“We were so honored and humbled when Tyler contacted us to photograph his surprise engagement proposal at the grand and glorious Ritz Carlton on Lake Oconee! We {love} love and we {love} surprises! We knew instantly this was going to be such a sweet surprise and we wanted every emotion captured so we had to cover all the angles! Jessica sat as an innocent bystander reading a book at a picnic table beside the lake, with her camera locked and loaded, hidden under her jacket. Our assistant, Kris, maneuvered and paddled myself (Shauna) around in a paddle boat out on the lake so that we were able to capture the emotions on both of their faces! After the big moment, we were able to come out of our hiding places and witness their excitement–full of love, full of joy; there was an all about glow to the both of them! We are so incredibly excited to have been a part of this special event in their lives!” – Two Chics Photography

“Tyler knew that I had been wanting to visit the Ritz-Carlton at Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee for quite a while, so for Valentine’s Day, his gift to me was a weekend away at that resort. He had planned the trip for the first weekend of March, giving me plenty of time to speculate about what might transpire on this getaway. I had my suspicions that he might be popping the question that weekend, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up!

We arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge on a Thursday night, where we enjoyed a wonderfully romantic dinner together at the main restaurant on the property. The next morning, Tyler surprised me with a half-day at the spa, so after breakfast, off I went to enjoy some pampering. Little did I know what Tyler would be up to during the next few hours! While I was occupied at the spa, he was coordinating everything with the hotel staff and the photographers and setting up everything for the proposal down by the lake.

After a massage and a manicure – he made sure my nails were looking good for all the impending pictures, I went back to our room to get ready for the rest of the day. He hadn’t told me anything about our plans for the remainder of the day, but he just told me to shower and put on something cute and that he was going down to the business center to get on a conference call for work. That should have tipped me off that something was up, but I still had no real idea that he would be proposing that day!

A little while later, Tyler came back from his “call” (i.e., putting the finishing touches on the afternoon’s events). Shortly thereafter, we got a call from the front desk saying that we were being upgraded to a suite. When the bellhop came to get our bags, he told us that our new room was still being taken care of by the housekeeping staff and that to make up for the inconvenience of having to wait for our suite, the hotel was treating us to some complimentary cocktails down by the lake shore. Come to find out, this particular bellhop was in on the whole plan! He gave an Academy Award winning performance, and I had no clue what was about to happen!

After taking our bags, the bellhop drove us in a golf cart down by the water. When he pulled away, Tyler took me by the hand and led me down to the dock. And that’s when I saw everything… a blanket laid out on the dock with an old-fashioned wicker picnic basket, a bucket of champagne, a Bible engraved with our names, and a white rose (my favorite flower!) all laid out perfectly. It all started to hit me at that moment, and I started crying tears of joy. Tyler read a passage of Scripture from Ephesians, told me how much he loved me and how he would always take care of me, and then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Through my tears, I think I was able to make out a “YES!” as he slipped that beautiful ring on my finger! It was all a whirlwind after that, but we popped the champagne and toasted to our future together. After the shock wore off, we were able to have a wonderful shoot with our photographers to preserve this moment forever. It was the perfect proposal!

…Believe it or not, Tyler found Shauna and Jessica of Two Chics Photography through a Google search. I had dropped some not-so-subtle hints that I wanted my proposal shot by a photographer, so when Tyler starting planning this whole event, he took to the internet for some research on photographers near Lake Oconee. He came across {two} chic’s website and was immediately impressed. They were very responsive to his initial emails, answered all of his questions, and had a lot of experience shooting at this property before. Hiring them was the best decision he could have made. They were awesome and did an incredible job of documenting this special event!

…We’re still in the very early stages of wedding planning, but we’ve tried to gather as much information as we can without feeling overwhelmed! We’re looking at a late spring/early summer of 2014 date for the wedding in Nashville, TN. Some of the best advice we’ve gotten so far has come from family friends who recently hosted or attended weddings in and around Nashville—they’ve definitely pointed us in the right direction!

I’d like to give a special thank you to Jamie Kresl and his entire team at Jewelry Artisans in Atlanta.  They worked with us to create an absolutely stunning ring, and I could not be happier with the results! I’d also highly recommend the Ritz-Carlton at Reynolds Plantation for any type of romantic getaway, especially if you’re looking for an ideal place to get engaged. The staff is awesome, and they know how to pull off a proposal!” – Lauren, the bride-to-be