July 3, 2015

Amy and Zach | Proposal @ Rural Dieterich, IL

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Holy Crap, Holy Crap, Holy Crap!

It’s finally out! I can tell the world! Seriously, secret keeping, not fun. I’m good at it but damn………

Last night, before the rain poured down we shot the amazing proposal of Zach to Amy but it didn’t come without challenges. Rewind about four months or so and Zach was emailing me for the first time. Now, I don’t typically get overly nervous about shooting weddings or family sessions, I mean, I think a little nervousness is good because you’re shooting one of the most important day of someones life but I can’t begin to tell you how nervous the idea of this proposal made me. This, for real, was our first proposal that we had ever shot and somehow Zach wanted us to not only photograph it but VIDEO it. Yep, and here start the lies……

Poor Zach, we tried SO many times to get this all ironed out but timing was an issue and so was the “method.” I won’t bore you with long stories of ideas that failed (bug Zach about it) but I will tell you what finally went down. Amy’s mother managed to convince her that she had won a gift certificate for my family photography services through a local drawing and that she wanted Amy and Zach to join her and Amy’s dad for some family photos. Amy agreed and so laid the groundwork for our plan. Zach arranged to meet up with us before to record some of his pre-proposal thoughts, show us the rock and work out “the signal” that would allow he and I both to know when the time came. To throw Amy off, Doug and I arrived at the family farm and just started shooting family photos like the typical normal session. Thankfully, Amy’s parents were in on the plan and they were completely cool and calm as we floated through the required family groupings and photos. I then managed to convince Amy to venture out to the large ditch/field that Zach and I had previously discussed to take a few “couple” photos and we left the parents behind. We found the moment, the signal came, and there went Zach down on one knee. I’m pretty sure all four of us were standing in that field shaking to death (I know I was) and it was a completely beautiful, real, raw moment. Zach is da man, no doubt. He pulled out that HUGE diamond ring the answer was YES and then the lies started to unfold…….

Doug (husband) managed to actually get all of this on film (and also some of the decoy family photos). We managed to convince Amy that he was filming me and my photography setup for a online class tutorial I was creating for my classes at the local library that I teach in the winter. She fell for it, thank goodness because I’m not sure I’m that great of an actor. I know personally I got in the car to drive to the proposal shot and I looked at Doug and said “crap I need to calm myself down or I’ll literally give this away I’m SOO nervous.” I’m so glad that this went off without a hitch and the anxiety of a up and coming proposal is over because seriously, its tough (but awesome). We went back to the house and the joyous moment was shared with Amy’s parents and the family dogs. We got to take a few “after shots” of the newly engaged couple and we finished right as the rain drops started to come. Amy’s parents=totally awesome.

A huge congrats to you both, I LOVED being a part of your special moment we are SO glad you chose us. We can’t wait to share the video with you (seriously, stay tuned, its going to be a good one) and the rest of the photos! Enjoy the moment, soak it all in!

-Much Love, Kate and Doug

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