Walter & Sarah | Naval Academy Engagement

Walter is one of the thoughtful ones. He fell in love with a beautiful girl named Sarah, bought a gorgeous diamond ring, asked her father for permission and knew she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. So when he first emailed me a few weeks prior, he asked if I was available to photograph a proposal at the Naval Academy! We set a date and a few weeks later, Sarah must have been getting suspicious because Walter made a quick decision to propose well before their trip back to Maryland – giving her the biggest surprise of her life!

So rather than photograph a proposal in Annapolis, we met for their engagement session on the yard and enjoyed a few beautiful hours of 60 degree weather in the beginning of January! (When is it ever 60 degrees in the dead of winter?!) It was a perfect day for a truly amazing couple! I know that many of you will be curious about how Walter did decide to pop the question, so I’ve included the story in Sarah’s words at the very end of this post! It’s so beautifully described that, I’m not going to lie, I started to tear up reading it. I work with so many amazing couples and these two are truly at the top of that list – sweet, genuine, and completely in love!

Congratulations Sarah & Walter! Thank you for spending your day with me!

Sarah’s Story:
“As you know, he was planning a proposal January 7th; however, I was getting suspicious. I told my best friend Sara my suspicions and she ratted me out. Walter then changed his plans and proposed Dec. 15th while we were in Ft. Lauderdale for his best friend’s wedding, and the day before we left for a 6 day caribbean cruise.

I actually set up the proposal in a way….a few days before I was in the middle of law school finals and I was complaining about how we haven’t had quality time. He had just gotten back from a deployment and he came back right in the middle of my finals craze. It was hard to reconnect in that atmosphere. After complaining, Walter said that he was going to take me out for a date night on Dec. 15th – my first night in FL and the first night after I completed my finals. I didn’t think anything of it because I had just been complaining about our awful schedules. He took me out to dinner. We went to steak 954, an ocean-front steakhouse. It was amazing. On our walk home he asked if we could walk down by the water. Although it was windy, it was hard to say no because it was so warm (at least compared to what we’re used to.) We walked onto the sand and he pulled me into a hug and rested his chin on my head (which isn’t hard given the 1 foot height difference). We stared into the ocean and watched the waves for a little while. When we started to leave I tripped (which if you know me this isn’t surprising) and he grabbed my hands to steady me. He kept holding my hands and just looked into my eyes.

He asked me if I loved him, which I thought was an odd question – of course I love him. Then he gave me a long kiss. When he drew back he had something in his hand and he plopped down onto one knee. I think I said, “Oh my god” a million times.  I didn’t think it was really happening. I think I’m still in shock to be honest.

I started crying like crazy and then when I stopped I told him that I was SO convinced it was January when we were going to Annapolis. He said that we were still going to Annapolis, and that he had already booked my favorite photographer – Natalie Franke, for engagement pictures. That made me cry all over again, because he has always been very shy about engagement pictures and it meant a lot that he would go out of his comfort zone just to make me happy. As if that wasn’t enough, he also told me that the past weekend he wasn’t as his dad’s like he sad he was, he was at MY dad’s. He drove 3.5 hours (each way) to ask my Dad’s permission in person. That meant the world to me.”