This picture is of my beautiful fiancé the morning after I asked her to be my wife. The night before, it was raining and remarkably cool for the last night of May. I was moving into another apartment. She and I were taking a load to the new apartment. I asked her to make a detour. Half way to the new apartment was our church where ten years prior I met her for the first time in the parking lot. I asked her to stop. She seemed a bit puzzled as to the reason we had come to the church. I got out of the car and walked around, and opened her car door. I muttered something about the fact that it had to be raining, and I got down on one knee.
The first thing your eye is pulled to is the rock on her finger of course. I would guess the second thing that stands out is the smile that mesmerizes me, each time I see it. She was happy. That smile was one of the biggest I have ever seen on her, because her best friend just asked her to marry him. The last thing that is noticeable is her appearance. This was the next morning in a coffee shop. She has no make-up on. Her hair thrown up and her nail polish was wearing thin. This was the first glimpse our friends and family were to have of the woman who is to be married. Her beauty is not in makeup or straightened hair. Her beauty emanates from that smile, that unending joy.
The audience was that of Facebook. All of our families, and friends now knew she was engaged. It was posted to both of our Facebook pages that morning. Shortly it was buzzing with “likes”, and comments of loved ones wishing us well. The other intended audience was me. I was behind the camera. That smile was just for me. Being with me invoked this powerful emotional response captured in her smile.
We did not have internet at my apartment in Troy at this point. So we ventured to the local coffee shop to find some wireless internet to broadcast the news to our social media worlds. The only other person in the picture was a barista with his back to us. This implies that we were in our own little world. I waited for no one else to be paying attention before I took the photograph.. For this moment it was just me and her for the last time. We were about to tell the world we were an “us” now.
The first thing your eye is pulled to is the rock on her finger of course. I would guess the second thing that stands out is the smile that mesmerizes me, each time I see it. She was happy. That smile was one of the biggest I have ever seen on her, because her best friend just asked her to marry him. The last thing that is noticeable is her appearance. This was the next morning in a coffee shop. She has no make-up on. Her hair thrown up and her nail polish was wearing thin. This was the first glimpse our friends and family were to have of the woman who is to be married. Her beauty is not in makeup or straightened hair. Her beauty emanates from that smile, that unending joy.
The audience was that of Facebook. All of our families, and friends now knew she was engaged. It was posted to both of our Facebook pages that morning. Shortly it was buzzing with “likes”, and comments of loved ones wishing us well. The other intended audience was me. I was behind the camera. That smile was just for me. Being with me invoked this powerful emotional response captured in her smile.
We did not have internet at my apartment in Troy at this point. So we ventured to the local coffee shop to find some wireless internet to broadcast the news to our social media worlds. The only other person in the picture was a barista with his back to us. This implies that we were in our own little world. I waited for no one else to be paying attention before I took the photograph.. For this moment it was just me and her for the last time. We were about to tell the world we were an “us” now.