Ben & Sam Proposal | Sunrise Session

My dream finally came true. The scenario every photographer waits for. When you already have a couple's session booked "just for fun" and the boyfriend reaches out to you and says he's planning on proposing during the session!

With just a few days of a heads up and a VERY suspicious girlfriend, I needed to be a sneaky and creative as possible. Here are a few of my tricks after much thought for how we could try to throw the girl off his trail.

We started with the session at 7am. This was also my first sunrise session and it was a cloudy morning (which you can tell in the lighting) so I wish I would have started the session half an hour later. The better light started around 7:30-8:00.

During the session I did try to "fake" Samantha out a few times. I would have her turn around and call Ben over to me to whisper a prompt idea in his ear. For example" running up to her and grabbing her and spinning her around. Or having them stand apart from each other, spin around 3 times, and then try to come together and kiss. Sitting down, standing up, laying down. After the session was over, Samantha did admit she thought a couple of those would be the proposal moment but because the session was almost over, she did start assuming it must not be happened! For the hour session, we waited until the very end for "a few more ideas" I had.

The way Ben proposed was all his idea but during the session I played it off like it was my idea and I just wanted to "experiment" while I was borrowing new camera equipment. (okay, so half of that was true which made it easy for Samantha to believe!) First, I pulled out of my bag some photos of the couple through their dating relationship. Ben had printed them out for me but I said I "stole them from their Instagram" and Ben played along very well, acting all surprised and confused. They started going through the photos, talking about each memory. I asked them to tell me individually about "THE" moment or just a moment they knew they wanted to marry each other. By pure coincidence, there was a photo in the pile from the moment Sam knew she wanted to marry Ben... at a family member's wedding.

Next, I pulled out of my bag some rose petals Ben had dropped off to my house a few days earlier. I told them I thought it would be fun to lay them out on the blanket with the photos and they could just have fun with them! (When Ben and Sam were first dating, they were on a walk on a beach and came up on some rose pedals in the shape of a heart. Sam totally thought Ben was proposing and was all ready to say yes when Ben has to explain that wasn't him! So he thought it would be funny to bring that memory up again).

The moment was building and building. Sam, as suspicious as she was before, was clueless now. Per Ben's instructions, I suggested that they put the pedals in the shape of a heart and then had them stand up for more photos. I told them to close their eyes as I snuck the ring from my bag into Ben's hands (I had the ring so that Sam wouldn't "accidentally" find it... she was notorious for going through his stuff trying to scout out a ring before). Once Ben had the ring in his hands I could see him smiling so big, ready for his moment. I told them to think back on how they met through a summer job they worked together, how they started dating, how they fell in love, and on a count of three open their eyes. I'm pretty sure Sam knew what was happening before she opened her eyes but the moment of suspicious didn't take away from her reaction...

And then... we CELEBRATED.

Congratulations Ben & Sam! Thank you for asking me to be a part of this celebration in such a special way!