surprise

December 06, 2016. A day I will never forget. 

March 2016 I booked our trip to Paris. August 2016 I booked Ian Holmes Photography to take professional portraits of us. It was like a Christmas gift to myself, a souvenir I knew I would never get tired of. Everyone always asks "why?" "Why did you schedule photos?" The answer? I really don't know. The photographer in me wanted to remember this trip for what it was: two lovers in the city of love. And I really needed some professional images of us to decorate the house with.

The morning of our session was like any other morning in Paris, sort of our new norm: comfortable, fun, incredible. We went out for breakfast, stopped by the rental car place to ensure they got the car that we returned last night back, scoped out the meeting place Ian had sent us (I have a fear of being late) and headed back to the apartment to get ready. 

Getting ready surprisingly went very smooth, hair cooperated, makeup cooperated, didn't spill anything on the very white sweater I was going to be wearing, nothing went wrong for a change. We even got out the door on time! We hopped on the metro and headed to Palais-Royal and we got there early, but things can never go as smooth as they seem, right? As soon as we sat down and waited for Ian to arrive it hit me: we forgot his money!!! 

Even though we had gotten there early there was absolutely no time for us to go all the way back to the apartment, grab the cash, and make it back to our shoot on time. "What are we going to do?" "He's not going to do the session without getting paid?" "I've already paid the non-refundable retainer." All these things were rushing through my mind, what were we going to do? When Ian arrived I was honest, I told him we completely forgot the money, and suggested one of us stay with him and the other run to the apartment to grab the money. He was so nice about it, he said it was no big deal, we could grab it after the session. Thank God. 

Now onto the fun part: shooting! We started shooting around Palais-Royal in our more casual outfits, Ian was an absolute dream to work with, it was like we were just hanging out in Paris and someone was snapping photos of us. Dylan was super comfortable with him too (big win, he hates being photographed).

When it was time for an outfit change we ducked into a corner and I changed first, I went from my jeans and sweater to a formal dress. Easy peasy, just needed a quick zip and I was ready to help Dylan get changed. He was acting so weird, he didn't want me around, he didn't want my help, didn't want anyone to stand guard so nobody would see him, he just wanted me to go away. I didn't really think anything of it I just figured he was nervous about screwing something up because he knew how excited I was about having these photos. He suggested that Ian take some photos of just me while he was changing so we weren't really wasting any time. It took Dylan forever to get changed, Ian actually made a comment about him being the first guy to take longer to get ready than the woman he was with.

When Dylan finally got into his suit we took some photos at The Louvre then snagged an Uber to head to the Inception Bridge. I had no idea what the Inception Bridge was, but when we got there I fell in love. It was probably one of the most beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower you could take in. I was so exited we were having photos there. Us!! If you know me, you basically know how obsessed I am with photos, I was so happy to be there. Pure bliss, seriously. 

After Ian was done taking pictures of us in front of the Eiffel Tower he suggested we move onto our next location when Dylan asked me "this is your favorite place right?" "This is the best place to have photos taken right?" "This is your favorite place?" "I don't know, I haven't seen all of the places, but this is gorgeous, my favorite so far I guess." I told him when he turned to the photographer and said "wait, I have an idea for one more photo."

What? Dylan? An idea for a photo? Seriously? I turned to Ian and said "he hates having his photo taken" and Ian says "he's into it!" Okay, why not? Let's see what Dylan's got. We began walking back towards the view of the Eiffel, when he turned to me, and I asked "okay, what are we doing?" Dylan kept trying to talk to me (and not about how to pose). "Dylan, we're wasting time, how do you want us to be?" He kept turning me towards him so I thought okay a picture of us looking at each other, I tried to get a little closer to him when he did it. He dropped to one knee. I freaked out "what are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I looked back and forth between him and the photographer. I literally couldn't stop saying "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Until he opened the ring box and just said it: "will you marry me?" I said yes immediately, grabbed the engagement ring of my dreams and put it on my finger, when Dylan was just looking at me with tears and said "will you marry me?" again, he didn't hear me! I told him "I already said yes!!" He jumped up we kissed, we cried, we laughed, it was perfect. The whole thing. Dylan just pulled off the most romantic proposal I could ever imagine, he bought the perfect ring, and picked the perfect moment. I get to marry my best friend. I GET TO MARRY MY BEST FRIEND!