Alex’s Surprise Proposal to Amy at Pioneer Orchard Park

First off I need to apologize for how long it has taken me to get this posted.  It should have been up several weeks ago.  But as we all know, “Sh*t Happens” and due to a few untoward turns of events I did not get this written earlier.  Mea Culpa!

First Contact

Way back at the beginning of July I was contacted by Alex.  He had found me online while looking for someone to photograph his planned surprise proposal to his girlfriend Amy on August 9, and wanted to know if I was available to take the photos.  I love shooting surprise proposals, so we got talking about his plans.  Alex was not really familiar with the Seattle area, and the location where he wanted to do the proposal was in Steilacoom, which is about 45 miles south of Seattle.  Beautiful little town right along Puget Sound, I have been there several times to photograph weddings.

Alex had a lot of ideas for what he wanted to do, but was not too sure as to what was practical or how to make some of these ideas reality.  He knew where he wanted to do the proposal and that he wanted it to be at sunset.  A good start but we clearly had some work to do!  He had seen photos of the park where he wanted to propose to Amy, and thought it would be cool to decorate the bandstand there for the proposal.  I agreed that this sounded like a good plan and then started thinking about the logistics.

The Preparations

Because sunset was going to take place at 8:30, and we wanted to be able to get some good photos of Amy and Alex during and right after sunset (to catch the best colors), we needed to have Alex set up his dinner reservations so they would finish at just the right time to catch the sunset.  Alex and I went over the options for photos quite a bit, and I told him that I’d recommend that he proposed to Amy a bit before sunset so we still had the best possible light, and then we’d take advantage of the sunset for more photos of the two of them.  Of course, this was going on the assumption that in early August we’d have a clear evening with a nice sunset.  All Seattle residents know that making assumptions about sunny conditions in Seattle is a potential recipe for disaster, so I wanted to make sure we had fall back plans if the weather gods decided to play any jokes.

Alex really wanted lights on the bandstand, and I told him that I could bring some strings of white Christmas tree lights and use them to decorate the bandstand.  Fortunately the bandstand has power and plugs so working lights would not be a problem.  But again the timing issue was important, since until it was fairly dark out the lights would not show up very well.  We decided that for the actual proposal it really didn’t matter if the lights were visible, and that we’d be able to do some photos on the bandstand after the sun had fully set and it was fairly dark.  The final plan was to do the proposal around 8:15PM and then work with the conditions to get the best photos.

As the date got closer I was watching the weather a bit nervously.  We were having unusually cool and cloudy days for early August, and the forecast for the 9th was kind of iffy, with potentially cloudy conditions.  A cloudy sky would mean that it would get dark well before actual sunset, and mean that the plans would need to be modified.  On August 8, it was a very cloudy day and evening, and it was quite dark well before 8PM.  So I was more than a bit nervous about what might happen on the 9th.  Once again, the forecast was for “partly cloudy” which around here is just CYA by the weather forecasters who really don’t have a clue.  But at least it looked like rain was highly unlikely.

The Proposal

I left for Steilacoom well in advance of our planned start time so I’d have plenty of time both to deal with rush-hour traffic and also to set up the lights on the bandstand.  Weather conditions were much better than the day before, with mostly clear skies to the west where the sun would be setting in a few hours.  I actually had decent traffic and arrived at Steilacoom well ahead of schedule.  Since I had never met either Alex or Amy I figured this would be a good opportunity to check them out beforehand.  So I walked up the street to the restaurant where they were having dinner.  I explained to the hostess about the upcoming proposal, and she pointed out where Alex and Amy were sitting.

Alex had mentioned that Amy’s sister was going to be there doing some other decorations on the bandstand, and when I got there after my recon of Amy and Alex she and some other people were busy working on putting up decorations.  It turned out that Alex had told both his and Amy’s families about his plans, and there was quite a group there to be part of the event.  Here is who was there (and who you will see in photos shortly).  On Amy’s side, her mom Kim and step-dad Curtis; her sister Allie, her brother Nick, and Nick’s girlfriend Courtney.  On Alex’s side his mom Carla and dad Steve.

At this point it was pretty clear to me that the odds that this proposal was going to be a complete surprise was rather low, but decided to roll with it just in case.  Once the decorations were completed I had everyone leave the park so Amy would not have too much warning about Alex’s intentions.  I moved to where I could take some photos with a long lens as Amy and Alex reached the park, without my being too obvious as I took their photos.  They made their way across the park and to the bandstand, which was definitely a bit over-decorated for a surprise proposal! 🙂

Alex did not wast much time and pretty quickly we to his knee and presented Amy with a ring.  Even though I’m pretty sure she knew this was coming, her reaction was still a lot of fun!  As you’ll see when you look at the photos below.

Once Amy had the ring and her crying had calmed a bit I went over and introduced myself.  Both families showed up right afterwards, and it was all I could do to drag Amy and Alex away to take advantage of what turned out to be a very nice colorful sunset.  Fortunately they understood that if we missed the sunset it was gone, so we were able to get a nice selection of photos.

OK, I’ve bored you enough.  Scroll on down to see the photos.  I hope that you enjoy them!