How We Met
Five years ago, I was grabbing lunch with my best friend in college at Seton Hill University, when an extremely adorable (tall, dark, & handsome) guy named Nick came up to my friend and started a conversation with her. Being the shy person I was, I sat there in silence, while I was trying desperately to come up with something interesting to say. They went on about Spanish homework (I took French), his lacrosse practice (I knew nothing about lacrosse), and a few other things. Then finally, Liv asked him what he’d be doing over Fall break and he mentioned that he would be going hunting.
Most people don’t hunt at SHU (It is a Liberal Arts University), so being that I was raised as a hunter myself, I finally had something to talk about. All of a sudden Liv became the quiet one, and quickly turned into an in-depth conversation about how much he and I both love spending time outdoors. The rest was history. Nick later became my best friend, boyfriend, and my #1 hunting and fishing buddy.
how they asked
Being a photographer, I showed up to capture one of many surprise engagement proposals on Tuesday October 4th. Little did I know that I would be showing up to my own proposal!
Knowing my profession, Nick understood how hard it would be to surprise me when he was ready to ask me to marry him. I had shot so many before and I had seen it all as far as surprise proposals went. He knew exactly how stubborn I would be if he gave away any clues, and how hard it would be to draw emotion from somebody who spends her life capturing and telling love stories of so many people.. So, he decided to do something completely different (and definitely risky).
A few weeks prior to my proposal, I received an email from a man named James. James explained that he wanted to propose to his girlfriend, Claire. He went on about how much they loved the outdoors and how this needed to be a big part of the proposal. He chose Beam’s Rock Ligonier, PA (which happened to be the very spot Nick asked me to be his girlfriend, 4 years ago). James completed a contract, paid a deposit, and even called several times to confirm his plans and express how excited he was to propose to his girlfriend.
So on October 4th, I showed up to Beam’s Rock, Ligonier, as planned with my camera in my hand. To get to the giant rock that overlooks what seems like all of Southwestern Pennsylvania, you have to walk the trail for about 10 minutes into the woods. I remember thinking about how perfect the leaves and weather was. Still after so many shoots like this before, I felt nervous for both James and Claire.
I finally reached the end of the trail, and immediately began ‘sighting in,’ or adjusting my settings to the scenic overlook which James had decorated with pumpkins. But as soon as I held my camera up to the view and zoomed my lens, I immediately realized there was no James or Claire…
The pumpkins were carved with, “Will you marry me Brit?”
Seconds after, Nick had appeared from the woods (after telling me he was out of town for work) with a huge smile on his face. I just couldn’t believe my own eyes.
My eyes swelled up and all I could do was watch as he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.
I said yes.
I wasn’t able to put two-and-two together due to the seamless planning on his part (er…James’ part) that went on for about a month.
Immediately after he slipped the most perfect 2ct. oval diamond ring on my finger, he explained that the gold wedding band was my grandma’s, who had passed away.
It couldn’t have been more perfect.
