Once upon a time a photographer named Callie searched far and wide in all of the land of Savannah for a model for a styled shoot. She came across a very sweet and totally gorgeous model named Emily. Summer wedding season began in full swing so Callie & Emily were not able to pull concrete plans to join forces for the sake of beautiful photography just yet.

(Stick with me it’s about to get good.)

The Friday before Halloween I had tenatively planned to go to some friend’s celebrations. That was until I got a the email from Emily’s mom.

“…Emily’s boyfriend has been deployed since March and he received his orders to be home a month early. Emily has no idea. Friday, October 30th is the evening he flies in. Emily is hosting a costume party and will be dressing as Cinderella. Chase knows this and has a Prince Charming costume to wear. We have a pavilion in our neighborhood that my husband and I will be secretly decorating with white Christmas lights and tons of candles. He will be waiting for her in the pavilion around 7:30pm. The people at the party will wander over to the pavilion first and will be given candles to hold on either side of the walkway leading up to the pavilion. I will have something for Emily to do back at the house for a few minutes and then we will walk over. Chase will be in the center of the pavilion when she arrives and he will propose.”

Plans cancelled.

I made a total fool of myself skipping around the Forsyth Park fountain where I happened to open my email. YES. YEEESSSSSS yesyesyesyesyes. The answer is a definite yes.

Chase had been flying home since 3am our time. Nonetheless- he was nothing but grins and excitement. It was so sweet to see Emily’s brothers and sisters run up to hug him when they first saw him. I immediately knew that Emily and Chase’s families are “good people.” Man, it hadn’t even started yet and I felt so thankful to be there to witness this moment. The party came to line up along the sidewalk holding candles. Emily asked her mom what was going on and her mom just said “keep going and smile!” Then she got a glimpse of her best friend. I seriously watched as she totally forgot that everyone else was there. She thought that the big surprise was Chase surprising her for Halloween. It was such an incredible moment as he began telling her why and how much he loves her. It became evident that there was more to this night. I don’t have to tell you the rest because the photos do a pretty great job telling this unbelievable story!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting me into this once-in-a-lifetime moment. I pray that your wedding and marriage will be filled with joy and blessings!