Longwood Gardens live engagement with Michael & Naomi

Over the weekend we photographed Michael proposing to his girlfriend Naomi at Longwood Gardens, it was really wonderful to experience such an amazing moment in their lives, and it made us think about how lucky we are to be wedding photographers.

Here’s how it went down:   Michael and I scouted Longwood Gardens on Friday, to make a plan for that Sunday.  He decided to use the waterfall near the bell tower as Plan “A” for the exact location that he would propose.   We went over a few options for where the photos would be taken from, and where we could go for photos after the proposal.

On Sunday, Genava and I traveled to Longwood Gardens about an hour early and took a leisurely stroll over to the waterfall area to talk through our plan one last time.  We were feeling confident, but when we found the waterfall dry our spirits immediately sank.

We looked around and asked a few people nearby what was going on with the waterfall.   “It’s actually off right now.”  was one reply, another person told us why… “It’s off so that people can hear the bell tower”.

We had some backup locations, but the waterfall is really what Michael wanted as a backdrop to his proposal, and I was dreading the text I’d have to send him to let him know we would need to consider plans B, C, D, etc. We’re looking at each other for ideas. Genava is giving me that “I’m freaking out a little bit” look.

At that very moment the waterfall came back on!   We were so happy, I think we even slapped five with the people nearby and pumped our fists a few times!  It was magic.  I was just so happy that our plan was going to work…  I love it when a good plan comes together.

There was still about twenty minutes before Michael and Naomi were scheduled to walk by, so Genava and I found our positions and tried to look inconspicuous.   We felt like spies, or maybe cops on some kind of ambush, it was really a rush.   Genava was dug in up on the ridge overlooking the waterfall.   She would have a perfect shot when the moment came, and at her distance she would not be detected.  She also had not seen Michael yet, so I had to stay on the phone with her so that we could identify them when they approached.

My position was much closer, I decided to camp out on a bench about twenty meters from the spot that Michael was going to propose.   My plan was to stay on the phone with Genava, ID our targets and wait for the perfect moment, then I’d move in for the shot as my shooter on the ridge blanketed the area with covering fire…   Ok, admittedly we had a lot of fun with this, and at this point we’re both feeling like we’re on some top secret mission to save the world or something.   Did I mention this is a fun job?