Lauren and Noah met me at Grand View Lodge on a clear June evening — and at Grand View, the venue is really two lakes. We started on the quiet Roy Lake side, a few minutes north of the main resort, and finished on the famous staircase and the Gull Lake beach as the sun went down. What I keep coming back to from their engagement session, though, isn't either lake. It's that Noah couldn't say a word without Lauren coming undone laughing.
Starting on the Roy Lake Side of Grand View Lodge
Roy Lake is the calmer, more tucked-away corner of the resort, and it's where we started. A pine drive, long evening shadows, a little direction to get them going — where to put their feet, what to do with their hands — and they took it from there, walking out hand in hand while Lauren laughed at something Noah muttered under his breath. We made the classic portraits by the rustic log cabins, Lauren's ring hand on Noah's chest, and then they'd stop posing on their own: she'd tuck her face into his shoulder, lean up to whisper something that made him grin, and for one quiet beat they just rested forehead to forehead with their eyes closed.
A Hidden Boardwalk Through the Tall Grass
Behind the cabins the grounds open into tall summer grass and a stand of white birch, and tucked into it we found a hidden boardwalk running straight through the marsh. By then the sun was low enough to come sideways through the grass and light the whole field like a lamp. They walked the boardwalk slow, heads tipped toward each other, Noah turning back every few steps to catch her mid-laugh.
Golden Hour on the Roy Lake Dock
Out on a Roy Lake dock, Noah spun Lauren until the water blurred behind her, then they sat at the very end with their feet over the lake and let it all go quiet for a minute. Roy Lake doesn't get the attention the big lake does — which is exactly why it's such a good place to start, before anyone is thinking about the camera.
The ring was new. The way they fell into each other was not.
The Famous Staircase at the Historic Lodge
Then we headed over to the main resort — the historic Grand View Lodge on Gull Lake, the one with the famous staircase and the flower gardens running up to the old lodge. Lauren and Noah kissed in the middle of the garden path with blooms on both sides. Then Noah dipped her — full kick of the leg, the whole lodge framed up behind them — and a minute later, up on the steps, she threw her head all the way back in the biggest laugh of the night. That's the frame I'd hang on a wall.
Down to the Gull Lake Beach
From the staircase it is a short walk down to one of the best beaches on Gull Lake. The light went hazy and gold, and they folded into each other on the dock before the shoes came off. It ended the only way it could have — the two of them kicking through the shallows, Lauren's skirt hiked up, water everywhere, both of them howling — with one last kiss out at the end of the longest dock, pure silhouette against the whole sky.
Planning a Grand View Lodge Engagement?
Grand View Lodge is one of the venues I photograph most in the Brainerd Lakes, and an evening like this is exactly why: between the quiet Roy Lake side and the historic main lodge on Gull Lake, you can move from a hidden boardwalk to a famous staircase to a sand beach in one golden hour. If you're planning a Grand View Lodge wedding, or an engagement session anywhere around Gull Lake and the Brainerd Lakes, reach out — I take a limited number of couples each year, and a session like Lauren and Noah's is the best way to feel at home in front of the camera long before the wedding day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Grand View Lodge is a roughly 900-acre resort near Nisswa that actually spans two lakes — the historic main lodge sits on Gull Lake, and a quieter cabin area is a few minutes north on Roy Lake. That gives an engagement session a lot of range: Lauren and Noah and I started on the Roy Lake side and finished on the Gull Lake beach, all in one evening.
We used both lakes in a single evening. On the quiet Roy Lake side: the pine drive, the rustic log cabins, a birch meadow, and a hidden boardwalk through the tall grass, plus a dock out on Roy Lake. Then over at the historic main lodge on Gull Lake: the famous staircase and its flower gardens, and one of the best sand beaches on the lake. Two very different moods without leaving the resort.
The last hour and a half before sunset. Grand View sits right on the water, so the evening light comes in clean across the lake with nothing blocking it — golden hour on the Gull Lake docks runs roughly 8:00–8:30 in midsummer, earlier in fall. Lauren and Noah's whole session was that one long stretch of gold.
Yes — it's one of the Brainerd Lakes venues I shoot most. An engagement session there is also the best way to get comfortable before the wedding day: by the wedding I'm not a stranger with a camera, and you already know that being yourselves in front of me is enough. You can see more on my Grand View Lodge wedding page.
