A few months ago as I was just starting to get things rolling with my photography, my good friend Tara asked if I’d be available to do her sister’s maternity shoot. The concept was SO cool: Melissa lives and works with horses on a beautiful piece of property (so I had been told.)

As the date of the shoot was approaching, I asked Tara if we could schedule some time to scope out the property to see where we would ideally like to shoot, see how the light hits, etc… and then things got exciting.

Hearing that we would be headed to this beautiful piece of property to meet Tara and her sister, Tara’s partner (and one of our other besties), Chris jumped at the opportunity.

Eric and I almost died with excitement for these two. Then the plan went into action: Chris coordinated with Melissa, so that when they were done horseback riding, he would be there hiding in the backyard area waiting with the ring. OMG.

Now from a photography perspective, surprise proposals aren’t the easiest, for the obvious reason: one party has no idea what’s going on. We got there early and had a practice run with Eric standing in for Tara, praying the plan would go off without a hitch.

What a romantic moment it was! Just beyond beautiful… Tara, who is not easily surprised truly didn’t expect a thing. We were so thrilled to be a part of such a special life moment.

Here’s how the rest of the shots came out:

Aren’t they a gorgeous couple? Which photo is your favorite?