Painting and the proposal

Ruben was visiting Chicago for the first time since his girlfriend moved here and was ready to kick their relationship up a notch. He contacted me through a mutual friend and I was definitely excited to capture their moment. After planning the meet-up at Promontory Point through a flurry of text messages, I found them both each painting half of a portrait reflecting a meeting of places and their families. She was especially engrossed and did not notice me at all! Ruben put a lot of thought and effort to the proposal and it is a privilege to be able to share their story with you. I hope you get a sense of the friendship, affection and genuine love this couple has for each other. Congratulations on your engagement!

At this point, I’m in stealth mode. He saw me but she was so into the painting.

They attached pictures of their parents and grandparents, shared their love stories and just envisioned growing old together.Then he whipped out the little brown box with the sparkling ring!She said YES!!!!

I’d gotten closer at this point but she was so surprised that she wasn’t really aware of her surroundings. She got another surprise when he told her that it had all been captured on film.