Kayla and Ben’s proposal started as a good ole fashion family session.
The Cornell family was visiting WA from ID and one of them reached out to me about doing a surprise family session for her mom. It had been awhile since everyone had been together and she thought it would be a nice gift for her.
A few weeks before our scheduled session she messaged me and asked if it would be ok if her brother, Ben, proposed to his girlfriend. Without hesitation I said HELL YES THAT’S 100% OK!! We spent the next couple of days coordinating how we would pull this off…secret codes words, hiding bottles of champagne, who would hold the ring etc..
The day of the session comes and I finally get to meet this wonderful extended family. I didn’t sleep well building up to this day because I was excited….so I can’t imagine how everyone else felt! I CANNOT WAIT TO CAPTURE THIS MOMENT.
We go through a few generic family poses, tell a few stories about each other…I’m watching the sun go down waiting for the perfect light. Also, for a few stragglers to kindly walk away from my pre planned proposal location :D
Finally the moment comes, the sun dips just low enough to cast that soft golden glow and I begin to shift my focus on Ben and Kayla’s “couple” part of the session. I take a few shots of them and them ask them to go back to back…..ya know, for that real hipster-IG-worthy-artsy shot. Bens sister, also named Kayla, walks up to Ben and calmly picks a piece of fuzz off his shirt while simultaneously handing off the ring box. I ask Ben and Kayla to turn around on the count of three and start walking towards each other annnnnnnd PERFECTION.
She turns around and sees him kneeling, confused at first but quickly realizing what is happening. The ring box was amazing, special made to have photos of them pull out as you opened the box. “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” written across the bottom. The ring, beautiful and brilliant. Kayla was shocked to say the least!
We then popped bottles of champagne and celebrated the future Mr. and Mrs. Cornell before wrapping up the rest of our session! All in all a perfect night spent in the mountains!
The Cornell Family, THANK YOU for letting me share in that moment and thank you for being so kind and fun to work with.
