Proposal | Steeplechase Grandstands and Percy Warner Park, Nashville, Tennessee

Holy mackerel!! KEVIN AND KATY ARE ENGAGED and I’ve been waiting for the day that the two of them would grace my camera and website with their sweet faces. Truly no one was surprised when these two started dating two years ago, but I know that only through lots of trust and vulnerability and love have they gotten to this point of deciding to spend the rest of their lives together. Cheers to the future Lazenbys!!

BUT OKAY. I feel like I need to dive into the layers of lies and deception and all the good stuff of this day, so buckle up for a good story and get excited with me

On February 15th, I received a text message from Kevin that read, “Hey Angel, this is Kevin [which okay @Kevin I already had your number but whatever]! I hope you’re doing well! I would love your help with some photography in a few weeks, but it’s top secret.” You would think that as a photographer my first reaction would be PROPOSAL AHHHH, but really I thought he was doing some med school project, and for a couple seconds I thought about taking a screenshot of it and sending it to Katy to ask her what the heck Kevin was talking about. But I’m glad I hesitated a bit because it took me about 15 more seconds to realize that this was probably the proposal and my response to Kevin was actually, “KEVIN IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS” and Kevin’s response was “Hahahaha, it is!! I want to ask Katy to marry me!!”. To say I was thrilled would be the understatement of the century but okay let’s continue with the story.

Kevin had reached out to three of Katy’s friends that morning to help plan the proposal as well. Alexa, Camille, Sophia and Katy had justttt finished putting the final touches on a trip down to Florida to spend a week together over Camille’s spring break. The plan was to drive back to Nashville together after the trip, stay at Camille’s, and have Alexa and Sophia “pretend” to head back home the morning of the proposal (but really get ready for the engagement party). In the meantime, Kevin would pick up Katy from Camille’s place and take her to a restaurant for lunch, which would actually be the picnic that he proposed at, before they drove up to Chicago the next day. It was all so well planned and thought out.

However, Katy wanted to see all of her friends in the twenty-four hours that she was in Nashville. Kevin was obviously planning a proposal for lunch that she didn’t know about, and so the rest of us had to think of creative reasons why we couldn’t see her. A few girls told Katy that they could grab dinner with her (which obviously didn’t happen because #proposal) and I told Katy that I was busy all day, with church, lunch with some people, and then a maternity session — a believable day in my life. However, Katy really wanted to find a time to hang (especially since both of us are morning people), and so we ended up doing a hike at Percy Warner (yes, the same park that Kevin proposed at later that day – it’s the only place we hike together at lol) that morning at 8am. It was honestly just a sweet time with Katy — I did have to lie a few times about what I was doing that day, but we mostly just caught up about life and didn’t talk about Kevin or proposals or anything like that so there was really no room to ruin the surprise. We took some selfies on the hike and Katy says that now she can see the sneakiness in my eyes

Anyway, after the hike I took the long way to Nashville so Katy wouldn’t see me following her, and found Alexa just to say hey and give her something before the party. Then I rushed home to Brentwood, changed into my proposal photographer outfit (needed something green to blend into the background with lol) and packed a different outfit for the engagement party. Then I drove back over to Percy Warner and sat by a tree as I watched Find My Friends for 20 minutes, anxiously waiting for Katy and Kevin to get closer to the park. As soon as I saw them pull into the road, I hid behind the tree, glad that Katy’s voice carried so well and that no one was there. Kevin and Katy spread the blanket for their picnic, and before they could sit down, Kevin started telling Katy why he loved her and just some sweet things about her. Katy still had no idea what was going on, but just kinda took it all in, until Kevin reached for the ring in his jacket pocket. He got down on one knee, asked her to marry him, and she said yes!!

We took some fab photos of these two precious humans, and then I pretended to leave to head on home to edit some sneak peeks for them — the engagement party was still a surprise for Katy. About 30 minutes later, these two nugs finished lunch and drove over to the sweetest surprise party ever, complete with Katy’s parents, her best friend from home, her favorite pie and cookies, and all of the friends who said they were “busy” for the day!! It was just a perfect day in general, and Katy’s parents gave some beautiful toasts to the newly engaged couple — just an absolutely magical and precious day.

I hope your heart is just as full as mine is and that these photos bring you so much joy and life! There are literally LAYERS of lies and deception to keep this secret from Katy (lots of location sharing had to be turned off, lots of avoiding conversations and switching topics, etc.), but as Alexa told me, Katy is one of the most trusting and go-with-the-flow people. If something seems a little bit off, she doesn’t assume anything is up and she just rolls with the punches — a very easy person to surprise. I’m so so excited to see these two get married and to see how they’re marriage brings God glory! THE FUTURE LAZENBYS EVERYONE!! I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!