Bryan truly thought this entire morning through.  His plan for her to not be suspicious of a sunrise picnic hinged on the fact that he lives out of state.  While he’d flown in for Mikeila’s birthday (which was Friday, two days before the proposal), he was supposedly taking a 9am flight home on Sunday.

She even got up and got ready because it was Sunday morning and her dad was a guest preacher at a church.  So she thought she was going on a picnic with her boyfriend, taking him to the airport then driving to church.

Only part of that was true.  They arrived at the park, laid out a blanket, drank some coffee and had some donuts.  They’d even brought a disposable camera with them – it was adorable.

At sunrise on Friday morning, I actually met Bryan and Mikeila’s brother at Greer City Park so Bryan could scout things out with his own eyes and we could talk through the plan.  I had an amazing hiding spot but was SURE Mikeila saw me at least twice… so I was sweating early on and was too nervous to move much.

Thankfully, she never actually saw me and when Bryan asked her to marry him, she was shocked!

The other miracle is that even though she knew they would be getting married sometime next year, she had NO IDEA Bryan was proposing this particular weekend.  She had hoped he would but he really did an amazing job of surprising her!

Mikeila’s brother was there to get it on video while I took photos.  It was definitely a family effort!

Love you both!!  I’m so excited for you two!  And you’ll have to forgive me in advance for how sentimental I might be in the coming year… Mikeila was 8 years old when Ben and I met.  Becoming an aunt to Ben’s nieces and nephews has been a highlight of my life!  And now the first one is getting married!!

To see more proposals and engagement sessions, click HERE.
To contact me about photographing your own proposal, click HERE!