Laurel McConnell Photography » Announcements, Products, & Chat

They’re from Oregon. He lives in India. She lives in Seattle. They are high school sweethearts.

They adore indie movies. In fact, that’s all they used to do together when they were in college studying economics and marketing.

He flew hours and hours across the globe, in cahoots with his soon-to-be mother in law to plan this day, this moment.

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny March afternoon, and it was perfect for Anay to ask Ruchi to be his main squeeze, officially.

Congratulations, you two! Anay, I am so so glad that you forgot your camera and had to ask me to come along instead. So so glad!! :)

Boy did Joey have Lauren fooled. He had her convinced that he “wasn’t the marrying type.”  In fact, just the other day when he had called her parents to ask for their blessings, Lauren’s mom confessed that Lauren had confided, ” Mom, I’ve graduated college and now I have a Big Girl Job. What more do I have to do to get him to marry me?”

That was precisely when he knew his timing was right for a surprise proposal on their Christmas vacation to Seattle.

Joey calls me for a little help, and at just the right moment, off Lily and I went with 4 dozen rose petals to one of Seattle’s most iconic locations: Post Alley in Pike’s Place Market. It was one of the wettest days of the month, no doubt!

Among raindrops and fellow vacationers, down on one knee he went.  And the rest is history. This is definitely ONE New Year’s Eve to remember!

Congratulations, you two! Lily and I are so glad to have been there for such a great moment in your lives and love telling your story!

I have been looking for perfect pocket-sized brag books to add to my studio’s offerings for ages. Finally…. the 3×3″ Accordion Pocket Album!!

Available in sets of 3, they are perfect for little photography gifts to grandparents or bridesmaids, or just for carrying in your purse! I’m a stickler for good print quality, and have finally found the best!! These come in a few different paper choices, as well as leatherettes (like this mod red one!) and canvases.

This one I had printed up as a surprise for Nick and Danni (it’s of their actual marriage proposal we photographed last month!), and kept one for a studio sample (and a fun memory, of course! What a GREAT day!!).

I rarely do promotions over here, but I thought it would be fun to include 6 of these for each wedding package booked in January just for giggles. So there ya’ go: now you can’t say I never gave ya’ anything ;)

Last night at 7:00 at night, after a long day of moving boxes and furniture (Our new place has THREE floors. Good grief.), the phone rings.

Me: “Hello?”

Voice: “Hey Laurel, this is Aaron. Alyssa and I are shooting a wedding, and I can’t get the Pocket Wizards we borrowed from you to work. Also, I bought a ring today and I’m going to ask Alyssa to marry me tonight over a late dessert. Should someone be there to take pictures? What are you doing tonight?” Wait, what? Did you just ask me a technical question and a romantic question in the same breath?! What?! WHAT?!

At this point, I may have squealed a little.  I probably jumped up and down a lot.  Alyssa is one of my good, good friends. She’s a photographer with a successful studio over on the other side of the lake, and makes AWESOME pet portraits to boot. I couldn’t wait. I felt like an expectant father waiting outside the delivery room (or what I THINK one could feel like ;). I was paralyzed with excitement, and for 2 hours I watched the clock while sitting in a bony chair (Remember, just moved. No couch yet). Literally. Watched. The Clock.

After a string of sneaky texts and covert voicemails, we had our plan. He was SO excited, talking a mile a minute, saying the cutest things (faster than usual, and this boy talks FAST! I saved the messages for you, Alyssa!!). So… when the time came, I parked outside Tangletown’s lil gem of a wine bar, Eva, Twittering hints and teasers of what was about to happen.

Then it came. The text that said “1 minute warning.” I jumped out of my car so fast, I barely noticed it was pouring rain.  The plan was that I’d have to shoot through the window- if Alyssa were to see me, it would all be over- she’d either know something was up or invite me over for dessert. SO, here I was, 10pm, by myself, in the rain, shooting like a Peeping Tom through the fence AND a window. Creepy- that’s my middle name these days ;).

And then the ring came out on the table. And lots of sweet looks and smooches. After a few minutes, I began to wonder if Aaron even remembered I was outside with all the excitement of the hearing the word he’d been waiting to hear for months (YES!). As one last surpise, he pointed out his personal Peeping Tom, and Alyssa flipped when she realized I was outside the whole time!!

Congrats you guys. I am so excited you found each other, and even more excited that I could be there to document such a wonderful memory for the two of you. Seems I may have found the favorite part of my job… proposal photography ;).

p.s. Alyssa… I’m watching Craig Ferguson while typing this. And he just said “OOHlala!”