Photographing a Surprise Proposal

Many people choose to have someone photographing a surprise proposal. On one day in October, I photographed two. That day started with Reed popping the question in Georgetown. Then I drove to an estate outside Annapolis for the day’s second proposal of the day.

Planning to propose? If you want to capture the moment, it’s important to hire a photographer with the mindset and equipment . With a little creativity and solid planning, we can preserve your memories.

Choosing a Location for your proposal

Maybe you already have a spot in mind; it’s always lovely if big moments happen in places that hold special meaning for couples. If you aren’t quite sure where you’d like to pop the question, I’m happy to make suggestions.

I’ve found two types of locations work really well. Urban areas (say, monuments in Washington D.C.) work great because one more person walking around with a camera (that would be me) blends right in! More remote areas (think vineyards, parks, etc.) also work well because there are plenty of places for me to hide until the right moment. I literally hid in a tree to capture someone’s proposal at a private estate!

Photographing a surprise proposal: Making a plan

I like to hop on a video call with the person proposing. It’s just easier to talk through plans in real time. Sending me a few photographs of you both together is also a big help. If I need to pick you out of a crowd, it’ll help to know who I’m looking for! These chats can get pretty detailed, down to looking at maps, sunrise/sunset times and location photos online to pick out the perfect spot! I won’t have a lot of control over posing during the moment, so I try to educate my client on how to choose locations with the good light and clean backgrounds that help make beautiful images.

Prepping them

This is the tricky part. We want this to be a surprise, but we also want everyone to feel and look great in their photos! I provide a style guide when couples hire me for regular, non-surprise engagement sessions. Obviously, this doesn’t work for surprises! In these cases, I recommend coming up with a lovely cover story/part of the plan; the easiest telling them you’re going out to a (really) nice dinner so everyone dresses up! Of course, you can then actually go out to dinner after to celebrate 🙂

Levi actually had a brilliant plan when we hired me to photograph his proposal at the Jefferson Memorial. He and Michelle were visiting Washington, D.C. so he told her he had set up a photo session. She was totally prepped for the session and just didn’t know it would end with a ring on her finger.

Popping the question

We’ve got a great plan and it’s almost time! I ask you to send a photo of the two of you all dressed up in the outfits you’re wearing so I know what to look for (and thank goodness for mobile phones!). You all get my full attention once you’re in view, but especially when you’re among a crowd, it helps for the person proposing to make eye contact with me to ensure I’ve spotted you!

You’re engaged!

We follow up the actual proposal with a mini engagement session so you get both candid images of the moment and some beautiful couples portraits. Check out highlights from Ian’s proposal to Dawn, following by their mini session!

Scroll down to see a selection of the proposals I’ve photographed recently: