~ The Art of The Proposal ~
On Sunday, November 1, 2009, Kevin, my Cinema Partner (yes, it’s still a secret !!!) and I witnessed a beautifully executed proposal by The Man of the Year, Dave, to his wonderful girlfriend, Elna. It was truly special and the first proposal that the team has ever documented, so we are very honored to be asked to be present.
Where do I begin…it was a pretty hectic day. I had just booked Erin and Andrew for their July 2011 wedding and, like all my consultations, we were getting close to that 2 hour mark. I had to run back to the car and grab my camera and run back to ‘the spot’ to wait for Dave and Elna to arrive. Kevin was already in position and the Cinematographer was en route.
This proposal was in the works for a while. But I’ll kinda fill you in on how we know each other. I first met Dave and Elna at Rob and Tutu’s wedding last year. Elna is Rob’s cousin and was also a bridesmaid. So, the key was to keep this as inconspicuous as possible since she may recognize me.
The date has some significance also. Elna’s birthday is on October 31 and Dave’s birthday is on November 2nd. So, the only date that separates them is November 1st. So it was a good time…and the plans were in motion.
Over the last month, Dave and I have been in contact via telephone, email and Facebook. It’s funny because we couldn’t add each other as Facebook friends because people may wonder why we became Facebook friends at this time..especially Rob and Tutu. When I was in Greece and Western Canada, he’d email me to ask for my opinion on locations and timing and such. Being out of town, I had limited access to email and by the multiple emails and voicemails, it was obvious he was a bit anxious…and he had every right to do so…Independant Dave was about to expire.
When we talked in more detail, the plan was to have their really close friends and family joining them for a birthday dinner for Dave…and a belated birthday dinner for Elna. We were trying to think of the perfect setting. He really wanted to do it at do it at Panorama, but Rob stole that idea. Then maybe Canoe, but it wasn’t really ideal from a photography standpoint….and then there was Brookfield Place. I think it was a perfect setting. Great architecture and lots of light…just beautiful.
Dave and I met up around lunch time a few days before the big day to scope out the place and just kind of go over what game plan was going to be. It really was a game plan. This is what I sent him earlier on that week.
Dave says to me, “You know Joee, we’re moving into our house at the end of November and the first thing I’m going to hang in the house is a photo of the proposal…” How awesome is that !
And there we were…everything was set…T minus 4 days until showtime.
Fast forward to November 1. When they arrived, I saw Dave. They were a bit early. I saw him walking in by himself and I was trying to waive him over. Dang, I nearly gave it away because Elna was right behind him !!!! We wanted to mic him up to catch all the audio. Dave was kinda happy that we didn’t because he said he kinda messed it up haha Too bad we didn’t have time (and privacy) to do it because it would have been awesome for their feature film that we are going to do for them after the wedding. I proceeded to do a walk around looking in the air as if I was checking out the architecture. I was undercover that day…ball cap, glasses, dressed ultra casual. Trying to be a little inconspicuous.
We waited for about 5 more minutes watching the reflections off the marble walls to gauge when things were about to happen…and so it unfolded…petals were laid down around the two of them and it happened…
Job well done my friend…
Elna says to me, “I guess you’re going to be our photographer, right ?”…YOU GOT IT !
- two gift bags, doubling as birthday gifts, filled with rose petals
Cost: $20.50
- 2 photographers, 1 cinematographer
Cost: $X,XXX,XXXX (don’t worry, we’ll be gentle when we custom quote everything haha)
- seeing Independent Dave for the last time…
Cost: $Priceless !
Congratulations again to Dave and Elna. We can’t wait until the wedding (whenever that is) ! …things only get more interesting from here…
…to be continued.
-Joee
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