Matthew & Lauren’s Pier 7 Surprise Engagement Proposal

For months, Matthew had been planning his surprise proposal to his girlfriend Lauren. As photographers, we of course like to shoot at locations that provide good aesthetics — interesting backdrop, good light, not a lot of bystanders — but as storytellers, we like locations with meaning, ones with a special significance. Matthew decided to ask Lauren to marry him at Pier 7, the place where they ended their first date, which made it the perfect place to enter into the next stage of their relationship together and to get some great photos in the process!

In the days leading up to the big surprise, the weather forecast looked pretty gloomy, with a very high chance of rain, but it actually cleared up and stayed dry for them that morning, which gave Matthew a feeling of relief but ironically almost gave away the surprise: he commented on the weather to Lauren, and she astutely wondered why he’d mention such a thing unless they were planning on taking photos…

When they arrived at the pier, Matthew asked Lauren to turn around and face the Bay Bridge for a moment, and he quickly pulled out the ring box and got down behind her. The moment when Lauren turned around was super sweet, and her reaction and their happiness gave us a lot of smiles. I’m sure it will for you too — take a look below!