Oh this is such a great story!
Tom contacted me by email about a month ago when he found me through the WPPI website. He told me of his plans to bring his girlfriend of 5 years to Vegas from southern California to propose to her, and he wanted a photographer to capture the whole thing for them. The tricky part was, of course … she had no idea this was coming!
So for weeks Tom and I emailed back and forth making plans for the best time/place/way to pull off this great surprise. He suggested the fountains in front of the Bellagio (so romantic!), and I thought that was a great idea. Lots of planning and emailing back and forth …. and last weekend, the day finally came!
Tom and I kept in touch via text messaging most of the day. I knew when they landed in Vegas. I knew when they were out walking the Strip. I knew when they arrived at the Bellagio, and I knew when it was finally time for the big surprise!! It was so fun to be in on everything, knowing the whole time that his girlfriend had no idea this was coming. I was so excited for both of them, I had butterflies all day!
When the time finally came, I staked out a good place behind a tree right in front of the Bellagio. Tom texted me to watch for the girl wearing a turquoise dress and he was wearing a red tshirt, and as soon as I saw them approaching the fountains, I knew that had to be them. They were so cute together, and Tom was so funny. We hadn’t met in person at this point, so as soon as he got to their viewing area, he nervously looked at me and we kind of nodded our heads at each other. I felt like we were in a Bond movie or something! ha!
Then the 5:30 show started and I had snapped a few photos of them as they watched, without Gina suspecting a thing.
Then as soon as the song ended, I knew the big moment was about to come. After all these weeks of prepping and anticipation, Tom finally got down on one knee and popped the question. It was so romantic!
Gina was completely surprised, but of course she said yes, and the happy couple spent several minutes kissing and hugging and being so happy together. It almost made me cry!
Then I finally moved in and introduced myself. Tom explained how I had been there the whole time taking photos, and we asked Gina if she’d be up for a quick engagement shoot before they got on the phone to call all their friends and family.
I just have to mention that Las Vegas has been unseasonably cool all spring, but as luck would have it… this was the hottest day of the year! We topped out at 108 that day, and it felt more like 198! But Gina was such a great sport and they both were so happy to be celebrating their engagement, we spent about 45 minutes walking around in the heat, getting some photos to capture the feeling of the day. Here are just a few of my favs:
I think this one is my very favorite from the session as it just sums up the feeling of the whole experience. For the short time that we were together, it was so obvious to me that Tom adores Gina. He kept squeezing her and hugging her and putting his head on her shoulder just like this through the whole shoot. It was just too stinkin adorable!
Thank you, Tom, for trusting me with your special day. I am so happy and honored that I got to be part of your big surprise. And thank you, Gina, for being such a great sport and a beautiful model! You both are so cute together and I just know your future together is going to be a wonderful one.
