A Sunrise Burbank Proposal & A Sunset Joshua Tree Engagement

This proposal/engagement session is a two-parter, so buckle in!

PART 1 - A Sunrise Proposal in Burbank, CA

When Mike first reached out to me about his plans for the day he was going to propose, I nearly fell out of my seat. He had wanted to propose to Lindsay at the top of their special hike in Burbank in the morning, followed by an engagement session later that evening in Joshua Tree (2.5 hours away!) where they were planning to spend the weekend, before Lindsay flew back to the east coast to finish up her studies.

About 2 months before the day, Mike and I met up for an early morning hike to scout the spot, and devise a detailed plan for all of our movements starting from the moment we left our respective houses. There are so many moving parts involved in a surprise proposal, so we left no stone unturned (or at least, we tried to!). One thing we hadn’t considered was the path to the spot we picked out would be completely overgrown… but we made it work anyway! It almost feels like they were cocooned in pretty little yellow flowers for their private moment :’)

On the morning of our scouting hike, the skies were clear and the views stretched all the way out to the Pacific Ocean in the distance — conditions we all hoped would be the case for the day of, but would turn out to be quite the opposite.

That morning in late May was particularly foggy and overcast, and the fog showed little chance of lifting anytime soon. I was almost resigned to a complete white-out of a morning, but as the morning wore on, the fog actually started to lift slightly and as it wafted in and out of the valley, it made for some beautiful and magical conditions in the hills. Peep the photos below! :) (Also peep at their super cute dog who was SO happy when his parents got engaged!!)

Part 2 - An Engagement Session in Joshua Tree

Since they couldn’t get dressed up for their hike earlier that morning (without completely giving away what was going to happen), Mike planned to have me come out to Joshua Tree with them later that evening to do a formal engagement shoot. They had already planned their Joshua Tree trip prior as a way of celebrating Lindsay finally being done with a big exam, so this would be the perfect opportunity for an engagement shoot while still “riding the highs” of earlier that morning.

Once again, the weather did not cooperate… at least not in the way we all hoped for. As I pulled up to their airbnb, we saw huge lightning bolts lighting up the sky in the distance, followed by claps of thunder. As I was literally pulling my gear out of my car, rain started pelting down as the storm started rolling through.

Fortunately, the storm clouds moved quickly and the rain stopped a few minutes later, but the clouds ahead were still dark and stormy. I have never seen Joshua Tree in weather like this, that’s for sure! And I wasn’t mad about it — it created a whole mood about the place, and was so much fun!

We started off in their airbnb where they made cocktails and snuggled on the couch, explored the grounds of their airbnb, and then made our way into the park for more photos. It was the most perfect evening (and day!) spent with two of the best people — my heart is so full :’)