“Who’d have ever thought that you would be the one capturing my proposal”

You see, this story starts long before the YES and way before the boy (looking at you @hunterhartphoto)

Sarah, the bride-to-be and I met at summer camp as counselors one hot summer day over a decade ago when we spent our day chasing 10 year olds around, singing camp songs, and trying to look as uncool as possible.

The summer passed and although we never had the chance to see each other in the days, months, and years that followed we both kept up via social media where I got to watch her travels around the world from Australia to South Africa and her mine as I ran around Central and South America.

Then she started posting about a boy…and I’m pretty sure myself and everyone else knew HE WAS THE ONE. That smile plastered on her face in every photo was undeniable.

So I reached out to Sarah, who also is a photographer and general badass, because I really wanted to capture the love between her and her boo, Hunter.

Not but a week before her session Hunter sent me a DM with a question “I’m thinking of proposing to Sarah”

*cue jumping with joy*

Literally, ask David (if you’ve been here for a while you know David is the lead guide at Adventure Pact and one of the greatest humans on the planet), since we were climbing together when I got the message, that I literally started squealing, jumping, and did a victory lap from joy.

Yall, I love love and what Sarah and Hunter have is the REAL deal.

Sarah & Hunter’s Story

Sarah and Hunter met in Cape Town, South Africa where Sarah was working as a missionary and Hunter was bouncing around building his (impressive) photography portfolio.

Now this isnt a “I saw her from across the way and knew she was the one” type story but welcome to 2020 so it goes a little more like this:

TINDER

Now now, before we get ahead of ourselves this is not what you think.

You see Hunter was very creatively using the notorious dating app to help find subjects for his photography (this is a serious pro tip to all of my photographers reading this) and he happened to match with one of Sarah’s friends which led to a group outing to a winery.

Now Sarah is a rational and level headed woman and thought nothing of it, just casually chatting with him since he lived in the states and she lived there—but really, when is love ever something rational?

After agreeing to be his tour guide for the day they became inseparable for the remaining three weeks of his trip *cue long awwww* before he headed back and they did the long distance thing.

THE END

Just kidding—I think we all know there has to be some romantic plot twist to get us to the ring and the “I do”and to be honest, Sarah is one of those girls who is worth the big romantic gesture—-and OH BOY, did Hunter do good with THAT

Not but one week later he was back

(yall dont settle for less, this proves it)

Hunter surprised Sarah on a mountain top for Valentines day to get to know her better *cue another awwww*

Now we are talking February 2020…

….Yall see where this is going

They headed back stateside together.

Be it COVID-19, destiny or maybe a bit of both but let me say, this was MEANT TO BE

Now Back to the Proposal Bit

Plans don’t always go, well, as planned. This day was no different.

Our original plan was Cloudland Canyon, a gorgeous waterfall speckled trail system that really doesn’t look like it belongs in the great state of Georgia.

Well it is the south and even though the saying goes. “April showers bring May flowers” it’s more like “April showers continue until mid June”

Now lucky for us Sarah and Hunter were taking a mini trip to scope out Chattanooga for Sarah’s rad new passion project No Towns Unturned (go check it out for the best Airbnb’s, restaurants, and activities in towns all cross the country) .

Well luckily I LOVE Chattanooga and knew just the place.

We headed to Foster Falls which is a short walk but packs hell of a WOW factor.

After frolicking in the falls and fighting with some less-than-ideal light it was obvious that Hunter was ready, throwing me thumbs ups to check if everything was right. Now or never, as it were.

Perched on a mossy boulder in the middle of a gently meandering stream, as they hugged and posed for my lens, Hunter dropped to one knee and finally DID THE DANG THING.

Okay okay, this is not the most spectacularly written ending but it was perfect and so dang exciting (I’m bouncing up and down just thinking about it)

If you want to see what I’m talking about go check out their Instagrams that I linked above. It’s really impossible to explain how perfect they are for eachother but go give them a follow and check out the magic for yourselves.

Stay wild and filled with love yall.

xoxo Kayla

Chattanooga Surprise Proposal