On an unseasonably warm February afternoon, I met with Sarah and Victor on Mackworth Island in Portland, Maine. They were the winners of my couple’s session giveaway on Instagram only the week before. I went to college with both of them so it was a wonderful chance to see them again years and years later! These two lovebirds have been dating for 11 years and are completely smitten with each other. They drove all the way to Portland to meet with us and jumped right into the icy, muddy, slushy pathways that greeted us. You could never tell, though, that the walk was a bit treacherous as these two pulled everything off with a smile!

Sarah and Victor were so excited to get participate in this session and enthusiastically volunteered to jump right into the snow. Sarah was determined to have a snowball fight as they (carefully) navigated all of the icy, crunchy snow!

As we closed our session on the beach, Victor asked if he could request a “prom” looking pose. Sarah eagerly was all about the idea, so Victor positioned her facing away from him. He looked right at me and my husband, who was assisting me that afternoon, and showed us a small box hidden in his hand. My heart went in my throat and my husband quietly swore under his breath in shock. We literally had only seconds to prepare ourselves as we tried to stay calm and collective for Victor to ask Sarah to marry him. When I told Sarah to turn around to face Victor, he was already down on one knee. It was the most exciting end to any couple’s session I have ever photographed in my life and it had the best ending when Sarah said yes! Through complete shock and laughter, she announced to a jogger on the beach that she just got engaged (he was, of course, very happy for them). I’m so so thrilled to not only have been able to capture their love for each other, but also the start of the next chapter of their life together!! Congratulations Sarah & Victor!!!