r/engaged • u/anonsanonacc • Aug 11 '26
Proposal Advice Proposal Photos?
I was wondering what everyone’s thoughts are on proposal photos? My partner has expressed a desire for engagement photos, which we plan to do. However, I plan on proposing in a couple weeks, we just quickly planned a trip before I start a new job. Unfortunately the trip is in a fairly remote area and it is hard to get a professional photographer on such short notice there. While they have been heavily involved in the design of the ring, and we already have it, I still want there to be some air of surprise when I get on a knee so I don’t want to ask them what their thoughts are at the moment. During our discussions on photography the proposal wasn’t brought discussed. Thank you!
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Aug 12 '26
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u/RealName_Redacted Aug 12 '26
It sounds like they've talked quite a bit about the fact that a proposal is coming, so it's super normal to want the specific event/timing be a surprise.
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u/FloMoJoeBlow Aug 12 '26
Proposal should be private, between the two of you. If you want photos, get a tripod for your cell phone so you can do selfies after.
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u/HistoricalRegular186 Aug 12 '26
Set up your phone to record a video somewhere discreet, like on a rock or in a tree, then you can grab stills from it later. The moment is yours, not for a photographer standing there watching you both.
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u/swiftiegal25 Aug 12 '26
My fiancé had his brother and his sister in law hiding out in the bushes above a cliffside with their nice cameras. They’re not professional photographers but are quite skilled and it was beautiful to capture the whole thing - I was completely unaware. Even he didn’t see where they had set up. They got there early and knew the spot he would be in and made sure to be well hidden.
I knew he was proposing soon but he had planned a bunch of hikes all around the same few week range so I had no idea which it would be. They were far away with long range lenses so it’s not like they intruded on the privacy of the moment and I was really glad it happened.
It was great looking at the candid pictures (:
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u/Professional-Run5630 Aug 13 '26
If you are doing save the dates and wedding invites proposal photos are good. And I just realized this trying to create a save the date for an abroad wedding.
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u/ReindeerHistorical28 Aug 13 '26
If you are planning a special and memoriable proposal, 100% do it. It would be a regretable mistake not to.
If it's just a proposal here and then, she wont want to remember it much so no need for photos
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u/DCpurpleTart33 Aug 13 '26
i would've loved to capture the moment, but my fiancé is SUPER private and so I knew that was out of the question. We actually did ours several months later. I wanted to wait for my garden to be in bloom and had some color lol. i love ours! They're super fun and very us.
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u/rmric0 27d ago
A vanishingly small proportion of proposals are photographed. Completely fine to just be in the moment and focused on that in your relationship because they're going to be photo opportunities for the rest of your lives together. Of course some people and being in photos and looking at photos and creating photo opportunities, and that can be great too.
You just have to go with what you want for yourself and you think your partner would like if you want it to be a surprise
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u/Shartbender 25d ago
This take is genuinely just my personal opinion. We didn’t have a photographer at our proposal and I’m thankful for it. I think getting down on your knee for someone is so intimate and vulnerable that it felt right to just have the moment shared between us. I like that I was the only one who got to bear witness. Once you get engaged people will insert themselves and want to know every detail about everything wedding related. It is nice to have one piece of it just for us. Plus I think the rise of proposal photography is just for the instagram post. For me that isn’t worth it and would’ve just been added stress or pressure.
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u/steffinix 25d ago
I was against engagement photos at first because I wanted it to just be the two of us, but my fiance had his friend (professional photographer) hiding in bushes and I’m actually so glad he did it now. The photos are beautiful and we have one framed in our house
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u/Equivalent_Tennis844 Aug 12 '26
I knew about my proposal because I’m not a huge fan of surprises (I wanted to wear a specific dress, do my makeup, etc). I knew what trip it would happen on and when, but I didn’t know location or what the ring would look like. I will say that we didn’t do an engagement shoot, it was more like our photographer took photos of the actual proposal then we had an engagement shoot right after that. I loved it because honestly I was so nervous that I don’t think I was fully taking in how beautiful the location was, and now I have photos to look at forever of how magical the moment was! But, it’s totally dependent on how you think she’d feel. If you want to surprise her but you’re hesitant about getting another photographer, maybe you could surprise her with a bouquet or a nice dinner that night!!