Hello, dears! Ahh, I finally get tell you guys about one of the highlights of my entire year: my best friend, Aria, got ENGAGED! And I got to be there! 😀 This was my first (and possibly last time) photographing a proposal, and OH MY, it was epic! Today I’m going to dump tons of photos of my beautiful friends while telling you guys the story from my point of view. 🙂 Make sure to check out Aria’s lifestyle blog and photo blog to see her posts first if you haven’t! AHHH YAYY. Every time I think of this, I smile, so I think my face is going to hurt by the end of this post. XD Anyway, are you ready for a long, excitement-filled post? Let’s do this! So. Wayyy back in October, I got an email from Andrew, Aria’s boyfriend, via the contact form on my blog. He wondered if I could help plan a surprise for her. Some of you may know that I have surprised Aria before, most notably for her 18th birthday party. And HELP, Aria is SO hard to surprise because she thinks of everything! But I also love surprises and Aria, and it had to be good if Andrew was planning it, so I was like, “UM, YES PLEASE.” (Only more politely. 😉 ) Well, it turns out that the surprise was his propsal to Aria! I almost exploded with excitement. Aria and I email quite a lot, so I had been hearing about this relationship for months, now, and I knew she was going to be on cloud nine when he proposed. AND ANDREW WANTED ME TO BE THERE. Aria already suspected he was going to propose soon, but he still wanted to surprise her somehow – and when someone wants to surprise Aria, they ask me. :’D So… I got to help Andrew plan the proposal, giving my opinion on Aria’s opinion for things – like rings. XD It was SO. MUCH. FUN. Also really hard to keep the secret. O.o The plan that finally emerged involved Andrew’s best friend, Fleet, as well as me, being the photographers for the proposal and engagement pictures afterwards. We would both get there early Thanksgiving morning and stay for part of Friday. The day finally came – actually, the day before the proposal finally came – and I drove down to North Carolina. This was definitely the longest trip I’d taken alone, so I was a little nervous, but God was so gracious and it went splendidly, despite some traffic jams. On Wednesday night, I got to visit my dear friend Amanda who’s going to college near Aria’s house. We went out to eat at this amazing Japanese restaurant where we ate yakisoba and miso soup and got caught up on our respective past several months. It was absolutely lovely to see her again, ahh.<3 I spent the night in her dorm (thanks SO MUCH for letting me stay!), and then got up at 5:20 a.m. the next morning, which is REALLY early for me, heh. Amanda kindly got up with too so she could tell me goodbye. 🙂 ❤ And then I headed off to Aria’s! It was a REALLY strange feeling, let me tell you, to be driving on strange roads in the dark of early morning with almost no traffic, hours away from where I live, going to my best friend’s surprise proposal. I was in too much excitement and hurry to eat the apple I had packed for breakfast. XD (Also I LOVE THIS PICTURE.) I arrived at Aria’s house to find Andrew’s friend, Fleet, already there and ready to set up! We snuck around in the dark getting everything ready, feeling like we were doing something nefarious, as he said. XD We’d been worried about hiding spots since there’s not a lot of cover by the lane where Andrew was going to propose, but thankfully, Fleet found the perfect hiding spot behind a big tree and some bushy evergreens. We put up our tripods and waited… and waited… Finally we heard Andrew’s whistle signalling that he was close. They reached the spot Fleet had marked with an old shirt, and as they went over to inspect it, Andrew went down on one knee and proposed to Aria! Aria said, “Yeeeeesss!” in this really dazed, incredulous voice, and it was REALLY hard to stay quiet, oh my. XD I was worried the shutter sound would be too loud, but she didn’t notice a thing! After they hugged each other with much enthusiasm and I had taken some more pictures, Fleet kept photographing with my camera while I ran out and surprised Aria! More like shocked her, I think. :’D IT WAS PERFECT. Finally, Fleet rushed out of the hiding place too and there was much hugging and beaming and laughter. AHHH. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I have no words – the ones I just wrote about the proposal didn’t convey all the excitement at all – but this picture explains it pretty well, I think. I didn’t pose them or anything. This is just pure happiness. 😀 Well, after we returned to earth and explained some stuff to Aria, we headed down to a pasture where they had been going to take photos anyway, before Andrew proposed. (That’s why Aria is holding a tripod in the proposal pictures.) 🙂 And this time, Aria didn’t have to use the self-timer because she had two photographers to help her! Photographers who didn’t have to ask twice to get them to smile. I LOVE THIS ONE. I used Aria’s camera to take these, since it’s better than mine, and Fleet used his camera to get some great shots simultaneously from different angles. Andrew and Aria made it VERY easy to get good pictures because, well… look at them! XD But also, since Aria’s a professional photographer, she knows the poses and basically posed them both herself! Easiest engagement shoot ever. 😛 I DID help with the posing some, though, and it was super fun. I felt so professional. XD It also helps that Aria edited these pictures slightly before she sent them back to me and I love her editing style. 🙂 We briefly took some pictures in another pasture with better lighting and shorter grass. SO. PRETTY. Oh yeah, that book Andrew’s holding in the proposal picture is called “Becoming Mrs. Lewis” – because Andrew’s last name is Lewis! :’D Isn’t that great? I brought it up while we were planning the proposal and he had already thought of using it, so he did! I love it. XD Oh yeah, the ring! Andrew chose SUCH a gorgeous one for Aria, ahh! You’ll be able to see it in more pictures later, but I LOVE THIS SHOT. Phew. After a rather big morning, we needed some nourishment! We trooped back up to the house and told Aria’s parents the news, which they were thrilled about, of course. (Also Aria’s mom didn’t know I was coming! :’D She was SO sweet about it, though, and loved the surprise.) Aria’s mom fixed us a scrumptious breakfast, and then we went downstairs and awakened Aria’s brother. He opened his eyes, saw Aria and the rest of us, and said, “Mmm, I must still be dreaming.” HA, he’s hilarious. Anyway, after a bit, Aria got out her violin and played for us while Andrew held the music. 🙂 Andrew and Aria are both SUPER good violinists. After Aria did some solos, we went upstairs so they could practice some hymn duets together. They sounded amazing. After they had practiced violin, I got to play the beautiful baby grand piano while they sat on the couch like this. ↓ 😀 ❤ They actually wanted me to play, which was just wonderful. Not that people usually don’t or anything, but I always feel a little hesitant… sometimes it’s kind of boring or annoying to have to listen and feel like you should compliment the pianist, you know? And THEN I found a couple of hymnals and Aria, Andrew, Fleet and I all sang hymns for a while – they all have amazing voices and… oh my word. It was magical. Gathered in the living room around two shared hymnals, praising God with hearts bursting from His blessings… I will never forget that feeling. It was… I don’t know. Words fail me. I think it was a taste of heaven, where the voices of the saints will somehow be even more beautiful than the voices around me that day, and everyone will be more joyful, with praise even more sincere and grateful. *happy sigh* Anyway. Eventually it was time for lunch – for Thanksgiving lunch! Aria’s mom is a MASTER party planner/decorator/cook/hostess, so I was quite looking forward to it. XD And good gracious, I was still blown away! The table was absolutely gorgeous, with stunning bouquets, hibiscus flowers in pretty goblets, lovely menus and cloth napkins and… yeah, it was even more amazing than the pictures. XD I wish I could show you pictures of alllll the food, but… this post is already huge and I’m not done yet! So, suffice it to say it was one of the most delicious Thanksgiving meals I have EVER eaten. Subscribe to Aria’s blog to see more about this Thanksgiving soon – she’ll probably have more pictures of the food. 😉 Aria’s grandmother made this adorable little engagement cake for them. Isn’t it PERFECT? Ha ha, oh yeah. After Thanksgiving, the four of us headed to Craggy Gardens in Andrew’s truck for more official engagement photos. Well, it’s kind of a long story (involving a chicken crossing the road and fading sun and a guy walking his dog and no signal), but the short version is that the park was closed, and we ended up taking photos at a beautiful spot beside the road! Andrew drove up the lane and asked the guy outside if we could take some pictures, and he was like, “Uh, sure.” So we did. :’D It was hilarious, but also quite helpful because we got some lovely ones. Here’s one of my favorites. ❤ Aria’s mom gave me one of the bouquets to rearrange for use in the photos! That was fun, and the colors turned out to look perfect with Aria’s outfit! So yeah, THAT was an adventure! :’D It was a tad disappointing at first, but everything worked out great after all, and we just had fun driving and listening to music and talking. (Aha, here you can see Aria’s ring a little better! AHHH.) I didn’t take many or any photos that evening, but it was just lovely. We had Thanksgiving leftovers (still just as tasty), watched “Hidden Figures” (so good!), and talked by the fire until we were ready for bed. *happy sigh* Since we hadn’t had time to get too many shots the last evening before the sun went down, we decided to play it safe and do some more photos the next morning. I KNOW, SO MANY PHOTOS. I’m so, so glad we did, because this is one of my favorite pictures ever. ❤ ❤ ❤ I LOVE IT. They’re both just glowing with happiness in all of these, aren’t they? I took a few single shots of Aria as well, while she was in this beauteous outfit. Hoooowww is she so gorgeous, guys? ❤ ❤ Ahh, isn’t this cute? Andrew wanted his truck to get in on the photos. 😛 It made an excellent prop! After pictures, we went back to the house for breakfast and to change clothes so we could help milk the cow. (“Helping” turned out to look a lot like watching. XD) I, of course, still had the camera. I joked that Andrew and Aria would be glad to see us leave so they wouldn’t have two photographers following them around all the time, heh heh. XD But they wanted us to take lots of pictures, so. *shrugs* What can I say? WE TOOK A LOT OF PICTURES. Including this gem, which we laughed so hard over when the four of us were sorting pictures. :’D It’s so Aria! The last thing we all did before leaving was sorted pictures for a LONG time. We took literally thousands of photos between the two photographers, which I wasn’t surprised about. XD I *think* I managed to only select photos I took for this post (except the one below) but credits to Fleet if not! He got a ton of excellent shots. It was really fun to work with another photographer and hear about Aria and Andrew’s relationship from his perspective! And also to meet Andrew for the first time! Not to mention seeing Aria again! I just thoroughly enjoyed being with all the people in this photo. 🙂 ❤ Andrew and Aria… what do I even say? Thank you both a hundred times for letting me be a part of your story. It’s been my delight to watch your relationship grow from the first phone call to where it is now, and to watch it – and Andrew – change and grow Aria in deep and beautiful ways, in her love for others, and especially in her love for God. I’ve been privileged to witness the way your relationship is firmly planted in God’s love, not simply your own feelings about each other. Your commitment goes beyond passion, but is also above bare intellectual knowledge of each other’s convictions. I believe from the depths of my heart that God has been preparing you for each other your whole lives, and that he will continue to do a beautiful work in you – together. I love you both! *happiest of sighs* Yep, I’m still smiling. 😀 I hope you guys are too – their joy is kind of contagious, isn’t it? Be sure to congratulate Aria in the comments if you haven’t already! And tell me… Do you have a favorite photo from this post? Were you surprised to hear about Aria’s engagement? Did you read Aria’s post yet? (If not, click here!) Thanks so much for reading, dears, and have a lovely day! ***Allison***