11 Garden Engagement Photo Locations

We decided to put together this post for some engagement session location inspiration featuring a ton of great garden spaces around Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We've found many couples love these types of backdrops because who doesn't love blooming flowers? As photographers, we love these places because they typically offer us a lot of diversity to work with for backgrounds and pops of colors you won't find just anywhere. 

Otts Exotic plants

Address: 61 Gravel Pike, Schwenksville, PA 19473
Permit required: Yes - $50 fee

First up - Ott's Exotic Plants is a cool and offbeat garden center that also happens to serve as an awesome space for engagement shoots. It's an actual store, but happens to be one of the largest ones we've come across with a really fun layout and unique features (like an indoor waterfall). We seriously love it here and think it's a great choice for sessions.

Longwood Gardens

Address: 1001 Longwood Rd, Kennett Square, PA 19348
Permit: No (just need to pay admission costs)

Longwood Gardens is one of the consistently popular engagement session destinations - and for good reason. It's a seriously beautiful area ripe with so many things to see. As photographers, it's a bit of a wonderland since there is such an incredible amount of diversity to be found here. 

*2020-2021 Update* - Unfortunately, due to pandemic related restrictions, the conservatory is off limits for photo sessions. Longwood has changed the flow of this area to make it 1 way in, 1 way out AND is also doing renovations on a large portion of the place as they are expanding it for the 2022 season. 

Cross Estate Gardens

Address: 61 Jockey Hollow Rd, Bernardsville, NJ 07924
Permit: Yes (no fee, just need to confirm arrival timing) 

Cross Estate Gardens is a super sweet and mellow garden and park that's really perfect for engagement sessions. It is quite popular with photographers around the tri-state (probably because it is such a perfect location), but the requirement of a permit can make it so it's not as much overrun as it would have been without them. Aside from just the blooming flowers, it's nicely tucked in the woods if you want to step onto a little hiking path, and the gardens themselves are surrounded by the a nice wooden walkway that also photographs nicely. It's a nice little stop and a great option. 

Ballas Park

Address: 1001 Longwood Rd, Kennett Square, PA 19348
Permit: No

Ballas Park is one of those hidden gems tucked near where we live - it's only really known to people who live locally. During the late spring and summer, this park goes from being pretty bland to incredibly beautiful as fields of wildflowers come into bloom. It's a gorgeous location for sunrise/sunset photos for couples who just want to keep things simple. Sometimes, we also pair photos at Ballas with the nearby Jacobsburg Park, which has some great outdoorsy options as well.

Conclusion

We hope this list of garden engagement photo locations helps you as you look to lock down a great spot for you. As photographers, we constantly exploring new places and adding them to our list of recommended spots - the ones featured here we've largely been to (or have heard of through our network as being great choices for sessions). 

Allentown Rose Gardens

Address: Allentown Rose Gardens, Allentown, PA 18104
Permit: No

The rose gardens in Allentown are a real treat from late spring to early fall when the roses are in full bloom. The roses themselves take up a small portion of the park. Fortunately, there are a lot of other great spots around for engagement photos including water access to a low stream and lots of weeping willow trees.

Lock Ridge Park

Address: 525 Franklin St, Alburtis, PA 18011
Permit: No

Lock Ridge Park is a location we typically wouldn't consider to have "garden vibes", but we're including it because for a few short weeks in the early Spring, there is a section of the park that blooms abundantly with pretty blue bells. These are super cute little blue flowers that dot the landscape, making for really unique photos. The park is great at other times of the year as well if you like some simple greenery and the remnants of the old blast furnace that's still on the property.

Nemours Estate

Address: 1600 Rockland Rd, Wilmington, DE 19803
Permit: No (just need to pay admission costs)

Nemours Estate is another property that was owned by the Dupont family, and is about 10 minutes away from the more popular Longwood Gardens and right over the Delaware state line. We recently discovered this place as we were looking for somewhere new to go, and absolutely fell in love with it. The gardens are designed in a traditional French style. As photographers, we really loved this place because there are so many great compositions and symmetry to be found throughout. It's seriously beautiful and since it's not as well known as Longwood, tends to be much quieter as well. If you're envisioning vibes like Downton Abbey, Bridgerton, Pride & Prejudice...this is the place to make it happen! :)

DEEP CUT GARDENS

Address: 152 Red Hill Rd, Middletown Township, NJ 07748
Permit: Yes

We have not been here personally, but every photo we've seen online indicates this is a beautiful option for outdoor lovers. Not to mention, the gardens appear to have some covered areas such as a greenhouse, which is always great to have - especially for a rainy day! There are photo permits required for portrait sessions.

Hershey gardens

Address: 170 Hotel Rd, Hershey, PA 17033
Permit: No (just need to pay admission costs)

Hershey Gardens was actually the site of our engagement session, and it was the first time we were exposed to this really beautiful landscape. Filled with an abundance of flowers and other natural features, this location is really breathtaking, especially when in full bloom. It also has some awesome redwood trees!

Kirkwood Preserve

Address: Grubbs Mill Rd, Newtown Square, PA 19073
Permit: No

Kirkwood Preserve is a sweet little park with tall grass and flowers throughout the property. There are only a couple of parking spaces, so it's virtually always quiet here. We got a little lucky to discover it as we digged through Google Maps trying to find new places in this area (right outside of Philly) that would allow engagement photo sessions without a permit - and this is one of the best options we could find.

Washington DC Tidal Basin

Address: Washington DC
Permit: Yes

The Washington DC Tidal Basin is the area right around the monuments. Why are we including it in our garden list? Well, during the spring time, this can be a really epic location for engagement photos due to the blooming cherry blossoms that attract a ton of visitors from around the world for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Engagement shoots here during the spring around this time do need to be planned well in advance and we highly recommend sunrise sessions to have the best views and opportunities to not have hundreds (or more) onlookers.