Matt and Sara
Matt reached out to us about a month ago asking if we would photograph his proposal. Obviously, we said yes, we love that kind of thing! He was immediately all over making sure nothing would it could go wrong. He wanted this to be perfect and the plans he made, the cute touches along the way will melt you.
Off the bat he wanted to make sure we were available for a second day in case of rain, which worked well because it did rain the first Saturday. (More on the different dates later!)
Matt and Sara met on Bumble and they’ve been together for two years on June 3rd. They’re both from Manhattan, but in true Covid fashion they decided to quarantine together, get out of the city and spend the last year and a half in Charlestown. We’re certainly lucky they did that because we otherwise would have never met this wonderful and sweet couple.
Matt made “Mother’s Day” reservations for the evening even though that wasn’t really going to happen. They spent the day walking around historic Wickford so that Sara would be ready and dressed for photos. They had a nice lunch at Wickford on the Water and then started to make their way to the beach where Sara though they were meeting her parents and family friends. All the while Matt was watching the radar, making sure the day would be beautiful.
Sara’s parents, Joe and Carrie, and her brother and his fiancé, Joe and Margo, were there on the beach waiting to celebrate. Her mother purchased champagne flutes with their names engraved in them for a post proposal celebration.
Another personalized touch that Matt came up with, was this beautiful ring box engraved with a sweet quote and the date. The date!! The date, even though he wasn’t sure which date he would choose…. Since Matt clearly thinks of everything, he made not one, not two, but THREE of those engraved boxes. One with the date he proposed, one with the weekend priors date and one without a date at all… just in case.
Sara (Bynum) and I arrived at the beach with a blanket and our camera bags and just talked on the beach waiting for our couple to arrive. We chatted with Sara’s mom, made sure our location was right and waited. Soon we saw Matt and Sara walk onto the beach and waited for them to pass before we started clicking. We heard part of their conversation and could tell Matt had already started his speech. Apparently he did this because Sara had been holding a coffee in her hand and he wanted to make sure she left it at the top of the beach fearing they would be in the pictures. Does the man just think of everything or what?
While we were clicking away, we heard the couple next to us say, those photographers were there the whole time posing as regular people! So yes, we are very discreet and even fooled unknowing bystanders.
After he popped the question, they had a moment together before we congratulated and introduced ourselves. We took some photos of them and then with their family. Matt knew what Sara would want for a proposal because they’d talked about it, they’d talked about what they’d want for their wedding and everything. They’re so on top of planning they’re seeing a venue on Friday! So, Matt did know that Sara would want the proposal to be on that beach because it is special to them, but she had never mentioned she would like the moment photographed so kudos to Matt for making that happen!
While I was asking them questions for this blog and learning more about them Matt started the sentence “I knew it was right when...” and I immediately was ready to take notes when he finished it with “not only is her name Sara (Sara Bynum) too and spelled it the right way but I saw they did another proposal at the exact spot I wanted to propose to you.” While we LOVED hearing how he knew we were “the ones” it made me curious to ask how he knew Sara was the one.
At this point you’re probably thinking this guy is so sweet, he thinks of everything, and how romantic that he wanted everything just right. I’m sure that’s one of the things Sara loves about him but hear this. He knew she was the one because she’s pretty awesome herself. Three months into their relationship they went to this beach, met her mom and went to a Patriots game. He is a big Pats fan and she brought him to his first game. He was so excited he wanted to leave to go to the stadium early, 7 hours early to be exact and although she’s not exactly a fan herself she was totally for it. She took pictures of him watching the players run in, she got drinks for them and let him enjoy the time they were there. He was a kid in a candy store and she let him run wild. She never complained, she just let him have his day. Every guy needs a wife who supports their love of football, right? Sounds like a match made in Heaven to us.