I had the honor of photographing a beautiful Nashville Pedestrian Bridge Proposal. Jake and one of his best friends planned everything from out of state. That’s no easy thing to do. They also kept it quiet from the girls which I imagine is even harder. It’s so hard to truly surprise someone that you are around every day. I was so excited to get to be a part of it. Proposals are just so exciting to photograph.
The Bridge
The John Seigenthaler Pedestrian bridge in Nashville is a gorgeous addition to the Nashville skyline. And it’s totally romantic to stand on it over the river and look out at the lights of the city. It was built in 1907-09 and was originally called the Sparkman Street Bridge. The bridge contains 48 spans including four steel trusses and two reinforced concrete trusses. The bridge was closed to automobile traffic in 1998 and has been restored for pedestrian use.
Jake & Devon
I had not met Jake or Devon before seeing them walk upon the bridge where he was going to propose. So I wasn’t able to find out their story until after the proposal was over. When asking Jake about the two of them and what their story was here is what he said.
“So the long and short of it is that we’ve known of each other for quite a while and the timing just wasn’t right due to previous relationships and life I guess. We finally met for dinner in January of 2018 and the rest was history. We enjoy traveling to new cities and finding new ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Devon and I share the same passion for our sports teams the Yankees and New York Jets and we also love to just curl up and spend a day in our comfy home binging a new Netflix show or movies.
She works as a Ship Store manager for a yacht club in Naples, FL and I’m a paramedic/firefighter in our hometown as well. I planned the proposal in our favorite city with our favorite people and wanted it to be as special as humanly possible for her and I think it all worked out the way I had hoped.”
The Proposal
It was perfect. My friend and second shooter, Amanda, came with me to keep me company on the ride to Nashville and because who doesn’t love a proposal. So we made our way onto the bridge that night right after sunset. Jake had sent me pictures to show me exactly where he wanted to propose on the bridge. I was amazed at how he had been able to choose a spot from just looking at pictures online.
Amanda and I found the spot and made our plan of where we would stand and how we would move once things got started. I had a picture of Jake and Devon so I would recognize them but I also knew they would be with their two close friends so we were looking for a group of four. We saw them coming and started to point our cameras at the skyline so it seemed we were there to photograph Nashville. He dropped down on one knee Devon was obviously not expecting it. I even found my hands shaking from the excitement.
The moments flew by and once it was over we walked over and met everyone. I love working with great couples and Jake and Devon and their friends were definitely so fun. The girls were both unaware of the plan so the guys had done a great job. I hope the rest of your trip was as memorable as that first night there. Congratulations you two and thanks so much for letting me play a part in it.
If you’d like to see another proposal in Nashville check out Jared & Heather’s.
