The Serendipitous Proposal

In the spring of 2010, I was visiting San Francisco for the first time. I only had three days in the city and I made the most out of every single second I was there. I have a lot of tremendous memories of that trip, but this particular moment was ranked highest among them.  I was walking through a little park on Baker Street,  on my way to the Palace of Fine Arts.  I was in a bit of a hurry, but I couldn't help but notice a couple sitting in the grass, each painting on canvases.
As I walked passed, I watched her swirl and dapple paint with purpose. She was painting a landscape and looked as though she knew what she was doing. Ever curious, I couldn't help but peek to see what he was painting and walked around them in a wide circle.  He was not painting a landscape, no he was painting words. I could see the words "Will" and "you" and the beginning of another word that started with the letter "M".  I stopped in my tracks. Could he be...proposing? I looked around to see if any of the other people around me were paying attention to them and I was the only one. I watched  waited as more letters started to appear and and the letters "arr" soon followed that capital letter "M". He was going to propose and my heart started to pound in my chest.  I grabbed my camera and began snapping photos furiously...

I gave them a few moments and then went up and congratulated them.  I explained that I had taken photos of the whole thing and we quickly exchanged information. I was so excited to have been there to not only witness, but to also capture such a special moment for them. Looking back, it's still incredible to me to have been there at the exact right time, to have noticed what was happening with so many other things going on around me. The entire proposal only took only about two, maybe three minutes.

Ben and JoyLynn's were wed a few months later!

(wedding photo by Andrew Hsu, Studio MSV)

I wrote to Ben and JoyLynn a few weeks ago asking for permission to share their wedding proposal here on my blog. It was such a wonderful moment, I wanted to share it with you! JoyLynn gave her blessings and was kind enough to provide a photo from their wedding. She also shared some recent news: she and Ben are expecting a baby boy in July! Yay!

I love this story and that trip.

It was only a brief few moment that our paths crossed, but it's a very special memory I'll always cherish.