Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone Park Proposal 2020

2020 is off to good start! Flying in the face of the threat of viral mayhem, this couple flew in from Texas to visit Montana, ski Big Sky and visit our nations first National Park. Unbeknownst to Jessica, Ben had much more in mind for their trip to Yellowstone Park. He contacted me about three weeks earlier to lay out the plan to propose and have it all photographed. This time of year visitors to the Park are few and far between, so it made it a little more difficult to pull it off without giving the secret away. In winter the majority of the visitors are fairly serious photographers hoping to photograph the wolves in the Lamar Valley, so I dressed the part! I got to the agreed upon location and post holed into the most scenic snowscape.
( I should have thought about my snow shoes!)

As they arrived and made their way across the snowy field, I photographed some of the scenic vistas and kept my eye on their progress to the place we had planned. It seemed that life stood still for a few minutes as they had private words and embraced. Then, the magic moment…

I’ll let my photos tell the rest of the story.

Yellowstone Park proposal

Harsh Vedant Kumar contacted me on short notice to see if I could meet he and his ‘wife to be’ unbeknownst to her, in the Lamar Valley. They were traveling here from Atlanta to see Yellowstone Park in the winter and Harsh was planning a GRAND SURPRISE! So I made a plan and pinpointed some scenic places we could potentially meet, then spoke with Harsh upon his arrival in Bozeman to coordinate our location and timing.

At this time of year many of the visitors to the park are photographers that are hoping to capture images of the wolfs and other wildlife. That made me a fairly normal person to see hanging around with cameras around my neck, and etc.

When I arrived they had gotten to the designated location a bit earlier than planned. So I grabbed my cameras and wondered out onto the snow covered boardwalk taking in the view and made some friendly ‘stranger’ small talk. Then Harsh pull the ring box out of his heavy coat and knelt before his lovely companion. Niru was overcome with tears of joy and then quick and repetitive “Yes, yes, yes, yes!!!” filled the air. ANOTHER GREAT SURPRISE IN YELLOWSONE PARK!

As the sun appeared and disappeared from behind the low lying clouds we drove to a few scenic places and captured some magical memories.

And one more detail, Harsh was so thoughtful that he secreted a few dresses from Niru’s bag at the hotel knowing that she might want some images in other than winter coats and snow pants. Good work Harsh!!!

Enjoy the view!

And then I pulled some well chilled bubbly out of my trunk and toasted to their long and happy life together. In Mason jars… of course!

Surprise proposal in Yellowstone Park

June 21st found me once again in Yellowstone Park meeting up with a couple from Atlanta that had just arrived for a week of touring. Anthony had contacted me weeks in advance and we plotted and planned the surprise proposal to take place in front of the lower falls of the Yellowstone river. As I drove into the park the temperature was very low for this time of year and snow showers were moving through the area. I had been watching the weather radar and I was hoping for a clearing for our 6 pm meeting. And sure enough the sky slowly brightened as I waited patiently for the couple to arrive.

I will leave it to my photos to tell the rest of the story! And… how sweet a story it is! Cheers to Caroline and Anthony!

In the end I pulled some Montana bubbly… also known as ‘IPA’ out of my trunk and I made a toast to the couple at 8300 feet ASL overlooking Yellowstone lake.

Yellowstone Park Proposal

June in Yellowstone National Park brings many surprises! Surprise wedding proposals!

Lenin contacted me about a month ago as he was planning his trip to Yellowstone with Andrea his girlfriend and ‘wife to be’! We planned an early arrival in the park to catch the sun’s first rays bathing the falls. I knew there might be gorgeous morning light pouring into the canyon at about 8 am, but I did not expect to get a naturally occurring rainbow when the sun hit the rising mist above 63,000 gallons of water per second falling and crashing into the rocks below. Glorious!

I arrived early and soon Lenin and Andy walked out onto that platform amidst some other early visitors. The rest was all joy and tears! Afterwards we visited other scenic areas for photos and enjoyed the morning.

Enjoy the view!

Yellowstone Spring Wedding

Finally winter has given way to spring and… How Sweet It Is!!! I was in our nation’s first national park last Saturday for the wedding of Jamie and Josh. Yellowstone National Park was in amazing form. We had no idea what the weather might do on the first day of June. We were hoping for sun, a few clouds and perhaps a nice sunset. This couple was in for much, much more.

As the wedding day flew by in a blur, I consulted with the bride and groom about the plans to drive out to another location in the park for the sunset. They made the sound decision to stay at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel to spend time with their friends and family instead. That was the right decision! Just awhile later someone came in from outside excitedly pronouncing RAINBOW! Out the door we went to capture a beautiful glowing rainbow to honor this couple and their love. See for yourself.

A sincere Thank You to my friend and accomplished photographer Lindsey Mulcare for shooting with me on this momentous occasion.

The ground was covered with small cactus so one of the powerful groomsman took matters into his own hands and carried the bride to the location of the photos.

These three have traveled to visit nearly all of America’s great Nation Parks!

The evening was consumed with hours of dancing… and these young people can dance!!! And that’s the subject of yet another upcoming blog post. Cheers to Josh and Jamie!

Yellowstone Park proposal at the Falls

I love surprises, and this one was a huge success. Seth contacted me in the spring of this year and he inquired regarding my secret photography of surprise wedding proposals in Yellowstone Park. A few back and forth emails and soon we’re on the phone scheming and planning Seth’s big surprise. He and Sarah had been a couple for 7 years, but with school and jobs and everything they had not yet got to that point. This year was the year and she did not know it! They a had a trip planned for hiking, fishing and camping in Yellowstone. So we exchanged pictures so we would recognize each other and set the time and place.

When I arrived early to the spot below the lower falls, true to form Mother nature was creating quite a display of spray and light causing this amazing rising mist in the background. Everything was in sync and the location cleared out. I had watched 20 and 30 people at a time come and go. Now it was empty and here came Seth and Sarah. Sarah didn’t even give me a second glance, I was just the funny tourist dude with a camera and bag like everyone else in the Park. But when he stood their facing her, ring box in hand waiting for her to raise her glance from her phone while making photos of the falls… I knew something very special was about to occur.

Here’s the rest of the story in moments from the afternoon.

Seth and Sarah, I so loved witnessing your proposal and engagement. It’s amazing how well met we were!