Megan + Emily {surprise proposal}

I don’t always hide in the bushes with my telephoto lens, but when I do… I’m photographing a romantic outdoor proposal!

One of my very favorite things about my job is capturing moments as they happen. Candid moments that only happen once, they can’t be repeated but they can be frozen and memorialized forever by my camera. I love doing this in my profession and in my everyday life.  I love the challenge of anticipating a moment and trying to capture it. I always strive to do this, and do it creatively. That’s where my business name came from 😉

Why am I telling you all of this? I just want to convey how ridiculously excited I was when Megan asked me to photograph her surprise proposal to Emily. It was so much fun!!

It was so cute seeing how nervous and excited Megan was. She’s a very honest person, and I think all of the lying she’d been doing over the past week or so had her on edge! haha! I can relate because I’m a horrible liar… which is why my husband always try to quiz me on his birthday/christmas/anniversary presents. I have no poker face!

Lets get back to Megan & Emily! To convey the story to you I decided to first show the images I captured, then share the engagement story in Emily’s own words. Enjoy… 🙂

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The Engagement Story {in Emily’s words}:

“A couple of days ago, Adam invited me to go to breakfast with him. He invited Megan, also, but she had a work meeting at 7:00 a.m. Adam texts Megan to inform me that this will be a more formal event so I should dress up a little bit and then I would look nice for church, too. I get dropped off at Adam’s and we watch Girl Code for a little bit before leaving for Peosta where we would be eating. This was convenient because Adam had to sell some Tupperware for his mom who sold it on Craig’s List and meet in the back parking lot at NICC later that day so I could show him where it was. All the while I’m concerned that Adam and I will both be shot because it seemed odd to both of us that he or she would want to meet there. When we arrive, there’s a vehicle in the parking lot but I didn’t think much of it because I had forgotten that it was Sunday. Adam says, “This is weird. What if that’s the guy? I thought we were meeting at four.”

I sit there, looking at the other car thinking that the person looks strangely familiar. Adam tells me to get out and I ask why. He becomes more insistent until he shouts, “Get the f*** out of the car!” I guess I figured that he thought his chances of survival were better if both of us were there. I walk around the car and see that it’s Tara! And she’s holding an envelope with the number “1” on it. I ask her what she’s doing here and she says that Megan asked her to give me this. I open it and read this beautiful letter from Megan about how we first started officially dating in that parking lot. Adam makes me read it aloud and when I express my struggle to keep from crying, Tara states, “You’re gonna cry.” At which point I become suspicious because that’s what Megan said I would do when her master plan of proposing to me unfolded. Adam suddenly looks at his watch and says, “Huh, our plans for breakfast have just been cancelled. Imagine that.” At which point I realize that we never were going to breakfast and they had all fooled me so well. I look at Tara and Adam, squint my eyes and say, “I’m on to you…”

 Adam and I get back in the car and drive around for a little bit because we had a half-hour to get to our next destination. We drive to East Dubuque, pull into our driveway where I see Mariah sitting on the deck. We walk up to her, and she hands me another note with a “2” on it. It talks about the bench on the deck where we had our first kiss. I talk to Mariah and Adam for a little bit about how extravagant this all was but Adam insisted that Megan was just doing this to show her affection and NOT proposing. Adam and I grab a little something to eat and he takes me to the Target parking lot to eat our breakfast sandwiches from Burger King. Then he pulls into the Perkin’s parking lot where we had our first date and I spy Tiffany and her boyfriend sitting on the curb. Tiffany says in her bubbly voice, “I have number three!” I read it to myself first, and then to everyone. I hug them, get back into Adam’s car, and wonder where else he could possibly take me. 

 Then we go to the Arboretum and I see Megan’s car and everyone else’s, too. We walk to the herb garden and I see Megan standing by herself, waiting for me. I walk up to her, grab her hands, and she tells me that I’m the most important person in her life, that she loves me, and that she can’t wait spend the rest of her life loving me.

 Then she drops down on one knee, pulls out this amazingly gorgeous ring and my hands fly to my mouth, my eyes instantly fill with tears and I say yes to my best friend.

I kiss and hug Megan when all of our friends rush out of the bushes and Cat pops out and starts taking pictures. We all laugh, hug, and cry together. We talk about how much planning Megan had made and how she hadn’t had a meeting that morning at all. I was dumbfounded. I had not even the most remote clue that this had been going on. But I’m glad it did.”

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Thanks for choosing me to document this amazing chapter in your love story Megan, and thanks for crying Emily! 😉 This will always be one of my most awesome photographer moments! <3