Romantic Garden Proposal

This real couple thought they just signed up for a pretty photo shoot – well, so the now bride-to-be thought! Little did she know, this stunning garden backdrop set with a sweetheart table for two would become the setting of her engagement! Along with Hannah Mulligan, who photographed the whole thing, Cassie’s fiance plotted the perfect surprise garden proposal. While they began just playing bride and groom for fun, it all became very real after Dylan popped the question! This is how Hannah says it all fell into place:

I had been wanting to do a fall inspired styled shoot for a while now and with our Louisiana heat fall can not come soon enough. The first day that the cool weather hit I started planning! I started getting my vendors together. Paul Michael agreed to loan me all of the furniture and decor. Cassie with SouthernFete helped me make my vision come to life. I was inspired by a berry and blush color palette set against the lush greenery of the woods and oak trees at a nearby plantation home (Rip Van Winkle Gardens). I wanted it to feel romantic and whimsical.

When Dylan (groom) told me he wanted his proposal to be photographed I knew my vision would be a perfect backdrop for him to get down on one knee. A photoshoot with many moving parts, what Casie (bride) thought was a stylized shoot she had volunteered to model for, turned into her very own surprise engagement! The scene was set: a carefully constructed scene staged in the woods, a table set with plates and silverware, with antlers and tiny pine cones dusted with glitter. A gorgeous dress, a bouquet that exuded “fall”. A settee placed under the mossy limbs of an aged oak tree, glass vases filled with red berries swaying gingerly over the couple. As they posed and enjoyed the scene, her always thinking she was nothing more than a model for my photography business, he nervously said, “This just isn’t a photo shoot. This is OUR photo shoot.” On one knee he buckled, slipping the ring he had carefully concealed in his tuxedo jacket onto her shaking finger.

What a surprise! What a day. What a moment. And forever captured on film. The power of the camera used to catch the rawest and sweetest of sentiments. Who wouldn’t want a fairytale proposal?!