This post isn’t a destination wedding, but a destination proposal!! Dan popped the question in a surprise adventure to New York City with his now fiance, Kailen. The Seattle based couple had a vacation planned for the big apple so Dan set out to surprise Kailen on arrival. Since photography is so important to Kailen, Dan even flew out wedding photographer Rebecca Ellison to capture every intimate moment! Rebecca shared with us a bit about the trip and their experience. “Since Dan and Kailen have been good friends of mine for a couple of years, I jumped at the idea of capturing such a special moment for them, and I couldn’t wait to see the reaction on Kailen’s face when she realized my husband and I were there as well.”
“Dan and Kailen have been friends of mine for years, and I knew how much Kailen had been wanting Dan to propose. She had squirreled it out of him that something was going to happen before the end of the year, and I spoke with her a day or two before their trip. She was convinced he was going to propose at sunrise on the Brooklyn Bridge because he had specified wanting to do that during the trip. I had to play dumb knowing that the proposal would happen on the trip, but not how she thought it would happen. That was a hard conversation, being a supportive friend, but not sharing what I knew, especially not that I would be there too!”
“Dan had traveled to NYC quite a few times for work and he loved the fountain at the middle of Bryant Park with the public library behind it. It is a super small but intimate park in the middle of downtown Manhattan, just blocks from Times Square. Dan had chosen this park months in advance, but didn’t realize until the week before the trip that the park completely transforms during winter into an outdoor fair for the holidays and a huge ice rink covering the majority of the park. Luckily since his main interest was the fountain, we were still able to capture the proposal there, we just had to work around a significant amount more people than expected on a cold Saturday morning (people got on that ice rink really really early!)”
After taking the subway the wrong direction, this early morning call time for the soon to be bride and groom was delayed. But finally the photographer got the long awaited text message from Dan saying they had arrived at the fountain. Rebecca remembers the moment. “My heart starts to race. Not only did I want to make sure I captured the proposal without interference, I was so excited as Kailen and Dan are good friends, and I know she was about to be over the moon happy. All of a sudden I see Dan. I use my human shields to make sure Kailen doesn’t see me and get to a good vantage point. Dan gives Kailen a coin to toss into the fountain, and tries to get the ring out of his pocket, but Kailen tosses the coin too fast and he doesn’t have time to drop to one knee before she looks back. So he does it in front of her, and she starts to cry. I am furiously clicking away! She obviously says an ecstatic yes, and then after a couple minutes of hugs and kisses, Dan turns to me and points me out of the crowd. It takes her a second (because she obviously thinks I am across the country) but finally sees me… and starts to tear up again. It was perfect!”
“We had all of Saturday and Sunday to spend with Dan and Kailen roaming around NYC and photographing them for their engagement photos. It is by far the most fun engagement session I have ever photographed in my career! We hit up Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Terminal, Subway Stations, and multiple other random spots throughout NYC.”
Congratulations on your engagement and thanks for sharing your moment with us!
Destination Wedding Photographer: Rebecca Ellison Photography
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