Picture this: A deserted beach at sunset, it’s me and my maternity photoshoot couple. I’ve set the mama to look out one way while her partner drops a knee to propose! It was the best surprise, and it was so much fun to be a part of!
But it nearly didn’t happen!
Let’s rewind a little bit, so I can share a little bit of how we came to this point.
It’s raining and getting heavier by the minute. We are finishing up with part one of the maternity photoshoot at Ben and Renae’s home. Our original plan was to head out to the beach to catch the sunset. But, the rain didn’t look like it was likely to ease up at any point soon. We talked options, and it came to me to make the final call. I thought why not head out to the beach anyway and have a fun time, regardless of the weather.
Little did I know at that point, that if we had stayed at their home, the proposal wouldn’t have happened that day!
I was packing up my equipment to get it all to the car (in the rain) and get to the beach as fast as possible. With the overcast skies, it was afternoon was alot darker than I had planned for. Ben helped bring some things out to the car. In a hushed voice said that he had tried to find my phone number to ask me in advance, but couldn’t. He didn’t know how to call me without alerting Renae to his surprise. He asked if I would mind if he proposed during the beach photoshoot and I felt thrilled with the prospect.
On the drive to the beach, I planned out a rainy session and how to weave in the proposal. We arrived and not a drop of rain was falling. I was SO excited, but I wanted to get them both comfortable and in the groove before setting up the proposal. Ben was nervous, Renae could tell but thought it was due to the fact that they were having their photos taken.
It was time.
I had Renae look out towards some trees and had Ben join her by the water’s edge. I did my secret signal that I had shown him back at the car- but it didn’t get noticed. So I asked him to get ready. I kept talking with Renae, to make sure she didn’t turn around. Ben was working on getting the ring ready and I definitely didn’t want Renae to turn too early! She was expecting a hug and I could see she was wondering where he was.
It felt like minutes passed (but in actual fact it was only seconds).
He was ready. I asked Renae to turn around.
And she said yes!!
I gave them some space to enjoy the moment. I’m certain that they floated through the rest of their photoshoot.
View their beach photos here (be sure to look for Ben’s expression as they get splashed by a wave):
