Frank’s Surprise Wedding Proposal to Whitney at Kubota Garden

Way back at the end of March I received an email from Frank.  He was planning to propose to his girlfriend, and wanted to know whether I could help him with photos of the surprise proposal.  Of course, this was shortly after many states had pretty much shut down, with many businesses (such as photographers) being declared “non-essential” and told that they had to close until further notice.  I discussed this with Frank, and told him that my own feeling was that if he was doing the proposal in an outdoor location while avoiding other people I would have no problem with breaking the rules and taking photos of the proposal.  I also offered to give him some ideas for locations for the proposal when we was ready to go.  Frank told me he’d be back in touch once he had firmed up the plans.

Sure enough, less than a week ago I heard from Frank.  He had gotten the ring, and was ready to set up a time for the proposal.  We looked over the weather forecast and it looked like we might get a shot at some decent weather the following Saturday; remember, we’re in Seattle and during the spring we tend to have a LOT of rain, and it can show up seemingly without warning.  So the plan was still tentative, depending on how the weather looked as Saturday got closer.

As the week progressed, the forecast continued to look positive, with the morning supposed to be dry and rain moving in sometime in the early afternoon.  So we decided to give it a shot, with the understanding that if Saturday morning turned out to be really wet we’d try again another day.  We discussed some possible locations, and Frank decided that the Kubota Garden sounded like his favorite option.  Frank had never been there before but planned to visit on Friday to check it out, so I gave him some ideas for possible locations for the proposal in the Garden, as well as a link to another surprise proposal I had done there two years ago.  On Friday I got a call from Frank while he was at Kubota, and was able to direct him to a couple of places where he might do the proposal.  He liked the Moon Bridge best, so I described to him where I would hide and how to position himself and Whitney on the bridge for the best photos.  We set up the timing for Saturday and we were good to go.

Of course, things never go quite as planned.  The weather people missed on the timing of the rain, and Saturday morning was wet.  It was not too bad, so we agreed to go ahead as planned and hope we didn’t get washed away!  I arrived at the park a but ahead of Frank and Whitney and was met by their friends Shaan and Janet.  Whitney had no idea they would be there, so we had to make sure that they were out of sight until after the proposal.  The three of us made our way down to the Moon Bridge, where we found a good hiding place for Shaan and Janet.  I set myself up in the position where I’d have a good look at the Frank and Whitney on the bridge, and pretended to be taking photos of the rhododendrons nearby.

Frank and Whitney showed up very quickly, and Frank led Whitney to the peak of the bridge.  After giving her a hug, he dropped to his knee and presented the ring.  Whitney answered Frank’s question with an enthusiastic “Yes!”, and Janet and Shaan then approved with cheers from their hiding place, catching Whitney totally by surprise.  With the advantage of hindsight I would have made (or tried t make) one small change to the proposal.  I had never met Whitney and did not know that she has long hair.  And her hair hid her face and initial reaction from me as I was trying to get a good angle on the proposal; you’ll see what I mean when you look at the photos below.  But short of having Frank somehow convince her to tie back her hair I don’t know how we might have solved this issue.  We still got some good photos of the proposal and that’s what counts.

We spent the next hour slowly exploring the Garden, and taking photos whenever we spotted a backdrop that looked nice.  The weather gods took mercy on us and the rain let up to gentle spitting at the worst.  Shaan did a wonderful job carrying my umbrella and keeping me from leaving any of my gear behind as we walked; I tend to get so involved with the photos that I’m taking that I will leave lenses, etc. spread out over a large area, and then have to go back and collect everything.  Janet and Shaan had brought along some props for us to use in some of the photos, as well as a bottle of champagne and glasses, which the newly engaged couple enjoyed at one of our stops.  LOL!  Don’t tell the parks people, there are probably rules prohibiting alcohol at the Garden!

Enough of my yammering, time to look through some of the photos from the day.  I hope that you enjoy them!