I love working with Courtney Hamill of Courtney Ford Event Design. She does such great work and I was thrilled when she called me to photograph Sarah and Rewny’s proposal! Sarah loves old trucks and Courtney set up the perfect romantic atmosphere for Rewny to propose, the bed of an old Dodge truck filled with pillows, roses and champagne. It was a beautiful night with market lights lighting up Artisan Alley in historic downtown DeLand. I love shooting proposal photography – I get to be there from the start xo
Flowers by The Floral Boutique by Nature’s Home Decor
Their story in Sara’s words:
Rewny and I are both from DeLand, and actually grew up around the corner from each other. However, Rewny was five years older, so I never knew him growing up, just knew of him. One of my close friends from high school, Haley, got engaged to Rewny’s brother, Nat. At the time, I was living in Jacksonville and was in my first year of law school at Florida Coastal. I went on Haley’s bachelorette cruise, where I met Rewny’s mom, Alice, and sister, Leah. After a few glasses of wine, and few days of getting to know each other, Leah and Alice suggested that Rewny and I should meet. According to Rewny, they came home from the cruise saying that he needed to meet me at the upcoming wedding. I was so nervous but also excited to meet him. After his best man speech, he came up to me introduced himself, and kissed my hand. We got to talking, and we automatically just clicked. I gave him my phone number, and the following week, we had our first date. He recently moved to Jacksonville for his job, so it was perfect. He cooked me pasta carbonara at his house, and we talked, and talked the whole night. When he walked me to my car, we had our first kiss. I remember immediately getting into the car and texting my best friend that I just had “my last first date.” Rewny has truly been my rock and best friend since the day I met him.
In September of 2013 my dad had a brain aneurysm, that left him in a coma with a long road of recovery ahead. Seeing Rewny cry beside my dad’s hospital bed was the moment I knew we would truly be together forever. Not only did he love me, he loved my family, and I wanted him to be my husband. My dad passed away in October of this year, by far the worst time in my life, yet Rewny was there every single step of the way. Before he passed, Rewny was able to ask my dad for his permission to ask me to marry him. My dad told him he would like that very much. Rewny’s birthday was the plan for the day to propose. I think he tried to think of a day that I would least expect. We were supposed to meet my mom at Dally in the Alley for dinner at 5:30. We parked on New York Avenue, and walked down the alley. There was an old red Dodge truck sitting at the end. I have this obsession with old trucks that I always talk about. I was completely clueless it was for me. Rewny said, “Wow that’s a cool truck” and I said, “Oh yeah it is, I wonder whose it is?” We got closer and he stopped in front of the truck. He began telling me how much he loved me, and that he had been lying to me about some things. When he walked me around to the bed of the truck it was decorated with candles and flowers, and I just completely lost it. He said, “I have a question I’ve been dying to ask you…Sarah Beth Zimmerman will you marry me?” At this point I was hysterically crying and said yes. There was banging on the windows from inside Dally, where my mom, sister, and Rewny’s parents were watching. We went in to Dally and had a wonderful dinner to celebrate. It was absolutely perfect, and to make it even more special, my dad was there in so many ways. I was wearing my dad’s ring that night on my wedding finger (the only finger it fit), so I had to take his ring off to put on my engagement ring. Also, Rewny was wearing one my dad’s shirts and the flowers were arranged in my dad’s old watering can. It was such a special night. Rewny is so good to me, and has already been there for me for better or for worse. I know God sent him to me at the perfect time, and I’m so excited to be his wife.
DeLand Proposal Photography