Proposal | Freedom Park, Charlotte, North Carolina

OH MY GOODNESS.

I’ve known Natalie for 2 years now — during the start of the pandemic, she asked me if she could shadow me at a wedding soon. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a ton of weddings in-state at that point, and so I asked if she just wanted to hang out instead and just play around with our cameras. And so we did — we met at some random park and took photos of each other and just truly had a blast. Since then, I’ve captured two sweet sessions with her and Skyler and those have been absolutely wonderful and fun as well.

Soooooooo fast forward to last December 2021, when I got a message from Skyler telling me he was going to propose in a few months in Charlotte AND wanted to fly me out! We planned out some details, booked the tickets, and on March 19th I flew out to this incredible city I had never been to. Skyler and his roommate and best friend, Garrison, picked me up from the airport, showed me around the park where we schemed the set-up, and then they showed me around Queen’s College, where Natalie and Skyler met. Then Garrison and I hid in Garrison’s room as Natalie arrived to Skyler’s room, and we snuck out and headed over to the park to gather everyone and hide.

A few minutes passed and finally we saw Skyler and Natalie walk up the hill and set up their picnic to do “homework”. He got down on one knee, Natalie said yes, and we all rushed at them from the bushes overly excited!! Natalie was in total shock and it was honestly just the most precious thing EVER.

I got to celebrate these two for the rest of the day — they took me to Ruru’s (a delicious Mexican food spot), Two Scoops (for some amazing ice cream), and then Bad Daddy’s for some delicious burgers. Anddd we obviously had some downtime in the middle to edit their sneak peeks of course and take a nap 😅🤩😉. Honestly, it was one of the best days that I’ve had in a long time, and it’s truly just because of how welcoming and wonderful these two and their friends are!! I’m so SO thankful that my first time in Charlotte was one to remember, and I can’t wait to take their wedding photos in some time to come!!

So cheers to the future Cook-Weeks!! I’m so PUMPED for you guys!!