I've been shooting going on 7 years now but there are still some sessions I haven't done that I've always wanted to do. My wish-list shoots, if you will. One of them was a surprise proposal. I almost had one booked a few years ago with some friends of mine but the timing didn't work out. The opportunity finally surfaced again recently and I wasn't about to pass it up.
I had known Rose for a few years now. I had done a couple of fashion shoots for her and even connected with friends of hers to do the same. Although I was able to meet her boyfriend on our last shoot, we didn't really get a chance to talk much. That's why I was rather surprised when I got a call from a number that I didn't recognize and it was him. He wanted to propose to Rose and wanted me to shoot it.
The location he chose was a wide open spot at Grapevine Lake in north Dallas. We scouted the area beforehand to discover that there was really no good location for me to hide to get good shots. In order for it to work, it essentially required him to lead Rose out to a cliff setting and somehow keep her looking ahead the entire time. I would be hiding in a brush area in dark clothes. Because it was the fall and NO foliage on the trees, we had to hope she wouldn't look back while I had enough time to line up for some good pics.
I was following the forecast the day of the the proposal because the weather wasn't looking good. It was overcast with a 40% chance of rain. In fact, as I was driving out to the location, it was sprinkling. I asked Garrett if it was still on and he confirmed. The proposal gods were smiling down on them that day because just minutes before go-time, there was no sprinkling and the skies even opened up a bit. It was cold as all get out (which was uncommon for us that time of year) but no rain.
I wondered what was going through Rose's head as Garrett was driving her out to almost the middle of nowhere. Then also while he walked her out to the cliff. That required a LOT of trust in him on her part. I had watched enough "Snapped" shows to know similar situations with a shaky relationship don't end well. Sure enough, she revealed later that she was jokingly thinking "Is he going to try to kill me?"
Everything worked out perfect though. She never saw me until after he had gotten down one knee to pop the question. That's when I came out of hiding to get better shots of the two of them enjoying the moment while their feelings were still raw. The location turned out to be the perfect setting for the proposal. I don't know how many other surprise proposals I may get to nab, but this first one will remain a favorite.