Engagement season is here! Are you thinking of proposing soon? Here’s a look at what planning a surprise proposal photo session with me as your photographer will look like. There are three steps I take to make your surprise proposal session come out as you envisioned!

1. Initial Consultation

During our initial consultation I will ask you some questions to help me better understand what you are wanting from your session and how to customize it for you. I take notes and start the brainstorming as I listen to your answers. Here’s some of the questions I might ask you:

What is your love story/how did you meet?
What are some things you enjoy doing together or what does a perfect day with them look like?
Have you talked about marriage/are you both on the same page?
What did you have in mind for the proposal?
Do you want privacy or for everyone including strangers to witness this moment?
Are you wanting her to know about the session?
Will they also be excited to take professional photos?
Where are these images going, wall or album?
How do you want to look at these images 10 years from now, or 25 years from now?

After hearing your answers to these questions it will help us know how to start planning the surprise and help me capture the moment in the most efficient way as well as discuss payments and Final Products.

2. The Surprise!

So how do we get beautiful photos of you getting down on one knee without your partner suspecting anything?! There’s sooooo many possibilities but let’s talk about this adorable couple, Francisco & Mariam!

Francisco wanted Mariam to know about the session without her getting suspicious. She knew Francisco would propose but didn’t know when or where! Francisco came up with an idea to throw her off by getting one of her friends to “gift” them a ticket to a couples session she could not use because she did not have a partner to do the session with. So I drew up a mock raffle ticket! Her friend then sent it to her and just like that Mariam confirmed her gifted session and we started talking details. I had to be careful not say too much or too little. I even sent her a private gallery of my work instead of my website so she wouldn’t get any clues! As for the flyer she didn’t have many questions because she seemed more concentrated on planning for the session. The plan worked!

3. Session Details

I am happy to give you as little or as much advise that you need when it comes to details! Here’s what Francisco and I came up with after our initial consultation.

Location - I send a few different locations for you to choose from if you have nothing in mind already. If needed, I will got scout new locations or just double check on the location you chose to make sure it is available. I look up the locations rules and fees so we know what we are getting into. Francisco chose Brazos Bend as the location for his “big trees” request and “more privacy” request.
Color Palette - My number one suggestion will be to choose a color palette because having this helped us choose decor for the picnic and the outfits to compliment it! You can just go to Pinterest and search a color palette. This is the better way to use Pinterest lol. So we decided on a mango color palette for his “colorful fruit picnic” request.
Date and Time - The kindest lighting for an outdoor session will be at golden hour which is one hour before sunset or after sunrise. Also consider the location, if there’s lots of trees we will need to start earlier for more light. We chose evening and a little more than an hour before sunset because of all the trees at this park.
Back Date & Location - things don’t always go as planned so I like to have a back up date and location incase of bad weather, closures, or anything that might come up! This is included in your creative session fee! A tropical storm had hit around the time Francisco proposed as well as Covid restrictions at state parks so we planned for those just incase with both backup date and location.
What’s Our Cue?! - This is referring to the sign I give you to prepare to get down on one knee. Ours was “Are you ready to dance?”

Bonus Tip - Ask for help from someone you trust when planning a set up such as a picnic. Francisco had his awesome sister Stephanie help with shopping and setting up the day of! I was also able to contribute some items I already had. Shout out to my brother in law Ivan, for helping us with the wood palette used as the table! Family is the best! <3