Genevieve & Daniel | Berkeley Surprise Proposal Photography

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It was such a delight to work with Daniel on this proposal for his girlfriend Genevieve. The two of them are from Singapore and met their freshman year at UC Berkeley. In December of that year, the two of them sat on this exact bench, and it was there that Daniel asked Genevieve to be his girlfriend. She said yes. That was nine years ago!

When thinking about how to propose to Genevieve, the mission was singular: Daniel knew that he wanted to propose at the same exact spot. But first he had to get her there without immediately raising her suspicions. There were some substantial obstacles to this mission: for one, they both now live in NYC and had no particular plans to be back in California for a visit. So he played the long game and planted the idea in her head months in advance that they should really go back to the Bay for a visit in December. That worked smoothly enough. Then, having gotten them both back to the correct city, he embraced the fact that he had a new drone camera and deployed that as his cover story. They would just casually stop by campus so that he could test out his drone and capture some footage before brunch. In addition, he filmed some other drone footage beforehand that he could show Genevieve on his phone, telling her, “I want to film something that’s just like this…” Except the example footage ended by zooming back in on Daniel with a sign around his neck: “Will you marry me?” read the sign. Genevieve had the absolute best laugh that resonated from the bench as she realized what was happening.

Here are the two of them on the bench, watching the video Daniel had filmed.

He’s down on one knee! Laughter and tears, my favorite combination.

And here’s the moment when Daniel pointed over to me, hiding in plain sight across the way.

The happy couple on their bench. She noted, “hey, that’s our bench!” when they approached it, but didn’t think much else of it. She was truly surprised by the proposal and had no idea how much Daniel had beens scheming for it.

In fact, a couple weeks before this, Daniel flew all the way from New York to California in secret just to come and scout out the location. That is dedication. But you definitely don’t want to come back to find out the bench isn’t there any more or anything like that! Love.

From Genevieve: “I love how the proposal was so meaningful and thoughtful, and how it incorporated the Cal campus — where we originally met and fell in love. It was the best place to begin our the next stage of our lives together.”

Congratulations, Genevieve & Daniel! This was all just perfect.

Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She has become quite adept at hiding in unexpected spots during surprise proposals. Contact her to inquire about your own proposal plans.