Aug 05 2019

A Marriage Proposal at The Met

He proposed… and she said YES! When I got an instagram message from Pete inquiring about having me surrepticiously photograph him propose to his girlfriend at The Met I was thrilled- I love shooting these, they are so incredible to witness and capture! NYC is full of great proposal spots, but I’d never shot one inside The Metropolitan Museum of Art, so I was super excited about it. Needless to say, proposing to your intended in front of her favorite painting in the world right after she excitedly explains what she loves so much about it to you is a pretty romantic move. He told me what the painting was and the Met website had it located in gallery 631 on the 2nd floor in the European Art section. We planned a time that would allow room for portraits after the proposal but before their planned brunch with his parents. I got to the museum and headed for gallery 631 but then when I asked for directions from a guard they told me the wing was under renovation! I walked around where I thought it would be and saw a big sign about said renovations, so I texted Pete and we quickly forged a Plan B location that would work, and I waited to follow them from the top of the staircase. After all that heartpounding crisis of where to relocate his proposal, when Pete asked a guard about the painting’s location and it turned out it had been moved to a different gallery so it could remain on view during the renovation of the wing! The plan was back on! I followed them as they wound through the galleries, clearly on a mission to go straight to her favorite painting, and when they got there Jay gave Pete a taste of why she loved it so, and I was just out of earshot where I stood across the room looking nonchalant, camera in hand, ready to raise it and shoot as soon as Pete made his move. And move he did! Down on one knee he pulled out the ring from his bag, which was in a brilliant little box with an LED light inside of it! She said yes and was delighted with the whole thing. After introducing me we made some sweet portraits of the two of them in a few areas of the museum including the Temple of Dendur, where they made a few phone calls to tell their families the fantastic news. Then we walked outside and dipped into the park for a few shots with greenery before they bid me farewell to go celebrate. Check out my favorite shots from this sweet proposal!