Last weekend we spent our Sunday evening with William and Maria at The Biltmore! What started off like many of our surprise proposal sessions at Biltmore, did take an unexpected turn as time for the big moment drew near.
The weeks leading up to Sunday evening, William had reached out several times as we worked on the perfect plan for his surprise proposal to Maria! After deciding on one of our favorite spots, “The Secret Garden,” William decided the morning of that he wanted to switch spots to in front of the house on the Hill that leads to the statue of Dianna. Prior to this, there had been a lot of construction going on down in front of the rails, so we weren’t sure if this would be an eye sore in the picture, but as they progressed on this project, there was much less actually visible from the hill. It was was an easy change and we adjusted our plan accordingly. As always we arrived a few minutes early to get set up, test our settings, and scope out the scene. The lighting was ideal on this day and since it was also later in the day, much of the crowds had already dispersed, everything was looking perfect. Well I must have thought this out loud and jinxed it, because a few seconds later, a full quinceanera party had arrived and set up shop with full studio strobes, 3 photographers, and the rest of the family. Not exactly the backdrop you think of for your proposal (lol). We still had a few minutes before William was supposed to arrive so thanks to some fast texting on Jenny’s part we were able to connect with William one more time before he arrived and ultimately switched our location back to the secret garden (phew!).
As with every shoot and every couple we are blessed to work with there is always something fun and unique to look forward to. Proposals are no exception, because you never know how someone is going to react. Well Maria’s reaction was the absolute sweetest and we couldn’t help but smile behind our cameras. Her body language and smile gave you that warm and fuzzy feeling and William’s smile reciprocating her’s made this a moment we won’t forget any time soon!
Big congrats to William and Maria and thanks for being troopers as the temperatures dropped!
Joe & Jenny