Oh friends! I’m not exactly sure how or where to begin with this post, or for that matter, how long it’s going to be. There’s so much story and information to this proposal, that really, it’s almost better in person…especially since I talk a lot with my hands! However, don’t give up on me and stick around to the end, because it’s going to be absolutely worth it! But let’s start from the very beginning…like, years ago!

Brandon is one of my friendors (friend + vendor) that I met back about 5 years ago on a job! Brandon does Voice Work and also DJ’s at events and weddings and this is how we met. Honestly, at this point, that feels like forever ago that we had our first gig together! He’s always been an absolute pleasure to work with, and is professional and fun! He and Megan have a long history together and I believe it’s been about 4 years or so that they’ve been on this path. I flat out told him one day that when he asked that beautiful girl to marry him that I wanted to be there to document it. Pretty bold, right?! I may have met Megan once or so by that point when she came to one of our joint weddings but that was it. However, I just knew that whenever the time would come, it would be epic and I wanted to be there for that! [Honestly, I want to photograph all the proposals, let’s be real]

So, fast forward through the years and my declaration of witnessing this event, to the beginning of this year. Brandon calls to tell me that he’s making plans of proposing to Megan and wants me to be there for it! YAY!!! I was so excited!! Megan and Brandon are Annual Pass Holders to Universal and I think they basically live there. Next time Jonny and I go, I need them to go with us to be our guides and show us the little hidden gems of the parks! That being said, one of their favorite ,and what I would call famous, things that they do is ride “The Mummy” and come up with crazy ideas for their pictures. If you ride the rides long enough, you know exactly where those cameras are and become pros at posing for them. Brandon’s idea was to pull the ring out for the camera like he was proposing, then put it back in his pocket and they would come down to look at their picture and he would get down on his knee asking for her hand in marriage! Sounds perfect, right?! Well, that’s kind of the idea that he went with for a while…that is until he practiced his move on the ride one time. It was then that he realized that was not going to be a great idea. Not only are there doubts flying around like, “Will the ring fly out of the box on this ride” but when she sees me on my knee there’s going to be a ton of people there in the way trying to see their pictures, no where for me to stand to capture the moment, just all in all not really the best situation. So, back to the drawing board! A couple of months later Brandon calls letting me know that he has a date in mind at the end of summer when the parks are not quite as populated and we chatted for about an hour. He went through the idea of proposing in Central Park at Universal, but that Megan had called him out at one point in time and asked if he would do it there, we talked about doing it at the other park to throw her off, in a different city and something just completely different, but all came back to the Central Park idea because they spend down time there together when in the park since people do not really go into it. The next hurdle would be when? Do we do it the first day they get there or do we wait? He decided to do it the second day of their stay just in case she had any inkling of what was about to go down. Okay, now we’re getting somewhere! So the week of the big event, he comes and visits me in Lake City to chat through the details one final time and to give me a scrapbook. Brandon is entrusting me not only to capture this moment, but to make sure that I get this book to the exact right place and get a Universal bag to put it in. No pressure, right? Guys, let me tell you about this book. He took about 2 dozen of their Universal photos and put them strategically in this book and wrote out a poem basically to go with every picture and tell a story. When he handed it to me, he said “You can read it if you want, but don’t do it in front of me.” And I read it, twice. It was perfect and I straight up ugly cried (thankfully no tears on the pages)! He put so much thought into it and I just adored it! Then we actually ended up moving our time up by two hours because of the chance of afternoon rain, you know, typical Florida stuff. So Brandon and Megan arrived in Orlando on Thursday and went over to the park. Thankfully, Megan went and laid down on a bench [and possibly fell asleep] and Brandon sent me private videos through Snapchat of Central Park. He laid out one thought after another and then after going through it all, came back to this hill in the Park. Perfect! *Oh and sidenote, we only messaged through Snapchat the majority of this because there’s no evidence* The day was finally here, Friday: Proposal Day. My nerves ramped up the minute I started getting ready. I was a wreck. Would I be at the right park? Is there more than one little hill? Would I accidentally run into them? Would this plan work perfectly? Would I be on time? Is it going to rain? I mean, seriously, I was wound up. It was kind of funny, because on the drive down to Orlando, I would be fine, and then all of a sudden, my heart would begin to pound and I was all of a sudden nervous all over again. I had to talk myself down and breathe, and then a little while later, go through it all over again. If this is what I was going through, I can’t even imagine what the person proposing actually feels! Geesh! I made it into the park, with my backpack and baseball cap on, found my destination and found out that plans were a little skewed from what we were planning. I ran and put the bag in place and cautiously watched it hoping that a security person wouldn’t come by and think that this unattended bag was a you know what! I was also ready to kick someone off my hill if need be. Then I saw them. I ducked down behind the bushes, even though I saw Brandon looking for me. My heart racing and hands shaking. Oh my gosh, here we go! I stepped a little away from the bush so I could get the moment! Megan found the book that Brandon told her was a gift [even though she thought it was someone else’s bag because how did he get it there] and was turning page by page and then all of a sudden there was a person! Someone walked up right beside me, saw what was happening, walked back and grabbed their people to watch this happen! When Megan flipped her last page, Brandon was down on one knee asking her to marry him. Megan of course said “Yes” and as soon as he gets up and they give a kiss, there goes the audience beside me clapping and wooing! It was perfect!! I mean seriously, I can’t make this up! Once she saw me, I walked over to congratulate the happy couple! We talked, I’m still shaking and sweating so we decided to get a couple of drinks to cool off, soak in the moment and decide what was next! Once the proposal was done, we decided to of course, ride “The Mummy” and make our own picture. I was so excited because I wanted that to happen for sure! And you’ll see it below! It only took us two tries to get it perfect, so I’d call that a win! After that, we walked back over to Central Park to take a couple of photos of the pair and then we walked around a bit more for just a couple extra photos of the day. We also rode a few rides and walked through Harry Potter World. It was one of the best days that I could have asked for! Everything went so smooth and better than I could have imagined! Oh, and you remember that rain that was supposed to happen? It happened in the 20 minutes that we were waiting to ride Harry Potter! We came out and noticed the wet ground and how we were spared! Crazy, huh?! Honestly, there are so many other fun details to this story that I could share, but it’s actually better told in person. Oh and fun fact, I about cried all over again reliving this moment as I edited and now again as sharing this story!

Brandon, thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your life and being there to witness this occasion! Megan, I’m so glad to finally have been able to spend some time with you and get to know you a little better! You are such a sweetie and I’m so excited for you!! I cannot wait for your future together and to see you finally become Mr. and Mrs.!!

xoxo,

Holly