A Bay Area Engagement Session at Saint Mary’s College

This Bay Area engagement session started long before the cameras came out, back when Jules and Derek met in a chemistry class at Saint Mary’s College of California. They became close friends first, and dating came later. Nearly six years on, they still call each other best friends. So when it came time to plan their engagement photos, returning to campus felt like the only real option. This wasn’t a backdrop chosen for its architecture. It was the place where their story actually started.

A Classic Thunderbird and a Quiet Campus

The session landed during Saint Mary’s spring break, so the campus stood nearly empty. That quiet gave the photographs room to breathe, just Jules, Derek, and the paths and courtyards they once walked as students, captured across film and digital for a timeless, textured feel. For a personal touch, they rented a classic Thunderbird for the shoot, adding a cinematic note against the collegiate backdrop. It’s exactly the kind of personal detail that makes a Bay Area engagement session feel like theirs instead of anyone else’s. As the afternoon went on, the session moved from campus architecture into the rolling green hills nearby, closing out in golden hour light.

Best Friends First

Jules and Derek describe their relationship as playful, easygoing, and built on friendship before anything else. That same energy shaped the whole session, less posed portrait, more two best friends spending an afternoon together. There’s even a small nod to how it all began built into the day: Derek proposed later at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, with Jules’s family flown in to celebrate that night. But before the ring, there were six years that started with actual chemistry, back in a classroom at Saint Mary’s.

A Chapter Before Evergreen Lodge

Julia and Derek’s wedding is set for Evergreen Lodge near Yosemite this October, planned with Jennifer Valdez of An Occasion Events. Yosemite and the outdoors mean a lot to both of them, and Evergreen quickly became the obvious choice for the celebration ahead. If Saint Mary’s is where their story began, Evergreen Lodge is where they’re choosing to begin the next one.

Looking for a Bay Area Engagement Photographer?

Looking for a Bay Area engagement photographer for your own story? Inquire here, or check back for Julia and Derek’s Evergreen Lodge wedding, coming this fall.

Vendors | Location Saint Mary’s College of California | Photography Tiffany Longeway Photography |