Aalap and Ami – San Diego Marriage Proposal at the W Hotel

*I’m blogging a little out of order, but I figure it’s my blog – I call the shots! 😉  Lots of new shoots coming up, but first…*

This past Friday I had the honor of photographing a marriage proposal!  I was super nervous, this is a one-time shot thing!  I had shot one marriage proposal before, which was equally as stressful! haha

Aalap contacted me off a referral from the awesome Karen Morrison.  I was so excited to play a role in this.  Aalap lives in New York City and wanted to surprise his girlfriend Ami all the way from the east coast (she lives in New Jersey).  So Aalap made up a healthcare conference. You read that right…he MADE ONE UP!  Talk about planning and scheming!  He had to create a website, get Ami’s professor on board as well as her family and some friends!  Want to see this awesome website?  Soon it will be changing and a photo of the two lovebirds will go up, but for now… OHMP Symposium.

Ami was told that she was chosen by her school to attend this conference, so it was all covered by the school.  Aalap recounted the numerous emails Ami sent to the website, asking different questions and how excited she was to go to San Diego and attend!  When she arrived to San Diego on Friday morning, a car and driver was waiting for her and even the driver played along, recounting the amount of students he had already dropped off that morning!  Everyone was in on it…except Ami!

She got ready in her room and came down for an opening cocktail reception at the W Hotel (the hotel was also extemely instrumental in helping Aalap with the planning!)  She was fashionably late (which is what we had wanted) and her expression was priceless when she saw Aalap there!  And even more priceless when he told her there was no conference and no cocktail reception!

She called him just before heading down to the “cocktail reception”.  It was perfect, we had good warning!  See the black frame around the top of the photo?  That was the tree I was hiding behind!

Still wondering what the deal was…there was no one there for the reception!

Love this one!

The happy couple!

The next day, we shot their engagement session!  I’ll be sharing those soon!  Aalap planned the rest of the weekend for them too…with dinner at Mr A’s, dessert at Extraordinary Desserts and a spa afternoon!  What a catch!

xo, M

A little slideshow I put together so they could send to family and friends back on the east coast!