Last week, two of our good friends Matt and Lauren got engaged and we were there to document the whole event. Matt told Javi to set aside a particular evening in October so that we could go to the Grand Ole Opry and photograph his proposal to Lauren during one of the songs. We were SO excited but also extremely nervous (I kept joking that I was more nervous than Matt) because we weren’t sure that we would be able to actually get any good shots of the special moment. We were 2 floors above Matt and Lauren in the audience, so we weren’t sure if the ushers at the Grand Ole Opry would let us get down into the row where they were to snap the photos. Aside from that, we weren’t sure how the lighting would be (we’d never been to the Opry! In all our 8 years of living in Nashville!) and we had no idea if we would know when the right moment would be. On top of everything else, Lauren didn’t know we would be there, so we were looking over our shoulder all the time to make sure she wasn’t around. We figured if she saw us I would tell her that Matt helped Javi buy tickets through his work and that he surprised me with them that evening. The only hitch there was that Matt asked us to pick up a dozen red roses to surprise her with them, so Javi was walking around the Opry with the roses and it would have looked a little suspicious if she had seen us with my huge camera and with Javi holding a bouquet of roses.

La semana pasada, dos buenos amigos Matt y Lauren se comprometieron y nosotros estuvimos ahi para documentar todo. Matt le dijo a Javi que reservara una noche en particular durante el mes de Octubre para que podamos ir al Gran Old Opry (un teatro para musica muy famoso de la musica country) y asi podamos fotografiar el momento en que le pediria matrimonio a Lauren durante una de las canciones. Estabams MUY emocionados pero tambien muy muy nerviosos (Como broma yo decia que estaba mas nerviosa que Matt) porque no estabamos seguros como ibamos a hacer para sacar buenas fotos del momento especial. Nuestros asientos estaban dos pisos mas arriba que los de ellos, asi que no sabiamos si la gente de seguridad nos iban a dejar bajar. Aparte, no sabiamos si la luz iba a ser adecuada para capturar el momento (nunca hemos ido al Grand Ole Opry en los 8 anos que hemos vivido en Nashville!) y no sabiamos tampoco cuando seria el momento en que Matt se la iba a jugar. Y encima de todo, Lauren no sabia que nosotros estariamos ahi, asi que no parabamos de mirar para todos lados para asegurarnos que no nos toparamos. En caso que nos pillara, ibamos a salir con la escusa de que Matt ayudo a Javi a comprar tickets a travez de su trabajo y me sorprendio con la invitacion. El unico problema con ese plan era que Matt nos pidio que le compraramos una docena de rosas rojas para Lauren, asi que Javi andaria caminando por el lugar con las flores y eso se veria suspechoso, ademas de la camara que yo andaba trayendo.

We got to our spot in the audience just fine and sat there through the first performance and immediately went down to their level when the second act came on (he was supposed to propose during the 4th song). The ushers were fine and understood the situation, but the specific song never happened! So Matt had to pretend to go to the bathroom and he came out to the lobby with us and we came up with plans B and C. One of the workers at the Opry told us she could try to get the announcer to say that Matt and Lauren were celebrating a special night and then he would do it, but since there was no guarantee it could happen, we had to have a plan C which was to just propose as soon as a nice sweet love song came along. In that case, Matt told me he would put his arm around Lauren and that would be the signal that it was going to happen.  So we waited in the shadows and suddenly a sweet song came on (after a long list of songs about drinking and honky tonking – not exactly proposal material!) so Matt stretched his arm around Lauren. I immediately crawled over right behind him and poked him in the arm to let him know that I was there, and when he started to pull her out into the aisle I got in front of them while he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring!! She was so shocked it was AWESOME! Right then the audience immediately surrounding them broke out into loud applause and everyone started patting Matt on the back after Lauren hugged him and said yes.  During the intermission we walked around the grounds of the Opry snapping photos. It was perfect! I still can’t believe Matt pulled it off without a hitch! So many things could have gone wrong and it all worked out just right. Congratulations Matt and Lauren!!!!

Encontramos nuestros asientos sin problemas y nos sentamos durante el primer acto para despues ir de inmediato a la seccion de ellos durante el segundo acto (se suponia que Matt iba a pedirle matrimonioa Lauren durante la 4ta cancion). La gente de seguridad se portaron muy amables y entendieron el plan, pero la cancion que necesitabamos nunca fue tocada! Asi que Matt se hizo el enfermo del estomago y salio al bano para encontrarse con nosotros y planear un plan B y un plan C. Una de las personas que trabaja en el lugar nos dijo que podia tratar de hacer un anuncio en los altoparlantes diciendo que Matt y Lauren estaban celebrando hoy una noche especial, pero no era garantizado que pasaria asi que necesitabamos un plan C. El C era pedirle matrimonio durante cualquier cancion romantica. En ese caso el pondria su brazo al rededor de Lauren y esa seria nuestra senal. Asi que esperamos medios escondidos y de repente una cancion romantica vino (luego de una larga lista de canciones sobre emborracharse y fiestas y cerveza – mal material para pedir matrimonio!) asi que Matt estiro su brazo y nos fuimos al ataque. De inmediato yo me fui agachada cerca de ellos y lo toque para avisarle que estaba lista, y cuando la saco a un lado hacia el pasillo me puse al frente de ellos mientras el se arrodillaba y le ofrecia el anillo! Ella estaba en estado de shock, fue INCREIBLE! La audiencia de inmediato empezo a aplaudirlos y todos felicitaron a Matt mientras Lauren decia SI!!! y lo abrazaba. Durante el intermedio paseamos por el lugar sacando fotos. Fue perfecto! Todavia no puedo creer que resulto tan bien! Muchas cosas podian haber salido mall pero todo termino funcionando. Felicitaciones para Matt y Lauren!!!!