It’s the last week of my Best of 2020 series! If you’ve missed any of my previous Horse & Rider, Family & Animal or Horse At Liberty posts please do check them out! This week however I’m sharing with you 2020’s Best of: Proposal Photo Shoots! Ok, there’s just the one in this category but I thought it was deserving of a whole post as it was such a special Photo Shoot! 🥰

Back in June last year David got in touch to book a Photo Shoot for himself, his partner Sophie & their dog Lyra. The location was set for Delamere Forest and the date penciled in for September. Nothing led me to suspect at this stage it was going to be anything other than a regular Couple & Dog Photo Shoot.

Once the September date was confirmed, I arranged to have the usual pre shoot phone consultation with David a couple of weeks before the session. During the phone call I asked if there was anything specific he wanted to make sure I captured on the shoot at which point he told me that he was planning on proposing during the Photo Shoot! (I should point out, not to me 😂 but to his girlfriend of almost 10 years Sophie!)

The cat was out of the bag!! We hatched a rough plan on the phone with regards to a location and at what point during the session he would pop the question. Lyra was to play a key role so when David gave the signal, I had to distract Sophie while he changed Lyra’s collar tag… what could go wrong?

With all that decided I was left with a great deal of anticipation, nerves and excitement for the Photo Shoot! On the morning of the shoot I got to the forest early to make sure the spots I had suggested were looking good and to see what the light was doing. I was met with the spectacle of a group of naturists out for a Saturday morning stroll through the forest. I had to sincerely hope they wouldn’t reappear at the wrong point in time and photobomb the back of the proposal photos! 😱

As soon as Sophie, David and Lyra arrived the shoot got off to a great start. Lyra was an excellent model and Sophie and David a total pleasure to photograph.

When we got to the location we had decided on David gave the signal and I took Sophie off to capture some shots of her on her own. I expected David to be a minute or two but as the minutes ticked by and there was still no sign of him or Lyra reappearing I was left to extend Sophie’s photo session and wonder where on earth they had got to…. Had David changed his mind and done a runner?! 🏃‍♂️

To my relief, they reappeared and as planned, while Sophie read Lyra’s new collar tag, David dropped to his knee and popped the question! It was just like shooting a key moment at a Wedding, I didn’t want to miss a second of it! Whilst also trying to keep significant distance to let Sophie and David (& Lyra) enjoy their very special moment! ❤️

(I soon found out that unbeknownst to David the ring had slipped out of his pocket and into the lining of his jacket so once he had finally got the tag onto Lyra’s collar and went to grab the ring, it had disappeared! Visions of having to search the forest floor were fast appearing when finally the ring was located! Phew! 😆)

Obviously Sophie said yes and there was much celebrating to be had! Lyra finally managed to escape into the muddiest of puddles in order to celebrate true spaniel style!

It was an absolutely honour to be involved in this very special moment in David & Sophie’s life and I am so excited to be photographing their Wedding later this year all being well. 🤞🤞🤞

I hope you enjoy the photos from this eventful morning in Delamere forest. I was, somewhat relieved we didn’t bump into the naturists again during the shoot!

Until next time,

Ciara x

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