Wedding proposal under the cherry blossoms at Aston Norwood Gardens Wellington

This was THE SWEETEST of moments! A wedding proposal under the cherry blossom trees! Thomas contacted me about his proposal ideas for his beautiful partner Antoinette and we worked together to create the best plan which led us to this surprise photo shoot. The timing of their proposal worked out perfectly with the cherry blossom trees being in full bloom at Aston Norwood Gardens.

How to plan a wedding proposal photoshoot

There are a few ways to plan a proposal - let the whole thing be a surprise but ask your partner to dress up for a special occasion, or you can plan a couples session and secretly add the proposal into this (in the past I have had clients suggest to their partner that they won a photo shoot with me so it doesn’t feel suspicious). Having a photographer capture this special moment was a complete surprise for Antoinette. I was secretly waiting in the preplanned area for them to arrive! The rest of the session we wandered around the gardens for portraits.

About this location - Aston Norwood Gardens Wellington

The cherry blossom festival runs from September 01 - October 6. If you specifically want photos with the blossoms, please book in advance. The gardens are a beautiful place for photos all year round. If you would like to take photos here, I will reach out to Aston Norwood Gardens to ask for permission to photograph at this private location. Tickets for the gardens cost $10-$15 each, children are free at off-peak season.

We are engaged! Surprise Proposal at Whitireia Park Wellington

I’ve known for a while that I wanted to marry this man but now it's officially a thing!! What I thought was just a fun and casual couples shoot with Wellington photographer Yvonne Liew turned out to be a wedding proposal. WE ARE ENGAGED!

There’s a little bit of a back story to how this all went down, along with some epic photos of the moment Karl proposed. I had been wanting to book a couple’s shoot because I realised Karl and I hardly any photos together and thought it would be nice to have some updated photos for online and putting up around the house, feels a little vain but it was a new experience.

It turns out Karl had started designing a ring with The Village Goldsmith back in November. Another cool part of this story is a client who has booked us for photos and video at their wedding happens to work at The Village Goldsmith, so she was able to help Karl with the designing process which makes it extra special.

Here’s where it all came into action. We booked a couples session with Yvonne. Karl had been emailing her, I had no idea that it was actually going to be a proposal (it had crossed my mind for sure like ‘what if’, but I quickly told myself no way I’m dreaming). And then it happened out of nowhere! Below are some pics of me losing my shit.

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out and taking photos along the hillside. The sunset was insane and the atmosphere felt electric. Thank you so much to Yvonne for capturing these moments for us, the photos are such a true representation of how I felt that evening and I’ll treasure these photos forever.

A note to end on, I’m so grateful to Karl and our relationship. I’ve never felt as supported and loved as I do with him. We have so much respect for one another and the relationship side of things is actually kind of easy, that’s how it feels when you’re on each other’s team. I say I’m not a big romantic but I fricken love this feeling.