proposal

David + Suli - Sunrise Surprise Proposal at Griffith Observatory - Los Angeles California by Ulices Del Toro

It was truly an amazing experience being able to photograph David + Suli’s surprise sunrise proposal at the beautiful Griffith Observatory overlooking Los Angeles.

Thanks to the help of his sister Becky, and several of his friends, David was able to construct the ultimate plan from all the way across the country in Florida, for the perfect dream proposal. This past Christmas, David surprised his girlfriend with a vacation to Southern California! She had no idea what else was being planned besides what is already a trip to remember.

When I talked to David, he told me his initial plan to surprise his girlfriend and it was perfect. We went over some logistics, and being from California, I gave him a couple of ideas to look into. With his friends, he came up with the best plan, to propose to his girlfriend at the Griffith Observatory overlooking Los Angeles at sunrise!

From my perspective, it was really fun to plan how I would photograph this. There were many people at the Observatory exercising, taking photos and considering Suli had no idea who I was, I was not worried about “bing caught”. I had already seen photos of them and knew exactly who I was looking for.

As they walked up to the Observatory, I picked a spot to remain stationary and pretend I was taking photos of the city scape. David, being an avid photography enthusiast, convinced Suli to come with him to the Observatory early in the morning to take som photos of the sunrise. I remember at one point I had the camra pointed in their direction and Suli looked at me funny…but then looked behind her and noticed the Hollywood Sign, and that was enough to convince her that that was what I was taking a photo of.

David set his stuff down and walked up to the binoculars that are located at the Observatory and took a peek through. He then instructed Suli to have a look. When she did she immediately started laughing with joy. At the other end of those binoculars was two of her and Davids friends standing outside a car holding a giant sig asking her to marry him.

She was so struck by the surprise she hadn’t even realized it was her own friends holding the sign. David got down on one knee as I cam around the corner know she was fully in the moment and knew I would not even be close to being a distraction as he began to ask her for her hand in marriage.

Of course she said yes as she threw herself on to him hugging him in disbelief. He told her to look through the binoculars again and thats when she realized it was he friends. As she started to mutter the questions, “What are they doing here?” An entire group of her friends and close family members came around the corner to surprise her, if the proposal was not enough!

David was able to bring their entire group of friends and family to spend the week with them on their trip to California, a trip that will be forever a core memory.

This was such a fun experience, I am so excited for these two and just so grateful they found me and had me be a part of this chapter of their lives.

Laguna Beach Photowalk by Ulices Del Toro

Maria and I have been planning this photowalk for almost two months. Our first one was a great experience, we had a nice group of about 15 people, we made some new friends, took some great photos together and enjoyed the idea of getting all of these artists together to share our love for creating.

For this photowalk, we wanted everyone to have a really great experience, we planned it at the beach, we were able to put together a couple of prizes for a giveaway towards the end of the event. And thanks to IE Photo Rentals, we were able to really spread the word about the photowalk and we had 30+ people show up!

What Maria did not know that besides planning the photowalk, I was also planning something special. Maria and I have been photographing engagements, weddings and family photos for over a year together now, and nothing has brought me more joy than being able to work professionally and creatively together with someone who shares the same passion for photography as I do, and this girl happens to be my girlfriend! I've known for a long time now that I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I wanted to do something really special that combined all our friends and family and the thing we love most. So what better proposal, than at a photowalk.

The turnout for the photowalk was amazing, we had a huge group of photographers, everyone got to meet each other, we all took photos and prizes were won! I gathered everyone at the end for a nice group photo. On the last photo I sent Maria over to the camera to take the last photo, and when she turned around she had no idea what she was in for...

Thank you to everyone who help make this happen! I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many great people. I hope everyone had a great time at the photowalk, we really do believe in community first and cannot wait to host many more! Go check out the hashtag #DPphotowalk_Laguna to see all of the great photos everyone took at the meet up. and you can find us on Instagram at @deltorophoto and @emmvelasquez to join us on the next Photowalk!

And thank you Martha for capturing this day for us! Please go check out more of Martha's amazing photography MoonbeamPhotography Instagram!