When Cooper texted me out of the blue saying he was planning to propose to Sammie during their maternity portraits, I knew I had to bring two cameras. The day started off about how any shoot goes: guy is all ready, patiently waiting in the living room for go-time; girl is still in the bathroom while her sisters do her hair and make-up. And me? Well, while we waited, I caught up with my favorite mother-of-the-bride (you can see her other kids’ weddings here and here) and *pretended* to be meeting Cooper for the first time.

Actually, Cooper and I met for the first time earlier in the day. After trading emails back and forth about location (which, sadly our mountain top proposal got nixed by some heavy fog that wouldn’t let us see 10 yards in front of us), and just exactly how this proposal was going to go down, Cooper texted last minute with one minor detail: the ring.

“Would you mind picking up the ring earlier and slipping it to me when the the time comes? I’m afraid she’ll feel it in my pocket.”

Good call, Cooper. I noticed Sammie did have a habit of putting her hands in your pockets. :-)

I stopped by Cooper’s office around lunchtime and grabbed the ring. I carried it around with me the rest of the afternoon – when it was time to leave for the shoot I was so nervous about forgetting the ring that I actually forgot my camera bag!! Thankfully, I didn’t get too far down the road before remembering. (For the folks at home, you’ll notice the weird part in the video around 1:30 where we all accidentally fall out of the camera frame as I have Sammie walk away from the camera and I reach in my bag to hand Cooper the blue ring box.)

The whole evening when off without a hitch. When it came time for the proposal at the spot we scoped out earlier (Sammie just wanted yellow leaves), I managed to trick both of them, by setting up my second camera for a self-timed photo of all of us. Except I wasn’t really taking a photo of all of us, I was setting up the camera to record video and I had to get the focus right. While I am certainly not even close to a videographer, I knew I couldn’t let the man propose and not record it — especially when I had the capabilities, albeit meager ones! It’s not the highest quality or in focus all the time, but it still makes me tear up joy every time I watch it – they had no idea any of this was filmed! I love Sammie’s honest, candid commentary. :-) I’ll let the rest of the blog post speak for itself and the incredible love these two share.

Congratulations, Sammie & Cooper!!! What a privilege and honor to be a part of this. I cannot WAIT for Baby Girl Charley to make her appearance; she is the blessed one with parents like you! The best is yet to come! Here’s to more “best days ever.” ;-)

With love, joy, and adventure,
René