Planning a wedding proposal:
Alex got in touch with me a month or so back, he was planning to propose to his girlfriend of several years and was looking for a photographer to capture “the moment”!
We planned the wedding proposal and photos together via email over a the course of a week or so before selecting Devil’s Dyke. We arranged to meet there a few days later to choose the best spot for Alex to propose and for me to be able to capture the moment without being spotted.
As life goes, I ended up meeting Alex at the top of Devil’s Dyke on an absolutely gorgeous day for photography, the sun was low in the sky but still bright, silhouetting the handful of people walking along the footpaths around the hilltop, the para-gliders were out en-force making the most of a light breeze. The only snag was that my wife had been called in to work at short notice leaving me with my two daughters in tow. Alex was very understanding and the girls had a blast watching the para-gliders whilst we were exploring the hilltop looking for the best spot for Alex’s proposal.
It didn’t take long to pick the perfect spot, especially on such a beautiful day. And Alex already had a date in mind for him to pop the question, so we booked everything in and waited until the week of the proposal watching the weather closely we could see that it was starting to look like it was going to turn ugly. So a few messages and a quick phone call later and we had shifted the proposal forwards by 24hrs. I think Alex was relieved as we’d looked at a few other possible days to get the best weather.
Setting the scene for this wedding proposal:
On the day itself I arrived 30mins before Alex and Emily and was ready for them, positioning myself off to one side where I was in a bit of a non-place where Emily was unlikely to look on exiting the pub, where they were quietly having a drink. I decided to capture a few pre-photos of the scene to make sure everything was ready and looking good (which it was!)
Proposal panic!
However as time moved on, with Alex and Emily yet to appear, a large grey cloud moved in covering the sun. Moments later they appeared and started heading out towards ‘THE SPOT’. To my horror, Emily (very sensibly, as it was February and the heat was quickly dissipating now the sun had disappeared) had her hood up… I pinged Alex a quick txt message ‘Please get her hood down before you get there!’ I watched closely through my lens capturing the 2-3min walk of them both walking up the hill, Alex clearly got my message as when he turned around to face her he quickly went in to give her a peck on the cheek and dropped her hood so that I could see her face! :-)
She said yes!
Then it was all over in a matter of moments, Alex was down on his knee, I heard a squeal of excitement from Emily, she spun herself around in disbelief and shock but came back to give Alex a kiss before the ring went on her finger and that was that! They stood talking and laughing together, letting the adrenaline of the moment slowly leave their systems for a few minutes, just enjoying the moment and the view down towards Shoreham and Lancing (and the Worthing and Brighton area that they could see from their vantage point).
Meeting the bride to be:
Alex then buzzed my phone, my signal that I could come and meet Emily (whom until that moment had been just a subject in the viewfinder of my camera). She was absolutely lovely and clearly ecstatic, Alex was also still buzzing. And I had the great pleasure of being the first person to be able to congratulate them both. I bagged a few more photos (up close this time) of them beaming their delight at their engagement before it was time to head home.
The proposal edits:
When I went through the photos, as I suspected, there was a lot of grey sky. However Alex and Emily looked amazing and we had captured some lovely photos of such a special moment for them. I did one quick edit (sticking the sky from 20mins before the proposal into one of the actual proposal – see below) and sent that and the rest to Alex and Emily to select their favourites. There was a lot of editing to do, but that is a part of the modern photographer’s life. And that evening sky, which looked so amazing, was edited into nearly a dozen separate photos for them. The results, I believe, speak for themselves.
I love photographing special moments for couples, be that an engagement photos, or wedding photos. I also enjoying photographing families and individuals. So if you need a professional photographer, give me a shout.
