Show me your SURPRISED FACE!

It was the biggest photo assignment of my life.

A surprise proposal.
In the dark.
In a stranger's driveway.
During the annual Winterhaven light show - LOTS of people watching.

There was no freakin' way I could do this without practicing.

Luckily, the guy agreed to a practice shoot. That way we could be on the same page and he could get an idea of what it may look like. I wanted to know his plan:

Where he would be walking from,
What he was going to say,
What she was going to be wearing,
If either of them were going to be wearing hats,
Was he going to be kneeling?

You get the idea. I wanted to walk it through it step by step.


I bought stands, umbrellas, radio transmitters and another flash.
I spent hours watching lynda.com videos on flash photography.

I made the kids I watch after school, the neighbors, my kids and the moms of the kids I watch after school sit on a chair and position umbrellas around them while I snapped photos.

Erik took the ring and it was his job to slip it into the guy's hand right before he popped the question.  We even went so far as to put a "Friend Finder" app on each of our phones so we would know where the other was on the official night. We alerted the owner of the home what are plans were and asked if he was ok with that. The owner was fine. He actually said that it would be an honor!

Finally the practice day came. Katrina helped by showing us her best surprise face!

Luckily, Kat said, "NO" so "our guy" was able to propose again Saturday night.

I have to tell you that Kat kind of became obsessed with the Friend Finder app and wanted to check it over the next few days to find out where "our guy" was. Her stalkerish behavior worried me. Now the app is off, thank goodness. ;)

Pictures to come later.

Also, if you know who "our guy" is, don't tell! I'm not posting the other pictures until tomorrow so both families get a chance to find out before reading it on Facebook. Ok? Thanks!