Vail Mountain Top Wedding Proposal

Monday, April 10, 2017

Vail Mountain Top Wedding Proposal - Doug and Kara

Shooting wedding proposals takes a lot of planning and living in a resort makes the planning even more important. Sometimes the person proposing has never been to the location where they would like to pop the question. The majority of my work is for guests coming in from out of town that I haven't met in person, so it's my job to make sure that the location works, the conditions are suitable, the person proposing has clear directions on where to go and we always need to figure out a way to recognize each other. These are the thing that I have control over.

What I don't have control over is other people and how they might interact with the situation. Doug had chosen to propose to Kara at the top of Vail Mountain, beside the observation deck. I had spoken to ski patrol to have them lower their safety ropes for five minutes so that there wouldn't be bright orange flags blowing in the background of the photos. My camera was ready and Doug had sent me a text to say they were on their way.

It was St. Patrick's Day and as some of you may know, alcohol hits you a little harder at altitude. What I hadn't planned on was an inebriated guest who had perched himself down on the deck and was heckling tourists. Doug had walked Kara out to the deck to take a look at the view and my 'helper' started giving them pointers on where they should stand for the best views and the best light and just generally getting in the way. In the mean time, I was doing a delicate dance behind him, trying to get Doug off the deck and into place without Kara noticing.

Thankfully Doug managed to politely manuever both himself and Kara off the deck and into place for a gorgeous proposal with unobstructed views of The Mount of the Holy Cross. There's always room to learn and now I know to keep an eye out for hecklers and helpers!