Beneath Iceland’s skies, where waterfalls cascade tall,
A whispered proposal, a love story’s call.
Through the lens of love, a moment untold
In each click of the shutter, their forever unfolds.
What began as a grand plan to go to Paris for a surprise proposal disguised as a “friend trip” turned into an unforgettable adventure through Iceland. I remember when Matthew (a good friend from college) first reached out to me about wanting me to capture him proposing to his girlfriend Emma in Paris. It wasn’t long before we booked the flights, invited two other friends, planned the itinerary, and established the location where it would all go down.. only for our plans to go sideways.
Two days before we were supposed to fly to Paris we found out that big riots were going on, the streets were being set on fire, and the airports were likely going to be shut down. So, we decided to forgo our plans and we almost canceled the trip entirely. But, we realized that our layover was in Iceland, and we thought, what cooler place to propose than Iceland? It even crossed my mind that maybe this was God’s way of showing us that he had something even better in store. So we made the last-minute decision to change the destination to Iceland!
We packed all five of us in a car, drove up to Maryland, and boarded our flight to Iceland! Then we had about two days to see the island. (This all happened in the middle of the school year so we couldn’t stay any longer). We rented a car and explored as much as we could! The memories (and playlists) made and the photos captured were priceless. We felt like we were living out our college dreams!
Highly recommend a self-drive tour of the island if you ever make it out there. We drove through the beautiful mountains, stopped in at the Blue Lagoon for an amazing spa experience, visited the town of Reykjavik, found our absolute favorite coffee shop. Saw geysers, hot springs, volcanoes, Icelandic horses, and oh yeah… our friends got engaged in front of an amazing waterfall!!!
The pure excitement on Emma’s face was the highlight of it all. In that magical moment, amidst the roar of Iceland’s majestic waterfall, Emma couldn’t believe her eyes. Heart pounding, breath catching in her throat, she began to jump up and down, squealing in excitement as Matthew dropped to one knee before her. The world seemed to stand still as he poured out his heart, his love shimmering in the air like the northern lights above (that we sadly didn’t get to see haha).
In that split second, everything changed. The waterfall’s roar faded into the background as they embraced. Amid Iceland’s breathtaking beauty, she found herself at the peak of joy, knowing that this moment would be etched in her memory forever.
They’ll never forget that feeling, now. And neither will we.