I had the honor of photographing a friends proposal yesterday, Seriously ADORABLE! These two are quite amazing and I was so excited to be a part of this special day. I asked Janel if she would write her “proposal” story so that we could share it along with these photos for friends and family to get a glimpse of the big “Moment.”

In her own words…

“As I woke up the day after turning twenty-six, a smile quickly formed on my groggy and sleepy face from finding beautiful fall flowers with a letter propped up in front of it on my bathroom counter with a Starbucks gift card (which quickly excited me as I was very sleepy following my recent trip back to the states from visiting my brother, sister-in-law, and niece and nephews in Quito, Ecuador).  After reading the letter, the thought of the possibility of a proposal coming later that day floated through my mind, but I decided he was only trying to make my birthday an extra special one.

Later that morning, one of my best friends, Emily, joined me to spend a fun day together.  She had taken off the day just so we could hang out, little did I know that this was all part of the day’s plan!  She took me out to lunch at McAlister’s because she had a gift card to use and wanted to treat me for my birthday.  (Keep in mind, this was where Stefan and I had had our first lunch date.)  While waiting in line, I was surprised by my roommate of MANY years and best friend, Allison, who had taken off the rest of the day to surprise me!  After ordering and finding our seats, the manager came over and handed me another letter!  I was very surprised and sat in a bit of stunned silence as I tried to figure out how in the world Stefan did this!

That afternoon, the girls and I carved pumpkins (one of my favorite activities) and they eventually helped me get ready for my birthday evening out with Stefan.  As I was waiting for him to get home from work (it was taking longer than usual) Allison handed me another letter that explained how he would actually not be picking me up for our date, but that I needed to go to where our relationship all began.  After debating where that actually meant (there was where we first met and where we began talking for the first time….figured out it was the latter) Emily and Allison drove me to our church.

I was very nervous walking down the hallway and tentatively entered the little room where I knew my life would change forever!  In the corner there was a little table with flowers and another letter.  My hands were shaking as I tried to read the letter (which I had to read again several times after as I was in no way comprehending what I was reading!).  When I finished I turned around to find the love of my life standing before me.  He said some sweet things and told me how much he loved me and then Stefan Nicholas McGraw got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.  I said YES! and could not stop smiling!

After taking some newly engaged pictures with the lovely Sarah, we headed downtown for our dinner date.  After parking, Stefan stalled quite a bit and was walking SO SLOW!  I was concerned that we weren’t going to get to our reservation on time and wanted to be early, but soon found out that all of our friends and some family, including my parents, were at the restaurant waiting for us!  It was the best surprise and the most amazing day!”

-Janel

 

I think Janel knew something was up the moment she saw me… haha i love the look on her face…

Oh just chatting about Stefan’s sneaky plans. 

I snuck them outside for a few “real engagement photos”…I don’t think i could have wiped that big pretty smile off of Janel’s face if I wanted to. She was GLOWING!

 SPARKLY!!!!

Congratulations you two!!! I hear wedding bells

With Love,
Sarah Liz