Surprise Engagement Photographer

Dennis & Susan

I’m beginning to think that I should change my specialty from wedding photographer to Surprise engagement photographer! Having photographed several surprise engagements (including Logan and Sydney’s surprise engagement), I am in love with them. Surprise engagements showcase the most raw emotions. The bride hasn’t gotten bogged down in the stress of planning the wedding. The groom has been carrying the ring around for some time and is so happy for her to finally see it. The groom had spent so long looking for the perfect one; He’d told me about the hours spent scouring JESSJEWELERS.COM and other sites to find the one that’d suit her best. And it paid off beautifully as he held the thing, staring into the rest of their lives, the couple is just ecstatic!

And ecstasy is exactly how I would describe Dennis and Susan’s sweet surprise engagement. Susan had contacted me a couple of months prior, asking to book one of our Christmas mini sessions supporting our missions trip to Helena, Montana. I met Susan while in my previous profession of Registered Nurse at UT Hospital. After getting to know her there, she had asked me to photograph her daughter’s Southern Depot wedding. Susan is just a wonderful person and I enjoyed working with her in the hospital and at her daughter’s wedding. Also following her life from afar on facebook, I noticed she had been hanging out with this guy Dennis. She looked so amazingly happy. I knew this was going to be a good thing, just from the look on her face in her posts.

Fast forward a month or so, I received a friend request on Facebook, from Dennis. When I saw he had messaged me shortly after that, I knew what it was about before I even opened the message. “Hi Katie…” the message started, “My intentions is to propose to (Susan) when we take our pictures in front of the Tennessee Theater”. And so the planning began! Creating tactics and plans, lies to cover up the exciting truth, we thought we would have Susan fooled. My husband Alex was even involved, planning to call me to say some emergency had come up and I had to leave right away, so Susan wouldn’t be expecting the moment to happen.

The night of the shoot was freezing cold (almost literally!). We met under the sign at the Tennessee Theatre where Dennis had picked to pop the question. Their first date was at the Tennessee! I love how he incorporated that into their moment. We took a few photos there and then left the area to keep Susan guessing. We went to then Krutch Park area of Market Square and photographed around the beautiful lighted trees. After meandering around a bit, we finished at the Christmas tree on Gay Street. At the perfect time, Alex texted me about the “emergency”. I told them about it and quickly took last shots. I could see the subtle disappointment in Susans eyes as we parted ways.

Dennis stalled for time so I could get set up, then headed for our pre-planned spot by the Tennessee sign. I quickly followed and captured these moments as they unfolded.

Congratulations Susan and Dennis! I am SO excited for you guys!! Thank you for asking me to be a part of this major milestone in your lives.