A beautiful and light evening that came down to a surprise proposal from Chris to Aatikah - She definitely was surprised and it was a beautiful moment to experience along with both sides of family and the entire audience of gathered people! The genuine applause from everyone around to see was definitely something that can’t be described in words yet felt so warming. Congrats Aatikah & Chris!
Throughout the entire day I was completely nervous and anxious and I could tell Chris was too as he and I were both texting each other to iron out the Details. I'm pretty sure we both admitted a couple times that we both were nervous but I assured Chris that this was completely normal. To be quite honest, out of ALL the different types of photo shoots we perform, THIS kind of surprise proposal photo shoot is by far the most nerve wracking shoot to capture!
Play by play |
Both Aatikah and Chris had dinner around 630pm and were scheduled to begin shooting with me around 730 on top of the garage near the Orlando Eye. This entire concept was a surprise and to Aatikah's knowledge, this was supposed to be a shoot to help me out with some Couples Photography Promotion! Ultimately, the plan was for Chris to propose to Aatikah in front of the fountain in front of the Orlando Eye at 820, which is the exact time that the sun kisses the horizon. This is especially important because this is the exact moment that the sky reaches its full capacity of colorful lighting. They finished eating at around 8pm, and Chris began to make his way to the top of the garage with Aatikah from the location that they ate at. From where I was standing on top of the parking garage, I could actually see when they left Yaardhouse and began to make their way to me so I knew they would be there in a few minutes. However, at this exact moment I got a text from Chris saying that he needed to make an emergency detour because the families were right there in front of them (Aatikah confessed later on that she's completely oblivious to everything around her usually, so we got lucky!). Luckily, Chris took her straight into the gift shop on the excuse that he wanted to look for a key chain, which was a bit foreign to Aatikah but worked! After they got up to the top of the Garage, I said my "hello's" and began to thank them both for being apart of this promo shoot that I had asked them to do for me, and starting speaking some of the details to Aatikah. We began shooting at around 8:10 pm so I had to rush through the location that we were at in order to get to the fountain! We took a few shots on top of the garage with the Eye in the background and shot a few different poses and then we headed down to the fountain which was the main stage. As we got there, I made a little detour to the grassy area in front of the Eye to kind of change levels a bit and to also get some different character in the set of photos. After a few minutes on the grass we headed over to the front of the fountain and got there exactly at 820pm. Aatikah picked the left side to stand and pose and I had originally told Chris via text earlier that day that I wanted him on the left side - So I needed to make a few excuses to naturally get her to the other side for the surprise proposal! I had them do some fun/playful poses and sort of let them enjoy the moment by themselves while I snapped away and then finally I told Aatikah to stand to the right and face the right side while I had Chris stand behind her. She graciously moved to the right side, faced the right side with her back to Chris and I made sure she was set in not turning around. At this moment, I nodded to Chris and he got down on one knee and waited a good 10 seconds while I constantly reminded Aatikah to look far out to the right while I adjusted my settings. I could hear the noise level get lower and lower as people started to realize what was about to happen. As soon as I got the lighting and exposure correct for the shot, I told Aatikah to slowly turn around and as she did, she realized what was about to happen. She turned, saw Chris kneeling down and her facial expression was inexplicable! Also, while she turned around she happened to see both families standing beside me and became overwhelmed with emotion due to what was about to occur! As she said yes, EVERYONE began to applaud - both families along with the large quantity of people that were there to witness! It was a great moment and I was very happy to be apart of it all!
These are the moments that we live for as a photography company and they last forever in our minds. Although these kinds of photo shoots are super nerve wracking, its definitely well worth it and gives me great excitement to help create such beautiful moments! Thanks for tuning in and once again, all the best to Aatikah and Chris!
