Luciana & Scott | Marin Surprise Proposal Photography
I absolutely love photographing surprise proposals! This one was so simple and sweet, filled with last-minute improvisation from our Florida couple and the most gratifying expressions of surprise and excitement from Luciana. I’ll let her tell the full story below!
From Luciana: “Scott and I met one year ago in Miami. I had been running around all morning between errands and bumped into him at Starbucks. He was with a friend, but two seconds later the friend was gone and him and I were into a fun conversation. Anybody could tell there was attraction, but what I remember the most is how comfortable I felt chatting and how, in such a brief time, he was already making me laugh, as he still does, all the time. We began dating soon afterwards.
In May we went to Argentina and had the best time of our lives. He ended up meeting the whole family and my closest friends. For me that was huge. Seeing him how he behaved with my closest ones, how he talked about me, how he looked at me, I knew he was the one. When we came back we started talking more about family and marriage. He began asking about types of rings and venues and things I had in mind, but never gave me a real clue it was coming so soon! He even took me to the Tiffany store to looks at options, but said it was only to “get an idea” and actually told me the ring I chose was unavailable.
One week later, I had booked a photo shoot to get nice photos for Scott for his upcoming birthday, but I ended up having to cancel it because I got very sick. I had also gotten tickets for Guns n Roses concert in San Francisco the night before his birthday. San Francisco is our favorite city here in the US. So as we were on our trip in California, Scott told me, “ I have a surprise for you. Since we never have nice pictures to frame and you couldn’t do the shoot, I hired a really nice professional photographer to join us during brunch in Sausalito.” I thought it was a great idea and really didn’t analyze it much more at the time.
On the morning of the proposal, Scott had arranged a rental car and took a walk that apparently ended up at the Apple store, or so he said. When he came back to the hotel he had brought a little Apple bag with him. In hindsight, I am still surprised I didn’t ask or look at what he got. The weather was a bit tricky. Apparently Anna and Scott had been back and forth on the phone trying to arrange a place for us to meet. We ended up at Casa Madrona in Sausalito, where we had brunch. Anna introduced herself and was super sweet and professional. She said not to mind her; we should continue hanging out as if she wasn’t there so she could capture us naturally.
So there we were, wrapping it up at the restaurant, when Scott grabbed his backpack and took out that Apple bag. He told me, “before we head out, I think you should have this.” So I grabbed it and there it was, no Apple goodies, but a light blue Tiffany’s box. He tried to get closer and probably kneel but seconds ago we had been fighting a bee so the tables were kind of close and we had no room, haha. We both had tears in our eyes. The ring that I had picked months before was inside the box. He tricked me! He told me later he had already bought it two days after I chose it.”
So sweet!
Scott had coordinated the Tiffany ring’s arrival all the way from the Ft. Lauderdale store and picked it up from the San Francisco Union Square store that morning when he also picked up the Apple bag decoy. Such a gorgeous ring design!
After the initial proposal, we headed out for a few more portraits around Marin. It was so sunny on the Sausalito side, but immediately fogged over as we headed for the Marin Headlands. Still gorgeous either way!
Love!
Congratulations, Scott & Luciana! I’m so excited for you both and all your major life changes to come!
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.
