This past Saturday I got a Facebook message from someone I went to high school with. She said she had a cousin coming in town that will be proposing to his girlfriend on Monday and he wanted a photographer. After planning very quickly, we got everything sorted out and I was going to photograph Austin’s proposal! I met his brother, Ethan, and Ethan’s girlfriend at Toucans on Mexico Beach while we waited for Austin + Abbey to show! 

All of us naturally thought Austin was going to turn right and walk down the beach, but he didn’t. He turned left! So we had to run the backside of toucans with my extremely long zoom lens (sorry to any parents whose kids were playing out there! I’m sure I creeped you out, but I promise I wasn’t focusing my camera on any of the kiddos!)

Hiding during a proposal was so exciting!

Let’s just say, Austin walks fast and somehow he got so ahead of us that Ethan, Aubrey, Josh (my boyfriend) and I were running through the dunes hiding and recording/capturing at the same time!! Ethan was FaceTiming Abbey’s mom who couldn’t make it, Aubrey was videoing and Josh was FaceTiming Abbey’s best friend!

This proposal was one of the sweetest ones I’ve ever seen. Seeing Abbey’s emotions flood and Austins excitement was so pure and beautiful!! 

After our session, I asked Abbey + Austin how they met. Instantly, Austin said through God! Me being me, I couldn’t leave it at that so I asked what he meant and if I could share their story. Here’s what they said:

“We were both going through times in our lives where we needed change. I (Austin) started praying that God would take whoever He didn’t want out of my life and bring His people in, and her (Abbey’s) mom was praying the exact same prayer for her. It wasn’t long after that we met and knew this was the answer to our prayers.”

I started to cry during the proposal.

I started to cry when Austin told their story. 

I started to cry when I read Abbey’s post on instagram last night where she said: 

“From the moment I met you, I knew God put you in my life for a reason.. I’m so thankful this is that reason. You’re my forever, Austin Tyler.”

I promise, you’re reading truth! This isn’t some movie, even though I told Abbey + Austin there should be a movie on their story, it so beautiful and woven so perfectly together by God!

Here is more portraits of this amazing couple, their proposal last night, and their sweet family who watched it all happen (they even watched Josh fall in the dunes while chasing them, LOL)!