- Beth Gasser and Alec Harwerth captured the internet's attention with an engagement shoot at Costco.
- They posed in the aisles and with shopping carts, and Costco shared the photos on its Instagram.
When it was time for Beth Gasser and Alec Harwerth to plan their engagement shoot, they couldn't decide on the location at first.
But the Kansas City, Missouri-based couple knew they wanted to take photos somewhere that felt natural to them.
Gasser, 25, told Business Insider they considered an art museum in Kansas City that was a popular engagement-shoot destination, as well as a local park, but neither felt like them.
As they considered their options, inspiration struck in the unlikeliest of places: Costco.
"We're pretty goofy people," Gasser said of herself and Harwerth, 26, who got engaged in July, three years after they connected on a dating app, and have set their wedding date for September 8, 2024. "We're not very traditional or lovey dovey in in the way that you see in regular engagement photos."
"I was joking around with a coworker because I love Costco and my fiancé likes Costco, and I was like, 'What if we happen to do them there?'" Gasser said.
To her delight, Harwerth was on board. And so was their local Costco.
The couple took photos all over Costco, even posing with a shopping cart
After speaking to the assistant general manager at a Costco in Overland Park, Kansas, Gasser said they got approval to do the shoot there — as long as they did it after hours and didn't include any photos of staff or customers.
Gasser's friend Booker T. Brown, of Booker T. Brown Photography, scouted locations within the store ahead of time, so they knew where they would be posing, she said.
The shoot took just under two hours, and the assistant general manager guided them through the store and even used a leaf-blower to ensure the store looked clean in all of the photos, according to Gasser.
Booker captured photos of the couple all over the store, and they posed everywhere from the floral department to the frozen-food aisle.
Gasser said she and Harwerth intentionally wore fancier clothing for the shoot, helping to elevate the look.
"I talked to my photographer, and we were like, 'In order to make it not look like an ad, we need to dress up,'" Gasser said.
To Gasser and Harwerth's delight, their wardrobe choices and unexpected backdrop paid off.
"My fiancé and I were honestly kind of nervous about what they were going to look like, even though I knew the photographer was fantastic," she said, adding that they were just concerned with how pictures in the store may end up looking.
"But they turned out even better than I expected," she said.
Costco also shared photos from the shoot on its Instagram account.
"Love and happiness in bulk," Costco captioned the post, offering congratulations to the couple. Since it was shared on November 18, the post has over 22,000 likes.
Nontraditional engagement shoots have become something of a trend lately, with more couples embracing unexpected backdrops for their photos.
In recent years, soon-to-be married couples have taken engagement photos everywhere from Olive Garden to Target, allowing them to show off their personalities, interests, or places that bond them as a couple.
So if you're considering a beloved store for your engagement shoot, Gasser recommends at least looking into it.
"It never hurts to ask," she said.