Here is a review of Harvey Beach as your engagement photo location.
Please bear in mind that when I’m reviewing I’m not critiquing the couple in the photos! This is purely focused on the location, the look, lighting, and options you have while onsite.
Hopefully, this helps you pick out the perfect spot for your engagement photos!
If you are still searching for your perfect venue be sure to bookmark our List of Wedding Venues in CT!
Location spotlight
Models
Chelesea and Anthony during an engagement Shoot
Address
68 Griffin Rd, Terryville, CT 06786, United States
phone number
+1 860-583-8670
venue type
Beach
score
The Review
Variety
I’m not going to keep this long, but it’s a beach, and that’s it. There’s no variety to this beach, it’s just a beach and a small one at that.
The Look
So you maybe thinking “But these photos look nice, what can be wrong with this place?” Well there are many things that are wrong with this place.
There is a TON of seaweed in the center of the beach. This is a small beach to begin with, and the seaweed easily occupies 1/3rd of the beach. So during photos you will have to avoid it completely or have it edited out in the photos.
The beach is really small so it’s fairly difficult to capture photos of couples sitting on the beach without capturing the parking lot, and having other people in the background. Is it possible? Yes, most certainly, but be ready to wait at times during your engagement session.
Unique Factor
It’s a beach, and a small one at that. There is nothing truly unique about it.
Cleanliness
The beach sand is perfectly fine, but the reason why I rated this so low is because of the seaweed I mentioned earlier in the middle of the beach. I wish I was exaggerating but it’s a TON. I’d guesstimate that it’s at least a 16×16 block on a beach that is maybe 50 yards wide. This would be a decent hole-in-the-wall beach if this was removed.
How Active
This is the biggest downfall of this place by far. During this photoshoot there was maybe 20 people tops and it felt crowded. Maybe not in the scenario to hang out on a beach, but to take photos it most certainly felt that way.
We constantly had to keep waiting in order to take photos and avoid people in the background.
I can understand if this place was flooded with people, but it was literally no more than 20 people there. If it only takes 20 people to interrupt a shoot, then you are way better off picking a different location.
Bonus - It's Close To Other Places
Yes, the biggest perk is that Old Saybrook is home to a bunch of waaaaaay better places to have your engagement photos at for example Ferry Land Dock.
Final Thoughts
So is Harvey Beach a terrible place? No, if you are a local, and you can get photos done on a weekday then it might not be that bad.
But for most people this is far from an ideal place to have your engagement photos at. I’d only suggest this place if you want to give your photographer a challenge lol.
P.S. No need to worry! This couple was well aware this place might’ve been bad before we started, so we had plenty of time to head over to Ferry Land Dock to finish their engagement session.
