Surprise Proposal - Superstition Mountains

I absolutely love being brought into capturing a surprise proposal. It’s such an intimate part that I get to see. And trust me for this one, I was crying behind the camera myself. The build up, the anticipation, the planning, the secrecy, and of course the pure joy in the moment leads up to such a wonderful moment in a couple’s lives. I had the honor of photographing Kyle proposing to his girlfriend at the Superstition Mountains in Apache Junction, Arizona and it was one of those sessions that I walked away from feeling goosebumps!

Kyle and I planned out everything through email. And he had put a lot of thought into this, even scouting out where exactly at Lost Dutchman State Park that he wanted to go down on one knee. I’m always extra careful when it comes to these type of surprise sessions. I never want to risk sending a text that could be read by the wrong person, giving the secret away. With surprise proposals, secrecy is everything. Kyle did a great job at keeping this under wraps.

We met up at the Cholla Use Day Area with the great Superstition Mountains in our background at Lost Dutchman State Park. Kyle had a specific spot in mind, and my job was to follow and linger behind the couple as they walked to it. Boy did I feel like a creepy stalker! But this part of secrecy is pretty fun…me following behind…watching every move they make…waiting for the signal to where Kyle stops and holds her hands giving a small speech before the anticipated proposal. The moment was so beautiful and amazing. As soon as he dropped to one knee, his now-fiancée’s tears started flowing. Mine did too behind the camera. It was that sweet.

I was so impressed with how much thought Kyle put into the day. He was on top of sending me emails and making sure we had the right phone numbers, even telling me he was going to go to the bathroom after parking to text me before he was ready to walk out onto the trail. While his girlfriend didn’t know it was coming, he still had her prepare and dress perfectly by telling her they were “going out to dinner” afterwards. Their outfit colors looked amazing together with the desert and mountain landscape.

After the proposal we took engagement photos with the gorgeous Superstition Mountains. I always love this time near sunset as the sunlight reflects on the the mountains and then they even make it to a fiery pink at night giving us a beautiful, romantic backdrop. This session ended with a beautiful sunset as well, and even a peek at the moon. It was a perfect, romantic ending to our session. I hope they will look back on these photos and cherish these moments. The beauty of this couple, this landscape, and the sunset wouldn’t have even been given justice with a cellphone. So happy that Kyle knew the value in this being documented.