A Surprise Engagement at The Chanler, Newport

When David and I started planning his surprise proposal, the original plan was to secure the perfect engagement at The Chanler. We looked at other options, but “The Chanler” simply made sense. Remember, the first rule of a successful surprise proposal is to maintain the norm. With a dinner reservation already set at The Chanler, David could easily pull off the surprise.

Plan ‘A’

David had a firm image concept for the initial proposal. We would use the entirety of the hotel as a background, and the proposal itself would occur on the well-manicured grounds—the classic vision of an engagement at The Chanler. However, there was one major fly-in-the-ointment: the potential for trees to cast a shadow on the grounds. It would be impossible to shoot the proposal in shadow and still see the building, which would be drenched in sunlight and, therefore, photographically, be over-exposed. David relayed my concern to the hotel, and I have to give a shout-out to The Chanler’s fantastic customer service because, a couple of days before our shoot, the staff went out at the exact time of the proposal to take photos to help us decide on a spot. Unfortunately, it did not help because it was cloudy, meaning no tree shadow, but still, ‘A’ for effort!

On Friday, a sunny evening, the dinner reservation was at 7:15 pm, and I left home with an E.T.A of 6:30 pm to allow me to scope out our options for the engagement at The Chanler. At 6:30 pm, the shot in front of The Chanler would work, but by 6:45 pm, the grounds were completely covered in shadow, rendering Plan ‘A’ useless. Time for plan ‘B’: the side of the hotel. The side was 100% shadow, and the downside was that it was a little dark, and the sky would be blown out (shooting into the direction of the sun). I took a photo of this location with my phone and sent it to David.

David then gave me a request: could I go into the hotel and speak to the hostess, Lily, and ask her to tell David when he checked in for dinner that his table would not be ready for a few minutes. This request would add to the skulduggery that is a surprise proposal! Lily, the hostess, was only too happy to take part in our plan for the engagement at The Chanler.

I moved to the location for plan ‘B’ and started framing up the shot. Unfortunately, there were lawn signs in the frame notifying visitors that the hotel lawn was for guests only. I had to remove them, quickly relocating the signs as time was running out.

David sent me a text; it was go time for the engagement at The Chanler.

For tonight’s proposal, I had to use a wide-angle 24mm to 70mm f/2.8 lens to include the hotel in the shot. It was important that I get the shot with The Chanler in the background, which needed a wide lens.

Just as I saw David and Melissa walking down the path, a family appeared behind me, walking up the stairs in the direction of the proposal. Quickly, with one eye on David, I had to redirect them. At that point, David dropped to his knee. I took a couple of definition shots and, just like a good paparazzi photographer, started running towards the couple, clicking away because I could not use the big telephoto lens.

The joy on Melissa’s face was immense, and yes, she was surprised. She had an inkling that it may occur this weekend, but not tonight. Kudos to David et al.! After the proposal, we had fun with a mini-engagement shoot, primarily working in the shadows. Like all proposals, securing the perfect engagement at The Chanler took a lot of work, but it was totally worth it.