Secret Engagement Success

Prezwoodz · June 8, 2009

At the end of last year during a road trip I met up with my brother in San Francisco. During the stay John Borland and I put the idea of a secret engagement into his mind. We had just had our first attempt at one in Missouri and although it didn't go according to plan we really wanted to try it again.

Fast forward a few months and my brother is putting a plan of epic proportions into action. My sister and parents all bought tickets from Anchorage, Alaska to Seattle, Washington. His fiance's brothers and sisters are all invited to a dinner set for June. My family knows of the engagement plans, hers are not. He contacted me and we began to plan the shoot. He thought it would be great and I got really excited about the opportunity.

We all arrived in Seattle and it was going according to plan. His fiance didn't even know we were in town. My brother and I went and found a great place at the Botanical Gardens. I saw it and thought "this is the perfect spot!" he agreed and I jumped around for an hour looking for how to hide myself and my camera. I had him rent me a 100-400mm lens for the event so it was interesting finding a place to hide.

Then the day arrived. I went to the garden and hid an hour early. We setup everything before hand. I told him to make sure no people were in the areas we discussed. I also had him stand and face a specific way so that I could get the most from facial expressions and body movement. I set a small X of leaves on the ground so that he would know exactly where to stand. When he was on his way he sent a text message to give a 15 minute heads up, then another when he was in the parking lot so that we (me and my sister who I stole as an assistant) had enough time to jump into the bushes!

We watched as a whole family of atleast 9 people came walking into the picture first! Oh NO! Then for some reason they just hurried on through right as my brother came to the bridge. I was breathing slowly or not at all. I was excited for the moment but I think I was more on edge about making sure I didn't miss the shot! He took out a bag and her hands shot to her face. He put his hand in the bag and then she knew. Down to the knee and...

Then the first kiss as an engaged couple.

I was so excited! Soon they were gone and we made sure to jump up and continue with stage 2 of the plan. We drove and met with my parents at a local restaurant where his fiance's draw dropped to the floor. Then her parents walked in. She was flushed all night, I think she was suprised every time she looked around. I must say it was pretty amazing, and a very well done to my brother!

On a side note we were never discovered in our hiding spot, even by my brother who took a quick glance to try and find us. He even took a picture on his iphone before he left at her request which was directly at us! Even looking at the picture we were unnoticable. Whew....Success!

elizabeth_Luna · June 8, 2009

Wow love it!!! sounded like a fairytale

beautiful images!

heatherfeather · June 9, 2009

NICELY DONE!

Great job planning and executing these! I bet they will treasure your hard efforts for years!

Scott_Quier · June 9, 2009

- very nicely planned and executed. Did you get any shots that were a little tighter on the couple? Just wondering.

Prezwoodz · June 9, 2009

Scott_Quier wrote:

- very nicely planned and executed. Did you get any shots that were a little tighter on the couple? Just wondering.

Thanks for the comments!

I thought about it half way through that I should have had him turn her around at some point so I could zoom but I didn't. I can zoom in and still get pretty good quality.

I was laying on the ground using a trigger so i could hide in the bushes hehe.