Delia & Nick | SF Botanical Garden Proposal
I absolutely loved capturing this surprise proposal for Nick and his girlfriend Delia. It was incredibly meaningful and personal, and it was also a total surprise to Delia. What a delight to be able to help make this happen! The story is best told by Nick and Delia themselves.
From Nick: Delia and I have been dating for a little over four years. We started dating in Madison, Wisconsin and lived near each other on University Street. Delia and I both enjoy being outdoors, and she has an expansive knowledge of plants and flowers. On University, there was one small magnolia tree, which she pointed out to me, explaining how much she liked magnolias. We later went on runs around Madison seeking out magnolia trees.
About one year into our relationship, I moved to San Francisco, and Delia followed a year after that. Every time she visited we would go on runs and walks in Golden Gate Park, and the SF Botanical Garden quickly became a favorite place of ours. Our favorite time to visit, by far, was in February when the magnolia trees bloom.
Since both living in the Bay, we make annual trips to the garden to see the magnolia bloom. And when we have friends and family visit, we always take them to the garden.
Delia and I have known we wanted to marry each other for some time now, and in the fall last year, I knew I wanted to propose in early 2022 before Delia moves to Washington DC and we begin another period of long-distance dating. Both Madison and San Francisco are special cities to us, and proposing during the magnolia bloom in the botanical gardens seemed like the perfect way to commemorate our relationship from its start to its next big phase.
From Delia: Nick TOTALLY surprised me! A month or so before the actual date, he asked me if I wanted to go to the botanical gardens during magnolia season “for his birthday” — which is weird, because magnolia season is MY favorite time of year in the city! But he’s very thoughtful, so I didn’t think too much about it. When we got to the gardens, he walked me over to this grove of beautiful, blooming trees – I just stared at them for a while because they were so gorgeous! And then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nick get down on one knee. (I think the first words out of my mouth were “NO WAY!!!” which in hindsight wasn’t very smooth.) I was shaking so badly I had to sit down for a while afterwards – the rush of emotions was so strong. And the ring!! The ring is the most perfect ring I could have imagined, and he picked it out by himself! All in all, it was a magical day in a magical place and so on-brand for Nick – who is the most thoughtful, generous person I know – and also apparently an AMAZING secret keeper!
From Nick: The best part of working with you [Anna] was your interest in us and your help in planning. I had a great time filling out information about Delia and my relationship online and submitting photos of us. I appreciated how you wanted to get to know us a bit. You made it very easy to take my proposal idea and turn it into a very specific plan, and I really appreciated how you took the time to scout potential spots that fit my idea. It felt like you wanted to help me make my ideal proposal happen. Also the diagrams of spots and location sharing made me very confident that we would both be on the same page.
Congratulations, Nick & Delia!
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She loves a good proposal. Contact her to inquire about your own proposal plans.
