When it comes to most of our proposals we capture, the communications start taking place weeks and sometimes months in advance! For us, it’s one of the most exciting (if not the) most exciting thing we get to capture. For the couple, there is this moment of “Oh my God!?” “Yes!” and all the nerves that build up to it. And of course, everybody always wants to know afterwards, did she say yes? How did he plan it all out? How did you not give it away? So it’s even exciting for our followers!
For those of you that have been following us for some time now, it’s no surprise we do a lot of proposals at The Biltmore and Biltmore engagements as well. It truly is one of those places that offers something for everybody. Between the views, the scenery, the architecture, it’s hard not to find something to love about visiting. Being such a popular attraction is one of the many reasons it works so well for someone looking to propose. I think at the root of all, most of us who have had to plan this out, you want their to be a key moment, and/or place to ‘pop the question,’ but one thing that stands true is more often than not, you want their to be an element of surprise. Visiting the Biltmore offers all of these things and totally works as a cover up “hey let’s go here to visit, I hear they have amazing views, wines, house tours, or let’s check out the Christmas lights.” You’ve totally left them distracted to the fact that you are in a place for a reason, even if they don’t know what that reason really is.
As we previously mentioned the planning process for these can sometimes take weeks as there can be a lot to coordinate and consider. Everything from schedule while visiting from out of town, to time of day, or even if there are special events going on you have to be aware of. This and more is something we help all of our clients plan for. We help them create a down to the minute plan including layouts, times of day, maps, routes of travel, back up plans, and even what to say if their partner questions them with “why are we going all the way over there?”. In all cases, I’m sure they would still say yes, but the plan we help them build is something that will create a memory that they will both cherish for a lifetime.
When the temperatures start to drop and the holidays draw near, it’s a time of year that wedding photographers like us refer to as engagement season and never was that more apparent for us than this past Saturday at The Biltmore. We worked with 3 amazing gentlemen, helping them to set up their proposals while visiting from out of town. We are stoked when shooting one or two per week, 3 in one day was amazing! They all had something slightly different in mind in terms of timing, vision and location, and Asheville’s weather also had something different in mind as just days before meteorologists were calling for a light dusting of snow and we received close to a foot in some areas. Of course once the snow hit over night, we received follow up emails, “Is everything still good even with the snow?” to which we responded yes! Engagements and weddings in the snow have just a little bit of extra magic to make them stand out from the rest and once the snow hit, we were even more excited to capture their proposals! Each one of these couples was fun, sweet, and ridiculously cute! They all had something about the way they interacted with each other and the way everything unfolded that made them special and unique to us. To highlight that, we will start off each section about each proposal with just one word that we think perfectly summed up our interactions with them and their connections with each other.
Playful
Kyle proposed to Tiffany in the area we call the secret garden! It’s one of our favorite spots because it gives you a side angle view of the Biltmore and given it’s location on the grounds, it really helps cut down on the amount of foot traffic that would potentially be in the background of your photo. We chose the word playful because it’s what stuck out to us most during Kyle and Tiffany’s engagement photos afterwards. Their playful, flirty, and fun nature had us smiling and laughing right along with them the entire time!
Surprise
Dutch wanted to propose to his now fiance Dana in front of the house on the hill. It is by far the most popular spot and with the Biltmore house in the background as well as the mountains in the distance, it is truly iconic. We chose the word surprise because plain and simply, Dana’s reaction. It was absolutely priceless. Not only could we see it written all over her face and body language (thanks zoom lens) but we could also hear her reaction, she was so cute! A few times in the middle of her engagement session with Dutch, she had to stop in disbelief and joy to take it all in!
Emotion!
Jay was our final gentleman of the day and he was going to propose to his now fiance Stephanie! Jay’s vision was to be at night in front of the Christmas Tree all lit up before his house tour! While it was quite frigid and toe numbing, it was so worth it to be a part of their moment. We picked the word emotion because Stephanie instantly bursted into happy tears as she hugged Jay tightly and told him unequivocally, yes! Our time with them was short but OH so sweet :)
We are truly grateful to have been a part of all of these amazing moments and for the trust in capturing them! Congrats to you all as you grow together!
Jenny & Joe