Here’s a little secret, the moment I met Sam and Madison, I knew I wanted to work with them. I had the sense that we were kindred spirits as we spoke over Facetime. And my suspicion was correct! I drove to NYC for the couple’s engagement session and I felt like I was hanging out with old friends. Naturally we talked about wedding plans but then we chat about life in the city, best places to eat, and places we’d want to travel too. Before I knew it, it was time to go and I was sad! Luckily, I get to work with the two lovely souls again next year. I’m already counting down the days.

How he proposed. Sam’s story:

“Having met in Spain, I was eager to take a return trip, and we planned one for late August. Madison and I were fairly open about our plans to get engaged, and without me giving her much of an indication, she certainly thought it was coming on that trip. Two weeks prior to our trip I proposed in the Elizabeth St Garden in Nolita. Planning was fairly easy – I connected with the garden director who told me that he’d keep the garden open for 30 minutes after closing for me to pop the question. I arranged a photographer to be there to capture the moment as I proposed. As the day’s music and poetry event in the garden wrapped up at 6pm, people would start to shuffle out, and I would stay behind and ask… very easy. Until it wasn’t.

We woke up that morning to torrential rain, closing the garden to the public for the day. I somehow maintained a calm disposition throughout the day. I led Madison on a day of surprises after a morning workout together. We enjoyed a couple hours at the spa around the corner, grabbed a good brunch, and then went up to Barney’s and Bloomingdales so I could treat her to a pair of sneakers for our upcoming trip. On the way back downtown, and despite the numerous flash flood warnings on our phones throughout the day, the rain stopped and allowed for a dry proposal. We arrived home, got changed, and I told Madison we were going just down a couple of blocks to grab a quick bite before heading to what I’m pretty sure I said was going to be a rooftop for the next surprise. The only problem for me at this point was that Madison was visibly upset upon leaving the apartment… at this point I could have sworn my cover was blown… almost as if she knew the proposal was coming and was upset that I was choosing this time/place/day to do it. Later do I find that she was upset because she had been thinking to herself: “What an awesome day… it’s a shame it will come and go without Sam asking me to marry him.” Anyways, we take a quick five minute walk to the garden (which the director had opened for me), and I whisked her inside. After waiting a few seconds for the perfect moment to get on my knee, I asked and she said yes! Afterwards the surprises continued as we took a cab into Dumbo, where I had our parents and siblings waiting. That part of the surprise worked out perfectly too, and we had a great dinner at a restaurant (Celestine) on the East River, overlooking the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges.”