Samantha Smith Arroyo Photography photographed this incredibly beautiful couple surrounded by breathtaking desert scenery. Their engagement portraits show lovely movement, emotion, and have almost an iconic look to them. That black and white image - and the image waiting for you at the end - gasp! So good. Enjoy a look into this wonderful session, and be sure to read the hilarious, romantic, surprise proposal at the end!
How he proposed: Since we never looked at rings together and we didn't live together, everything came as a true surprise. It was Chloe's 20th birthday and almost our 7 month anniversary on June 17th 2013. I (rich) met her for dinner and on our way there took a detour to the place we had first met 9 months prior. I had set up flowers, video camera and Bluetooth speakers near the dance floor we first danced at. As we came up I started playing a song we both loved (Lean into the Light - By: Iron & Wine) and I proposed on one knee. After she said yes we slow danced together Chloe's version : It didn't even hit me as a possibility that would be the day. Although, everyone had seemed so strange that morning. My mother was oddly sweet to me, my dad carried a solem look on his face saying to me randomly " So... This is the guy? " , and I hadn't heard much from Rich that day. Still, despite these variables, I left the house convinced that this could not be the day. Well, I was wrong. We were supposed to be headed to the restaurant... I remember the turn through the neighborhood when I first caught sight of the familiar venue where we first met. At that moment my heart immediately started going double time. Getting out of the car proved to be a trying task seeing as my knees were shaking so badly I found it difficult to walk. " Dont get ahead of yourself. You'll look stupid if you assume and that's not what you're here for" I repeated to myself over and over in my head. Calculating each quivering step I made it around to where he was outside the drivers side of car. Just then he does this sort of... Stop-drop-roll/ plank/ electric slide type think and disappears completely under the car. Before I could even finish understanding what I just saw, he reappeared again with gravel on the front I his maroon suit. " Uh. What. Just happened?" " I uh... Dropped my phone" he explained beet red and with a flustered look on his face. " And it rolled??... " "Yeah. Psh. Stupid Phone. " Later finding out, of course, that it had been the ring he had dropped. Thanks to his smooth moves, he was able to keep his composure. And then came walking inside. Everything from the first night we met to that day returning there replayed through my memory. We approached the corner leading into a large room where in the corner I could see an arrangement of flowers. As we approached the table with the flowers and a camera set up in our direction, Lean into the Light by Iron and Wine began to play. At that point you could have blown in my direction and I would have fallen over. " Are you trying to make me fall in love with you Richard Damek." "Yep. Trying " He pulled me to the dance floor and then dropped to one knee. With his big, brown, hopeful eyes staring up at me.... He asked. And well... I said yes.
About their engagement session: Our photographer, Samantha Smith, and her crew which consisted of her beautiful mom and sister, Sydney and Virginia, made for beautiful moments and tons of laughs. Sam had given a few suggestions for the location of our pictures and we decided to go with the desert/ ghost town backdrop. She (Sam) was able to capture the various aspects of out personality as a couple in her shots. And our videographer (Sydney) has a hilarious personality that promotes a very comfortable and natural environment. We were able to get many shots in Pioneer Town itself and then moved to the vacant desert for the formal shots. Samantha had the idea to capture a shot with the night sky, which would mean waiting for the stars to come out... It was MORE than worth the wait. She executed her vision beautifully and it's one of our favorite shots!
Photo Credit: Samantha Smith Aroyo
