A Surprise Proposal in Redwood Park, Arcata California

What looked like a simple evening exploring the redwoods turned into a beautifully planned surprise proposal in Redwood Park in Arcata, California.

Now, their very first trip to the Northern California redwoods will always be the place where they got engaged.

They had driven up the night before as part of a week-long Northern California road trip. After spending the morning and afternoon exploring the redwoods, they headed back to their hotel to get ready for the evening. A quick “walk in the redwoods” before going out to a fancy dinner.

Meanwhile, I already knew exactly where I needed to be.

We had planned the surprise proposal ahead of time so that when they walked up the trail, I would simply look like another person visiting Redwood Park. When they reached our planned spot, he casually asked if I would take a picture of the two of them on her phone.

I pointed to a good spot to stand, took their photo—and then he proposed.

What she very quickly found out, is that the stranger taking their picture was actually the photographer he had hired to capture the entire proposal.

We spent the remaining hour exploring a couple trails in Redwood Park for their newly engaged portraits. We wandered beneath the towering redwoods, giving them a full gallery of engagement photos to remember not only the proposal, but their first time experiencing the redwoods together.

Photographing surprise proposals in the redwoods is such a beautiful way to preserve the entire story—from the proposal itself to those first portraits together as an engaged couple. And with Redwood Park tucked right into Arcata in Humboldt County, it made the perfect setting for their Northern California proposal.