Photos// Ana Lavalle
Lauren + Andrew
Photo Shoot Turned Surprise
Lauren has been modeling for an agency since we moved to Houston. I decided to take advantage of this, and reached out to some friends she worked with to set up a “photo shoot” with the element of surprise in mind. I hired a photographer who was well known within the agency and had Lauren’s agent reach out to her several weeks prior to schedule the shoot, so she thought it was an agency job.
With the help of the photographer, we planned every detail from what she was going to wear, to the exact location and time I was going to surprise her and propose. As an additional surprise, I flew our families out to Houston (from Iowa and North Carolina), so that they could see the moment and celebrate with us.
The day of, I acted like it was any other day, and from Lauren’s perspective, it was. Meanwhile, my phone was constantly going off with texts from the photographer and our families. When she left for her “agency photo shoot,” I quickly got ready, met up with our families and drove to the the park that overlooked the Downtown Houston skyline. I walked up the steps toward a path lined by trees and saw her posing for the photographer. I signaled to our families to a spot where they could watch but were out of sight and walked toward her. I stopped about three feet away and got down on one knee when the photographer signaled her to turn around. As you can tell by the photos, she was truly surprised! When she said yes and we kissed, our families walked toward us as part of the second surprise! I was so happy that everything worked out the way it did and am blessed that I got to share this moment with our families. To put it simply, this was the happiest day of my life and one I will never forget!