Words: Heather
Published: August 9, 2011

Last week Sarah Bouchard, a wedding photographer from The Silhouette Studio, sent us her “I Said ‘Yes’,” moment, and quite honestly before I even read the story, I was so in love with the photos I knew it would be worth sharing! Her friend Chelsea over at Reflectivity Design took their adorable, country chic engagement photos which you will also see below! Sarah and her new fiance, Caleb Williams, got engaged at the ledge of the Grand Canyon with spectacular views to say the least. I’m always impressed when a guy tunes into what his future fiancee would want for their engagement. Caleb isn’t a fan of hiking but Sarah is, so he put his feelings aside and stepped up for Sarah’s sake. Way to go Caleb! Those views were incredible for a proposal backdrop! Now for the details, I’ll let Sarah do the honors…

The Preparation Behind The Proposal:

A weekend trip to the bride to be’s dream getaway! I am photographer and Caleb took me to the Grand Canyon South Rim…but not only for the purpose of taking great photos! An eight hour drive from Las Vegas and ring pocket the whole time…he proposed during my second favorite thing (or third of you count hanging out with him!) HIKING!

The Proposal Story:

Life has been so crazy busy with a lot of new happenings and memories being made that there’s barely been any time to reflect! Two weekends ago life gave me one of those monumental, fantastic, glitter covered, head-over-heels kind of memories. The man of my dreams (and I really do mean the man of my dreams) asked me to marry him, and I hate to ruin the thrill of the story, but I definitely said, “Yes!!!!”

How did he ask? Well you see he very carefully crafted the engagement around my dream weekend, a weekend full of scenic photography and hikes up to breath-taking views. On Saturday morning we headed out to the Grand Canyon and packed our bags for an afternoon of hiking to the furthest edges of the South Rim for optimal photo-taking at sunset. We arrived with the masses of people for Memorial Day weekend and set out for a good hike to the various overlook points. See there was a shuttle bus that you could ride from outlook point to outlook point but Caleb suggested that we hike instead. Although I knew that Caleb likes hiking just about as much as he likes getting filings at the dentist, I jumped at the idea…because I love, LOVE hiking. So we hiked along the rim and stopped at our own small, private cliff just as the sun was going over the canyon. Caleb suggested that I set up my tripod and try to get some good photos. Then he also suggested that we take some photos together. (He likes taking photos as much as he likes getting his teeth pulled, just to put this in perspective.) So I happily jumped at this as well. We were taking photos off the edge, sitting, in all different positions. Then he suggested that we take a photo standing up. So I fidgeted with the camera and set the self timer once more. I ran over to him and next thing I know he is grabbing my hands and down on one knee, with a big, sparkly ring (that out of my excitement I missed entirely at first).

“Will you take a jump with me, Sarah Bouchard?”, he says calmly.

I am in awe, “Ugh, ut, ah…what?! What’s happening? Is this for real?” I say, as the excitement wells up inside of me.

“Will you marry me, Sarah?” he says.

I get the biggest smile on my face and…SNAP! The camera goes off and really captures my excitement, it captured the happiest moment in my life. (Yeah, that’s right the photo below is my real reaction, not posed!)

He said, “Well, will you?” and of course I answered, “Yes!” immediately! I jumped into his arms, (thank goodness he is stable and strong or we would have tumbled clear off that tiny 4’x6′ ledge we were standing on) and the rest is history.

The Ring: It’s a custom platinum ring made by Beards Jewelers in Texas. My fiance designed it himself with inspiration from some Verragio settings. The center stone is a round brilliant and it is 1.25 carats.

You can just sense the pure joy of this couple and we wish you lots of love and thoughtful moments in your future! Check out more pictures and proposal details at The Silhouette Studio Photography.

Love,