Yesterday I was fortunate enough to capture a proposal! I first met Sara & Steve at Georgie & Chris’s beautiful wedding at Ston Easton Park last year. Steve was the brother of the bride, and for Christmas Georgie bought Sara & Steve a gift voucher from me for a portrait session. I was so excited when Steve dropped me a line to say that he was thinking of proposing to Sara during their gifted shoot session!

Steve & Sara had chosen Lacock Abbey for their portrait session as Sara is a massive fan of Harry Potter and the cloisters of Lacock Abbey were used for filming lots of scenes set at Hogwarts in the movies. The village too is absolutely picturesque, the quintessential English village too so I knew it would be a gorgeous backdrop. Steve managed to convince Sara the champagne & glasses was something I’d suggested they bring along as my approach is relaxed and documentary, that we’d shoot some photos around the village and then head into the abbey grounds for a champagne picnic. Once we’d got into the abbey and found a shady secluded spot away from where most of the visitors were walking Steve & I managed to give each other a knowing look and Sara was absolutely gobsmacked and completely surprised when Steve pulled the most perfect rose gold halo engagement ring from his pocket and dropped to one knee. After the proposal we walked around the rest of the grounds and Sara was just on cloud nine and couldn’t stop looking at the ring, it was totally adorable. And Steve was just relieved! They look so happy in the photographs it makes my heart sing! We then stopped for them to have a glass of champagne and I gave them some time alone to let it all sink in before we finished with a few final photographs and Sara & Steve went off for lunch and to make some exciting phone calls!

Proposal photography is a trend that is on the rise, and I was so excited to have the opportunity to capture such a special intimate milestone for these guys. There are so many happy moments in my life I’d love to be able to look back on and proposal photography allows you to do just that. Rather than surviving only in their memories I’m so thrilled that Steve & Sara will be able to look back on these photos and share them with those they love too over the years to come. Sara has family in Morocco so it’s also a way they can share in her happiness and see the place they got engaged. Ultimately capturing emotion is at the very heart of what I do, and so capturing such an emotional moment (I may have shed a tear behind my camera) was something I’ll never forget. Thank you Steve for trusting me with something so special.

When Sara saw the first photograph of the proposal she said: “thank you so much for making today so special, I can’t thank you enough! You were absolutely fantastic and thoughtful and I felt like I was celebrating with a family member. Really can’t thank you enough, you’re a star!”

Congratulations you gorgeous pair! Keep me updated on the wedding plans!