Planning

Jeff and I met up Saturday before the proposal would take place and scouted the beach as well as discussed the brief plan. It wasn't going to be anything super fancy, but he wanted to do it at one of her favorite spots. They both live in the Detroit area, so when they are on this side of the state, they try to make a point of going down to the Grand Haven lighthouse. They were planning on a weekend away to Traverse City, where she thought he was going to propose, but he wanted to do before to catch her off guard. We decided to use the well-placed log on the beach as our place marker, and I would just act like a sunset photographer, which is easy to do because I'm down at the beach often. We set the time and parted ways.

The Day of

Both of us were anxiously messaging and watching the weather predictions every day leading up to the proposal. We knew the day would be warmer and could be stormy. We decided to just go with whatever came our way weather wise and stick it out. The day dawned sunny and climbed to 55 degrees. It was looking to be beautiful and perfect for the proposal. As I was driving home from Grand Rapids, I started seeing clouds filling the sky. I started loosing hope that we would have a good sky or that it wouldn't be raining when the proposal happened. I got home, ran upstairs and got my camera and rain gear to head down to the pier.

My nerves were high as I drove down to the beach. When I rounded the corner and could see the sky, I might have let out a scream of delight when I saw a beautiful strip of clear sky at the horizon line. Now I just hoped that it would stay that way. One thing I didn't count on in my clothing was how cold it would be down at the beach compared to my house. I had no gloves and only a sweatshirt and a rain coat. Oops! I decided to get out and start prowling the beach and capturing some sunset pictures.

It was freezing down at the beach and very windy! I enjoyed talking with other photographers on the beach and watching the sky shift in it's moodiness and color, however my hands were freezing! Jeff and I kept in contact and soon enough they arrived, and it was go time! I let them walk past me and then shifted my position to frame everything just right.

The stood there enjoying the view for a moment and then he got down on one knee. I was grinning from ear to ear the whole time it was happening!

I thought I was spotted at one point. ;)

I couldn't contain myself anymore and gave out a big cheer!

After I revealed myself, we hugged, talked for a second and then a few more formal photos for them to use and went our separate ways warmed with the joy and excitement of the moment. It so much fun, and I'm excited for these two and their next phase of life. Congratulations Jeff and Sarah! Thank you for letting me be part of this moment!