San Diego Surprise Proposal

Can I just say HOW MUCH I LOVE CAPTURING PROPOSALS!! There is just nothing quite like it! There is so much anticipation leading up to the moment and then the pure joy afterwards is just the best! When Daniel reached out to me about capturing the moment he would ask Lexi to be his wife, let’s just say I was more than EXCITED!! I met Daniel and Lexi on one of my many trips to LA in the last year. They are actually good friends with my good friend who I always stay with when I am in LA. So after Daniel reached out to me, I texted my friend Laurie and was like, “Can I come crash at your place for a week? I just booked a surprise proposal in San Diego.” She was like, “Yeah, of course and I’ll even road trip down to San Diego with you, and we can go exploring before your gig!” So for weeks she thought I was coming to capture some stranger’s engagement, little did she know that I would be capturing her friend’s getting engaged! Haha I seriously thought about keeping the secret until the big moment and just let her be surprised, but decided I should tell her beforehand. Just a few days before and with Daniel’s blessing I told her that I was coming to capture her friends getting engaged, HER EXCITEMENT LEVEL HIT THE ROOF! HAHA It was the best decision to tell her because she was then all in to help me with the preparations!  

THE LOCATION!

Daniel chose La Jolla Beach in San Diego for the proposal! Although they are both from the Chicago area they did not start dating until after Lexi had moved to Hawaii. Lexi was accepting an award and speaking at La Valencia Hotel. Even though they had barely been dating, Daniel made the trip to San Diego! SO this is where they actually took their first photo as couple! Like how special is that?!

THE PREPARATION! 

The whole ploy was that Daniel had to go to San Diego for the weekend for work and asked Lexi to come along. He set up a date night for them on Friday to some of their favorite places since this is where it kind of all began for them. Daniel snuck away early in the day to come meet us at the beach! We picked out a spot to set everything up and Daniel gave us the blanket, champagne and the gorgeous flower arrangement he had made! The plan was for them to come watch the sunset before their dinner reservations. So right before they arrived my friend Laurie set everything up then went into hiding. I was able to sit on a wall a few feet behind the the set up with my back to them. We had another friend (who Lexi had never met, so she would not recognize) on the wall facing them low key filming the moment and letting me know once they reached the blanket! 

THE BIG MOMENT!

Once they reached the blanket, I slightly turned so I could see them. Daniel took a few minutes to talk to Lexi before getting down on one knee. Because of the way we set it up we far enough away that they could have that moment privately (we could not hear a thing) but still have it captured! As soon as Daniel got down on one knee I hoped of the wall and began shooting as I got closer! As you can see from the photos below this moment was nothing, but pure happiness! Following all the excitement, we took a few moments to capture some photos on the beach! We then left them to soak in the moment as the sun set and then go on to their dinner reservations! 

A few days later we went out to Hermosa Beach and shot some engagement photos for them so stay tuned for the session! 

Again I will say I ABSOLUTELY LOVE CAPTURING PROPOSALS! If you are about to pop the big question and would love to have it all captured, I would love to chat with you!!