Written by Shayla

Oh where to start! I have known Benjamin & Shaina since high school, and we all did theater together. They are the sweetest, most caring people you could ever meet. They have been together since senior year, and moved out to Greely for college where their love story continued. People have always wondered when he would pop the question, and I couldn't have been more honored to be a part of the process. A couple months ago, Benjamin reached out to me letting me know he wanted to propose in February, and wanted to know I would be down to help. Obviously, I was stoked, and we had some calls about perfect locations and what not, and we ended up choosing Sprague Lake's beautiful mountain views for the backdrop for this special moment. We also planned the perfect surprise. On the day, Melissa and I waited out on the dock for them to arrive, and when they crossed the frozen lake, Benjamin said to Shaina, "Oh my goodness, is that Shayla Bradford??" They then came up to us and said hello and as cool as possible, we told them we had an elopement later and she totally bought it! Those theater/acting skills coming in handy! But then we said our goodbyes, and we were "casually" walking a little behind until he got down on one knee.

THE RING

Another super cool thing about this proposal was the ring. It was crafted and designed by Benjamin and Shaina's very close friend, Lacey Jarrell, who is also a jeweler. After the ring was already placed on Shaina's finger, Benjamin gave her a slip of paper from Lacey with encouraging words and letting her know that she was the one who made it. Shaina immediately got emotional, and it was so incredibly special.

After she said yes...

She asked if our elopement couple was still coming, and we all laughed, and we let her know that we were there for them. And it was just adorable! We then went back to the cars, cause IT WAS COLD. You think it was snowing during these pictures? Nope, the wind was blowing so hard that it looked like it was! When they first got to the lake, I'm sure Shaina was like- why are we outside when it's 20 degrees and insane wind? But it was all worth it for this fantastic surprise. We then adventured to another beautiful spot in Rocky Mountain National Park where the wind wasn't whipping so bad to take few more photos. I had never been to this spot before, and Melissa had gone to take some film pictures here previously, and... WOW. These mountain views are just spectacular – side note if anyone wants to do a session here, we definitely would love to some more photos here!!