Book Now
Hidden until the question is asked, then present for the hour that follows. Engagement sessions and surprise proposals across Baja California Sur.
Plan the momentA proposal and an engagement session are not the same shoot, and the mistake is treating them as one. The proposal has to be photographed without either of you managing it, from a distance, with no second take. The session afterwards is the opposite: unhurried, close, and finally with both of you in on it.
We do both in the same afternoon. We arrive early and place ourselves where the frame works without anyone noticing a photographer. After the yes, we step in, and the next thirty to sixty minutes become the portrait set that the proposal itself could never be.
IVAE Studios is based in Cancún and travels to Baja, with more than 80 sessions already photographed on the peninsula. We work in English and Spanish, which matters when the restaurant, the concierge and the boat captain are all coordinating in Spanish while you are not.
The part couples underestimate is the choreography. Almost everything that goes wrong in a proposal is a logistics problem, not a photography one, so most of our work happens before the day.
We agree the exact spot, the exact minute, and where you will be standing. Not roughly. A cliff terrace at the wrong angle puts the sun behind you and turns the yes into a silhouette.
You need a way to tell us you are about to do it without looking at us. Usually a hat, a jacket taken off, or a phrase to the person you are with. We agree it in advance and we never wave.
Long lens, from distance, no eye contact. Nobody around you knows there is a photographer, including the person being asked. After the yes we walk in and introduce ourselves.
Thirty to sixty minutes of real portraits while the adrenaline is still there. This is where the images you will actually frame come from, because you are both no longer pretending.
Above Land's End with the Pacific behind you. Dramatic and private enough that a proposal does not become a public event.
Boat access only, at the tip of the peninsula. The quietest hour on the water and the one frame that says Los Cabos and nowhere else.
The mission church, the art district and the cobbled lanes at dusk. Better for couples who would rather the moment feel like a town than a resort.
An hour north, where the desert meets an open Pacific beach with fishing boats on the sand. Almost nobody photographs proposals here, which is exactly the point.
The classic, and the one that needs the most coordination. We work with the concierge so the table, the light and the timing line up instead of fighting each other.
The Sea of Cortez side, with the light coming off the water. The hardest to keep secret and the easiest to make beautiful.
Four answers before you ask for them.
Aim for the last ninety minutes of daylight. Sunset itself is the most common request and the worst choice for the proposal itself, because the light drops fast and the yes lands in the dark. Ask before it, celebrate through it.
Everything goes to one phone number only, and we never confirm anything to the other person. If you are worried about the booking showing up somewhere, say so and we keep it out of email entirely.
Most proposals run one to two hours including the session afterwards. Send the date and the spot and you get a real number the same business day, not a package sheet.
Baja is dry most of the year, but the Pacific side gets wind. We agree a second location when we scout, so a change of plan takes one message instead of a crisis.
Even a rough one. Same business day reply with availability and an honest read on whether the spot and the hour work together.
Exact position, exact minute, the signal, and a backup location. In writing, so you are not improvising on the day.
Already in position, already blended in. You arrive to a place with no visible photographer.
Photographed from distance, then thirty to sixty minutes together once it is done.
Full and edited in 4K, while you are still on the trip and still want to send it to everyone.
Not if it is planned properly. We shoot with a long lens from distance and we do not approach, wave or make eye contact until after the yes. On a busy terrace we look like another guest with a camera, which in Cabo nobody notices.
It has not happened to us, but the answer is that we stop and leave. You do not get billed for a session that did not happen and nothing is published, ever. Nothing from any proposal is published without written permission anyway.
Yes, and most couples want that. Tell us the vibe, whether guests are involved, and roughly the hour, and we come back with two or three options that actually work for light and privacy.
For a couple on a public beach, no. Inside a resort, most properties allow an outside photographer and some charge a vendor fee. We handle that with the property before the day.
Yes, and it is common. It changes the choreography, so tell us early: where they hide, when they come out, and whether they know the exact minute.
Yes. Todos Santos and Punta Lobos are about an hour from Cabo San Lucas and worth the drive for couples who want an open Pacific beach instead of a resort.
Proposals book faster than weddings. A week is often enough outside the busiest months, and we have done them with three days notice.
Send the date, the spot if you have one, and the number we should use. Everything stays on that one thread.
