The Law Quad on the campus of U of M is one of the few locations that looks amazing in photos in any season and any form of weather. It can be used in rain, in spring, in summer, and in fall. It’s a classic and elegant background, so photos taken here look even better when engaged couples dress up! For guys, that might mean sport jackets or cardigans, for women, that might mean a dress and heels. I loved the outfits B+A chose; not super formal but not completely casual either. Here are a few of my favorites from their engagement session!

October here in Michigan was one of the rainiest, gloomiest Octobers we’ve ever had! Thankfully, November has been much kinder to us- warmer and sunnier- but for October, we had to think outside the box and find some covered locations. Thank goodness for the law quad in Ann Arbor on U of M’s campus! Not only is it beautiful, but its covered! The large arches paired with umbrellas made for the dreamiest photos. Here are a few of my favorites from Kate and Julian’s session!

County Farm Park

This park is the perfect place for a spring, summer or fall session. My favorite is late summer, because their community gardens are in bloom and it makes for a great backdrop. This park has wooden fences, a wooden pergola, nature trails, and gardens. In the spring they have a large daffodil garden. I used to live next to this park and it is one of my absolute favorite locations for a session. Bonus are the easy parking (free lot on site) and bathrooms.

Law Quad

The Law Quad is my go to in late fall and winter because the architecture is so beautiful. In fact, all of the photos below except for about 5 were taken in November and December! The Law Quad is great in any season though, and is a great location formal or casual. It’s within walking distance to other beautiful campus buildings as well as the Nickels Arcade and downtown State Street for more urban looking photos. Many start at the Law Quad with a more formal outfit and then change into a casual one for downtown A2 photos. Parking is a little trickier with street parking only and there are bathrooms a block or so away at the U of M Student Union. The one downside to the Law Quad is that every one knows about it and it can be very busy in all seasons except winter, as families, seniors and weddings also like to come here for photos.

Nichols Arboretum

This is a fave of so many for obvious reasons! My favorite time to shoot here is when the peony garden is in bloom from Memorial Day weekend to mid-June. It is very crowded, so one hour before sunset is the best time to go so you don’t have tons of people in the background of your photos. On Sundays, you can park in one of the U of M lots for free, but otherwise it’s pretty difficult to park at the peony garden entrance (there are only 3 parking meters out front on the street). I think there may be bathrooms but not sure! It’s pretty in fall too, but in summer the mosquitoes are really bad so I tend to avoid the area down by the river when they are out.

Nickels Arcade

This is a perfect spot for urban photos! It’s also covered and blocks the wind, so good if the weather isn’t so great on the day of your shoot. There are always people walking through so it can get busy. Parking is street only and can be a challenge to find a spot. Expect to walk a lot. Bathrooms available at the student union down the street a few blocks.

U of M Campus Buildings

There are so many beautiful buildings on campus, literally everywhere you turn can yield a good photo if the light is right. Parking is a challenge, but it can be fun to just walk around and take photos when you see something cool. Bonus to shooting on campus is that there are no fees because because it’s a public university. Bathrooms at the student union on State Street, but other buildings are pretty restricted.

Ann Arbor City Parks

There are so many great parks in the city of Ann Arbor. I mentioned County Farm Park above (because it deserved it’s own section), but other parks I love in Ann Arbor are Barton Nature Reserve and Island Park. They are both a ways from downtown, so only choose these spots if all you want are casual nature photos. Parking on site. Bathrooms available at Island Park, not sure about Barton.

Lauren + Nick’s engagement session ended up being some of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken in Ann Arbor! Because it was December and we had no greenery, we stuck with the law quad and Nickel’s Arcade for cool architecture for our shots. It was definitely cold, but we had some sun! I absolutely loved the green dress Lauren wore…it really popped against the muted color of the law quad architecture. Their jackets and jeans kept them nice and warm in their casual outfit…I’m always a proponent of doing an outfit change- some casual, some more formal. You never know what you might like better, and some outfits photograph better than others. No matter what kind of style you choose, solid colors almost always photograph better. Here are a few of my favorites from their session!

Shelby and Kevin have a similar story to my previous post featuring Tiffany and Tad. Shelby is also a front line worker in healthcare and contracted COVID, causing us to reschedule three times. I particularly felt for these two, because Shelby had reached out to schedule her engagement session months in advance to guarantee they would have a weekend slot during peak fall color. While we still got gorgeous photos using the architecture of the beautiful U of M Law Quad, I still feel for our frontline workers like Shelby, who continue to make sacrifices and put themselves in harms way, altering their normal every day life, so that they can save and care for others during this pandemic.

They may have waited until late November for their session, but we got the most gorgeous day- sunny and near 70 degrees! I was so thankful that the weather cooperated for Shelby and Kevin, and that we were able to capture these gorgeous photos. I can’t wait for their June wedding next year!

Tiffany and Tad’s engagement session wasn’t supposed to be a winter engagement session. It was scheduled during the last week of October, when the trees were still full of colorful leaves. Sadly, it had to be rescheduled twice because these two are frontline workers- healthcare workers at the hospital- and tested positive for COVID the morning before the shoot and had to cancel. They ended being quarantined for three weeks, but thankfully emerged unscathed. The postponement ended up working to their advantage, as their previous two dates had 40 degree weather, but the date that finally worked had a surprising 70 degree temp! While the leaves on the trees were gone so we didn’t get that fall color, we were so warm and relaxed, and were still able to get beautiful photos by using the stunning U of M architecture around Ann Arbor.

Thanks, you two, for all that you do for our community during this pandemic!

When I moved, I'd heard how gorgeous the Law Quad at University of Michigan was, and how popular it was for photos. I am so glad that Eberly and Taylor agreed to let me take their engagement photos there- it did not disappoint! It was beautiful! I'm super excited to work with Taylor and Eberly (who totally has a movie star name, am I right??) next year for their Detroit area wedding!

Like what you see and getting married in 2017? Get in touch- I still have a few select dates for weddings in 2017!

Caitlin Maloney Photography is a Michigan wedding photographer, serving Ann Arbor, Metro Detroit, Grand Rapids, Northern Michigan, Chicago, Greater Lansing and beyond.