‘Tis the season for Christmas card photos!  Jordan contacted me a few weeks ago to schedule a mini session at Stephens Christmas Tree Farm.  Her brother and sister had each scheduled sessions with me for the same date, so they planned to get a couple of group photos as well.  Little did Jordan know that Kendall had a secret plan in mind.

Kendall had been waiting for months for the perfect opportunity to propose to Jordan.  When she scheduled a session to take Christmas card photos and all of her family would already be there, he knew it would be perfect.  He immediately started planning the whole thing with Jordan’s sister, Shelby, and her husband, Cole.

The long-anticipated day was finally here!  Jordan and Kendall, Shelby and Cole, and their mother, Becky, arrived at the same time.  We started with photos of Shelby and Cole, then Jordan and Kendall, then added some with Becky.  Jordan’s brother, Justin, and his family arrived in time for a group photo.  After a few minutes, Becky realized she left her lip gloss in the car, which was actually code for “we need to see if Kendall’s family is here yet.”  Shelby offered to go get the “lip gloss.”  We continued taking photos of Justin’s family and Jordan and Kendall until Shelby came back empty-handed.  She looked everywhere for the “lip gloss” and could not find it.

Moments later, Shelby offered to go look for the “lip gloss” again, but we sent Cole and Kendall instead so we could continue taking sibling photos.  When they finally came back, we saw that they, too, had returned empty-handed.

I told the group that I wanted to get a few more shots of each couple and I wanted to start with Shelby and Cole.  We walked down the row of Christmas trees until Jordan couldn’t hear us.  Cole said Kendall’s parents were walking up any minute and to get in position.  I snapped a few photos of them and then quickly walked back to take more photos of Jordan and Kendall.

Once they were in place and I got a couple of shots, I asked Jordan to stand in front and Kendall to take a few steps back so he could run up to Jordan and wrap his arms around her.  Jordan kept facing the camera while Kendall was just a few feet behind her getting the ring out of his pocket.  She kept smiling at the camera, but then with a confused expression said, “Kendall, your family is here.”

Jordan turned around to see Kendall on one knee holding out the most beautiful ring.  Kendall took her hand and gave her the biggest smile.  They were both speechless for a moment.  Then Jordan started connecting all the dots and asked, “Is this why your family is here?  Is this why you went to look for lip gloss?”  With a smile that brought back a million memories of them together, Kendall asked, “Baby, will you marry me?”  She gave him a resounding, “Yes!” and they immediately embraced while both their families cheered.