Two Marriage Proposals in 5 minutes at Rittenhouse Square

After literally 30 minutes of trying to find parking in Philadelphia, I finally parked and received my first text message from Ryan who was taking his girlfriend for a special horse and carriage ride.

"On Spruce at 12th." 7:39pm
My assistant and I gathered in the center of Rittenhouse Square and waited.

I received another text message "Here" at 7:51pm. Nice, we start looking around for a couple walking hand in hand in dark coats.

And another text message "Walking down now."8:03pm

We act like silly tourists taking photos in front of the Rittenhouse Christmas Tree all the while keeping our eye out for couples walking. Bam. We spot one.

It's perfect. He leads her over to a bench, has her sit down. Snap, snap, snap, we fire the cameras. Then I turned on my flash for the big moment. Snap. He get's down on one knee, takes out the ring and she starts to cry. We keep snapping away at the newly engaged couple. I can hear her as she mentions that people are taking photos of them.

After a few minutes they get up and start walking....but not towards us. We took a few more photos and then "he" says, " Who are you?"

What? What? What? My face went three shades lighter as imagined that I missed taking photos of our "target" engagement couple. I looked around, hoping that I had not missed the moment.

Two minutes later a couple wearing dark coats walked over to the frog at Rittenhouse Square. Ryan got down on one knee and asked Zeynep if she wanted to marry him and she said "yes".





I love this one even though it's got motion. I think that is why I like it. So paparazzi.

Congrats to both of you!

Surprise Proposal Engagement in Philadelphia Part III

Rachel and I had a chance to take a few photos after the surprise engagement in center city Philadelphia with Dan and Jackie.

Show your diamond off :)









Read More about the Perfect Engagement:
Marriage Proposal Part II
Marriage Proposal Part I

Surprise Proposal Engagement in Philadelphia Part II

So if you saw Part I of our Surprise Engagement aka Marriage Proposal, you already know that Dan hired me to secretly capture his proposal to Jackie in Center City, Philadelphia. So I stalked them like the paparazzi with a Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 (camera geek speak for a large freakin' lens). Rachel was in position by the LOVE statue dressed as a tourist with our son Elijah in a stroller by her side. She was far enough back to get a wide shot including the LOVE statue.

I think we were successful in staying hidden until after the proposal. Take a look:













See more of the story:
Surprise Engagement in Philadelphia Part I
Surprise Engagement in Philadelphia Part III

Surprise Proposal Engagement in Philadelphia - Part I

Shhh. It's a surprise proposal (engagement photography session) at Love Park in Philadelphia.



I'm rarely ever nervous as a photographer. I can't remember the last time I felt nervous before a shoot but this past Friday I was nervous. Dan and I stood outside the Phoenix in Center City by Love Park waiting for Jackie to make her appearance. She had no clue what was about to take place.

Jackie came out of the Phoenix from a spa visit that Dan had secretly scheduled for her and she walked across 16th street towards Love Park. At the corner stood Dan smiling, knowing full well what the next 10 minutes would hold. I stood in the bushes, more nervous than Dan, snapping photos a machine gun speed playing paparazzi.


Stay tuned for part II of the story and photos of surprise proposal :).