Julia Falls Overlook Engagement Photos

When Emmy and Evan reached out to me, I knew we would click right away! These two met a few years ago through mutual friends and wanted to take engagement photos at a beautiful Chattanooga overlook before getting married and moving to Atlanta.

To get to Julia Falls Overlook, you’ll park Signal Point Park on top of Signal Mountain. The parking lot has about 15 spots, and I haven’t had any problems finding a spot on weeknights. There is another small parking lot at the Rainbow Lake trailhead that is about a 10 minute walk away if there aren’t any spots left at Signal Point. Before we started down the trail, we stopped snapped a photos few at the top.

The trailhead is off to the right when you are walking from the parking lot. One thing that you should know about taking pictures at Julia Falls Overlook is that it is a hike. It’s not the distance that is tricky, but the elevation change. The first part of the hike is a set of stairs that goes down about 200 feet. It’s sometimes called the “mousetrap”, but has been repaired recently to make the steps more sturdy!

We stopped about half way down where there is a cute fence to capture a few!

When you get to the bottom of the stairs, you’ll be temped to turn right and head towards the overlook. Before you do, it’s worth taking a few moments to go straight- there’s a small rock that makes a great photo op! We played around with the direct sunlight and shadows from the trees for a few photos, and I love the results!

Pro Tip: Be sure to bring a comfortable pair of shoes for the hike.

Next up: The overlook! We made it out to Julia Falls Overlook just in time to catch the sunset going behind the ridge. This view is one of my favorites near Chattanooga because of the beautiful view of the Tennessee river gorge between Signal Mountain and Raccoon Mountain.

Evan and Emmy started their session in in a cute casual outfit (check out their matching belts!) and then changed into a more formal outfit for the overlook. I brought along my pop up changing tent so that they could swap outfits on the trail. I always touch base with couples before their session about whether we will need to bring the changing tent along!

These two were serving up all the sweet cuddles! We hiked back during blue hour and it was dark by the time we got back to Signal Point Park. Probably for the best, because we were SO sweaty from those stairs back up! We went back to the spot we started at to look for Emmy’s missing earring (not to worry, she found it!) and caught an opportunity for one last photo.

There’s something so classic about a silhouette. This was the perfect way to end our session!

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