Skybridge Proposal
This session is tooootally different from what you’re used to seeing from me. Mostly because of the lighting, but I can explain because it’s a pretty cool story. Matthew contacted me several months ago. He told me he wanted to re-propose to his wife at the Skybridge in Gatlinburg, TN, while there on vacation. At his first proposal, he took his wife on a plane ride and had giant signs written out on the ground below asking her to marry him. At initial planning, he wanted something epic like this to just knock her socks off. We brainstormed and brainstormed, and ultimately, thought he could propose on The Skybridge because the background would speak for itself. He called trying to arrange a reservation to have the place to ourselves, but of course, they don’t take reservations. Instead, we decided to wing it. We arrived as soon as it opened, and when Matthew saw his opening, he got down on one knee and re-proposed to his wife. They have three kids now who also took part, and it was so precious. Since we were on the actual bridge and people were waiting to pass, we kept walking to the other side where we reenacted the whole thing with no tourists behind or in front of us. This time, all the kids got to have their own ring so all four of them got down on one knee extending rings in the air towards their beautiful mama and re-proposed. It was so precious and so sweet, and even though their oldest ended up being terrified of heights, even he couldn’t help but be so excited to see the smile on his mama’s face when she saw her husband down on one knee again.
Ideally, I always have my clients start their sunrise sessions within 10-15 minutes of actual sunrise to get the best lighting, but The Skybridge doesn’t open until 8:30 so that wasn’t really a choice for us. So, we met at the ticket line right at 8:30, which is why the lighting isn’t as glowy as what you’re used to seeing in my work. Lemme tell you, it was worth it. If I could get The Skybridge to open earlier or to start allowing “before hours” sessions, I would probably shoot there all the time, but since they don’t do that kind of thing, we made the most of our bright sunshine!
There is something else you’ll notice about this family. Their hands were always moving. This is because they speak sign language. I have served other clients that have not been able to hear, but there has always been at least one person in our party that can hear and interpret. So going into this session, I thought of all the ways I could make this easiest on them. I’m sure they could read lips, but I wanted to make sure I could understand them. I brushed up on some key sign language words like thank you, smile, and perfect! I wanted to be intentional about not talking too fast or too slow. Once we arrived and waited in line together, I found I could quickly pick up on what they were talking about. Especially with the kids. Honestly, it was so humbling and a complete honor to get to serve this family in this way. Sign language has always been a language I’ve admired, and I’m so grateful to Matt for trusting and allowing me to come in as someone not fluent in ASL and make it work beautifully.
I’m a Knoxville Wedding Photographer that loves to travel…I shoot anywhere! Click here to contact me with any questions you have about pricing or booking! If you liked what you saw above, go ahead and follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see my daily updates of the latest sessions!
SEE MORE FROM AMANDA MAY PHOTOS:
The Guide
A lot of moving pieces go into planning a wedding day timeline, and we know it's easy to feel like a hot mess! Grab our free guide to plan the perfect timeline for your day.
