Last Monday, I was sick, so sick. But being a business owner, that never stops the machine from running. So my phone kept ringing and my email kept getting messages but I was so not into managing this well oiled machine. So, Tuesday morning I woke up and I was able to manage answering all the inquires I had. One of them especially caught my attention. On my voice mail was a message from a guy named Aaron who wanted to surprise his girlfriend by proposing to her by the waterfall that was located near where I lived. I called him back and wanted to really talk with him about his plans. We set a date to meet up the day before the proposal and walked through exactly what he wanted to happen.

When we met at the falls, Aaron told me about his plans. He was having his girlfriend drive in from Columbus so they could spend time together but little did she know, he was planning to change her entire life. I asked her name and how long they had been together. I love to learn about my couples and what they loved about each other. Clearly, Aaron was a keeper for his girlfriend. I mean come on, the guy hires a photographer for the engagement?! That’s a step up from normal proposals.

As we went to say goodbye and wait for the big day to arrive, I told Aaron to text me updates or if anything changed. We were set to expect them at 7pm the next day. (By we, I mean my husband and I… I couldn’t let him miss out on this!)

So the next day, I was so anxious for the time to arrive. I was honestly nervous. This was my first time photographing a proposal and I couldn’t wait. Some photog friends suggested that I bring my husband so it looked like we were hikers. The area we were going to be in was pretty open so I would have been hard to really truly hide out.

So I did some test shots when we got there…. oy, my husband is a goof.

And then we went on the walk to trails and find where we could sit and hide before they walked down into the area. I definitely didn’t want us to like sit there and look like we were waiting ON THEM. So while we sat (We arrived 40 minutes before them.) I thought about how I was going to make this work. How was I going to walk to the point I needed to photograph at while still looking like I was not there for them.  I thought about it and I came up with a plan. But I will let Doris, the once girlfriend but now engaged fiance, tell her what she seen:

                  “Last week Aaron told me that we would be taking a trip on Friday. I assumed we were going for a picnic because he asked what of sandwich I wanted. I arrived at his house yesterday, changed and we were off on an adventure. We arrived at Honey Run park at 7PM. There was a car there but I didn’t think too much of it, its a park! There was a beautiful waterfall that reminded me of our first trip ever to Hocking Hills. We walked over the bridge and onto a rock near the fall. These “people” seemed to pay no attention to us and were taking pics of “plants”. While standing on the rock Aaron told me this would be a special place I would remember for a long time. Then down on one knee he went and asked me to marry him! Little did I know, those “people” taking plant pics, were the photographers to capture our special moment! Rebecca got some awesome pictures and after we did a mini engagement shoot! It was truly amazing, romantic, and one of the best evenings of my life! We are happily engaged and looking forward to forever together!!” – Doris’ Facebook post

I think my plan worked… don’t you think? 🙂 I feel like we had her completely by surprise. It could not have worked out better!

Afterwards, Aaron had also planned with me a little engagement mini session so they would have to nice, posed images to have for their friends and family, too. So we took some pictures by the waterfall and at one of my ‘go-to’ locations and it worked out so perfectly!

I truly hope to photograph more proposals in the future. This is entirely too fun and has too many genuine emotions and feelings to photograph. It’s incredible and I am so thankful that Aaron allowed me into this very personal moment between him and the love of his life. I hope to photograph them again in the future!

Thank you so much for reading my adventure of this surprise proposal. If you are ever interested in a session of any kind, please visit envphotographyy.com

With Love,