREAMING INTERNALLY AND WAS TRYING TO PLAY IT COOL !!!!!). Shout out to Leila from Kualoa Ranch for making our dreams come true! She was also from Washington, like us and our friends we were with, and not only from Washington but from the literal town Ivy and I are from! It was just such a crazy connection and it all felt weirdly super meant to be and came together so beautifully. So 24 hours later, we drove back out to Kualoa Ranch, hopped in Leila’s car, and drove around the Ranch to our favorite spots from the day before! It was so epic.

I still can’t believe I got to shoot here! Shooting at Kualoa Ranch was truly one of the most special experiences of my photo life. Hawaii is so special to us, and sharing it with our dear friends makes it even more special. These are some of my favorite images to date and I can’t wait to be back in Hawaii hopefully so sooooon! If you’re getting married at Kualoa Ranch… just putting out in the universe I WANT TO SHOOT YOUR WEDDING! ok plz + thank youuu! In the meantime, I’ll just look at these forever and pretend we are back in paradise.