Steven surprises Jess with a wedding proposal at the Chihuly Glass Garden

In early August I received an email from a woman named Kim in Virginia.  Her son Steven and his girlfriend were going to be coming to Seattle in late September, and he planned to propose to her while they were here.  Kim wanted to have someone photograph the proposal if possible, and she had located me after doing some searches for photographers in Seattle.  Once I confirmed that I would be available to do the photos on the planned date, she gave me Steven’s contact info and I reached out to him.  Steven drives a truck for a living and his schedule made it tricky for us to catch up initially, but after trading text messages for a couple of days we were finally able to connect by phone to talk about his plans.

The Set Up

Neither Steven or his girlfriend Jess had ever been to Seattle, and Steven really wasn’t sure where to do the proposal.  They planned to visit the Space Needle while here, and he thought that might be a good spot.  I love the Needle, but as I told Steven it would be a very tricky place to do a surprise proposal since there would be no place there for me to hide, and also that there are almost always a LOT of people on the observation deck, meaning both a lot of potential photo-bombers as well as virtually no chance of any privacy.  I suggested the Chihuly Glass Garden, located right at the base of the Needle, and where I had done several other surprise proposals very much like what Steven had planned.  Steven agreed that sounded like a good plan, and we decided to talk more as the date got closer to allow Steven to get a better idea of how he wanted to plan out their activities for the day, so we could set the timing for the proposal.

Jess of course knew nothing about Steven’s plans, and as Steven tried to arrange a trip to Seattle Center to first see the Needle and then visit the Glass Garden he had a hard time setting a firm schedule, since Jess wasn’t sure how long they were going to spend at the Needle.  And until they had that figured out there was no way to know when they would make it to the Garden!  I finally suggested to Steven that we just make a best-guess estimate of how long they would be at the Needle, and that I would arrive on the early side and just hang out in the Garden until they arrived.  I also sent teven a map of the Garden, showing a small path that would get them away from the majority of the other Garden visitors and give him at least a small amount of privacy for the proposal.

The Proposal

The day of the proposal was planned to be September 20, and we decided that Steven would try to get Jess into the Garden and into position for the proposal at ~2PM.  We stayed in contact by occasional text messages, with Steven letting me know when they arrived at the Needle (my signal that it was time to make my own way to the Garden), and when they were getting ready to leave the Needle and head for the Garden themselves.

It was pretty funny as we tried to stay in communication by text without alerting Jess to what was happening.  Fortunately Steven must text a lot, because Jess did not seem at all fazed by our exchanges.  Steven’s mom had sent me a photo so I knew what Steven and Jess looked like, but there was a pretty decent crowd that day at the Garden and even though I has placed myself at a location that they would have to pass through I had not seen them anywhere.  As I started to type another text, my phone chirped and I received a text saying “we’re right in front of you”.  LOL!  They were maybe 20 feet away, and I had not seen them while I was looking at my own screen!  Jess was thankfully oblivious, and I moved out and into a position where I could trail them as they entered the outdoor part of the Garden.

Steven did not waste any time.  Right away he led Jess onto the side path I had told him about, and started talking to her.  I was far enough away that I could not hear what he was saying, but I could see the expression on Jess’ face, and as Steven dropped to one knee and pulled a ring from his pocket she clearly realized what was happening.  Steven did it all perfectly!  Jess was completely focused on Steven, and I was able to fire away from a distance using a tele-zoom lens and she had no idea that I was photographing the entire event.  It wasn’t until they had given each other a big kiss that he pointed me out to Jess, and I then went over so we could all introduce ourselves.

We spent roughly an hour together first taking photos in the Garden, and then wandering around Seattle Center looking for nice places for more photos.  I had a great time getting to know both Jess and Steven a little bit, and talking with them about their plans for the rest of their time in Seattle.  Really nice couple, and I wish we had been able to take more photos together.

Here is a selection of photos from the day, I hope that you like them!