A Plymouth Proposal at Smeaton’s Tower.
A few weeks ago I photographed a proposal at Smeaton’s Tower in Plymouth. A proposal is over so quickly, but that brief moment can take a lot of planning. Luckily Sam contacted me 11 weeks beforehand, so we had plenty of time to discuss all the fine details. Here’s the story of how we planned this perfect, life-changing occasion.
February 1st 2024 - Sam’s enquiry
Hi Leah,
I’m looking for someone who could photograph my surprise proposal to my partner Jess.
Ideally it would be in front of Smeaton’s Tower. One of our first proper selfies was taken there and we have a framed 1000 piece puzzle of the selfie, so it’s a place that has a lot of meaning for us both.
If you could let me know, it would be the weekend 19-21 April hopefully.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Sam
I was over the moon when I checked my diary and saw that I was available for that weekend. I’ve unfortunately had to turn a few proposals away due to not being available for the chosen date, so it felt great to say yes to this one! I was full of enthusiasm, which Sam picked up on instantly. He told me he loved reading my blog on Toria & Matthew’s proposal at Burgh Island and he was feeling giddy with excitement about having that moment with Jess and having it captured on camera.
February 2nd 2024 - Scoping out the area
The very next day, I was at Smeaton’s Tower, scoping the place out. I took my camera along and took photos from various angles. I evaluated the pros and cons of every angle we could use, annotated the photos with my observations and sent them across to Sam.
“Oh my days! Leah! You’ve gone above and beyond! That’s so detailed and thought out! Thank you you so much. ”
One of the first things Sam and I decided on was that it was better to have two photographers there catching the moment. So we enlisted the help of my good friend Matt, who was also with me when I captured the Burgh Island Proposal. Matt’s job would be to capture the wide scene, showing the couple beside the full lighthouse, with the amazing view around them. And with Matt focused on capturing those environmental photos, I could concentrate on capturing the moment closer in. The photos I’d take would show the couple’s expressions and emotion, which is something you wouldn’t see very clearly in Matt’s wide shots. So having us both there captures the best of everything, the sentimental location and the intimate moment itself.
There was a lot to consider when deciding the precise location and angle that the proposal would happen. Obviously I was greatly aware that there’s nowhere to hide up at the Hoe, and so I was concerned that having myself and Matt there with professional cameras would make Jess suspicious. This is partly why I came up with the idea of Matt and I being sat on a picnic blanket together. I felt like if we were both sat down, it would make us less obvious and we could have our bags next to us, which would help to hide our cameras too. I also really liked the perspective from down on the ground, so I felt like it benefitted the composition for Matt and I to be low down whilst taking our photos. But with us sat on a picnic blanket, we would be anchored in position and that meant we needed Sam to stop in the right place and stand at the right angle for the proposal. If you’ve been to the Hoe you’ll know that the lighthouse is surrounded by a lot of grass, and pinpointing the exact place that Sam should stop and propose would not be easy in a field of grass. So I came up with the idea of us utilising one of the two paths that’s up at the Hoe. Having the couple walking on the path would ensure that they stop at the right distance from where Matt and I were stationed on our picnic blanket, and Sam suggested that I mark the path with chalk so that he knows exactly where to stop. It was a brilliant plan! The main path down to the lighthouse wasn’t the best option for us for various reasons and I noticed that the second path was in a similar location to where they had their selfie (the one that they turned into a 1000 piece puzzle). I thought it would be really sweet for the proposal to happen in the same area as that very special selfie. So I suggested to Sam that he could recreate the selfie with Jess and that would be the signal that he’s about to propose.
February - April - Planning the finer details
Sam and myself had the exact location planned to perfection. Now all we needed was the weather to play ball. It hadn’t stopped raining in Plymouth and we were beginning to get concerned that the weather wouldn’t be suitable for us for the weekend that the couple were visiting Plymouth. We discussed possible plan B situations. One idea that I floated was to do the proposal at The Box museum in Plymouth. But Sam really had his heart set on having the lighthouse as the backdrop, which I completely understood. The couple live in Dorset so we couldn't just move the plans to another weekend and this meant that the weather could have completely derailed everything we’d been arranging. Professional cameras are waterproof to an extent but I'm personally not keen on testing my limits with that too much. My cameras are my livelihood and so I wouldn't feel comfortable working for a long period of time in a heavy downpour. Light rain isn't so much of a threat of course but even exposing my camera to drizzle for a long period of time could cause some damage. I also feel like it would make Matt and I look more suspicious, if Jess spotted two people sat on a picnic blanket in the rain with professional cameras, it surely would have raised some questions in her mind. And how keen would she have been to walk up there in the rain?
We were also aware that a beautiful sunny day could be trouble for us. When the sun comes out in Plymouth, lots of people tend to visit the Hoe and we didn’t want people crowding the area too much or walking in front of the shot at the wrong moment. We thought it would be best to do the proposal in the morning, in the hope that it won’t be too busy. The plan was to do the proposal on Saturday 20th of April in the morning. Sam and Jess had a tour booked at the Plymouth Gin Distillery for 12 in the afternoon, so we thought it would be good to do the proposal before the tour, leaving the rest of their weekend free to celebrate.
So we had the date and time arranged but we needed to be flexible in case of bad weather. Matt and I had kept the whole weekend available for Sam, so we were ready to change the plan up at short notice, if need be.
April 20th - Setting up for the proposal
It was the morning of the proposal and the weather was perfect! No chance of rain, not too windy, not too hot, not too cold. Matt and I arrived at roughly 10am to set things up ready for the proposal to happen at roughly 10:30-10:45. We set our picnic blanket up and marked the path with a love heart in red chalk. We took some test shots and waited for the arrival of the couple. Sam had shared his location with me, so I could track where they were. I did have to ask a lady if she could move as she’d sat down on the grass with her book, right next to where the chalk mark was, luckily she didn’t mind moving further back for us.
Here they come…
Sam and Jess arrived on time and he took his phone out to recreate their selfie. This was the sign to Matt and I that it was about to happen…
The moment
A proposal happens so quickly (probably two or three minutes maximum) but Matt and I took lots of photos - capturing every detail of that very special moment. Here is a slideshow of the proposal, with photos from Matt and myself. The wide shots with the full lighthouse in are Matt’s (bar one) and the closer in photos are ones I took. There are 55 photos in this slideshow!! And I’m sure some people would think that’s overkill for a two-three minute moment but I love the story these photos tell. There were of course some members of the public in the photos but I have removed them in Photoshop.
Video extras…
I also took my GoPro along with me so that I could get a video of the proposal for the happy couple. As you can see here, this isn’t the best footage, it’s a very wide angle lens and the quality isn’t amazing either. I highly recommend that if you want your proposal videoed, you hire a professional videographer (which I do offer as part of my proposal packages). This was just something I did for free, it was no trouble for me to take it along. I had it attached to my bag and all I had to do was remember to press play.
Alongside the GoPro footage, I also enlisted my lovely brother (Dean) and his partner (Claire) to turn up at the right place and the right time, to video the moment on a phone. This is not something I can offer to all clients, Dean and Claire were kind enough to take time out of their day to do this favour for us for free. And it was great to be able to get a video that was zoomed closer into the couple.
In these photos you’ll see Dean and Claire congratulating the happy couple before they headed off. And I added the couple’s initials and the date to the chalk love heart on the path.
My proposal packages come with an engagement photo shoot, which takes place straight after the proposal. We had just over an hour until the couple needed to be at the Plymouth Gin Distillery Tour, so our plan was to slowly walk in that direction, taking photos along the way. We naturally started the photo shoot on the path where the proposal happened. Matt also stayed with us for the photo shoot and he took some behind the scenes photos for me.
Next, we moved across to the other side of the lighthouse, which was an angle I really loved back when I scoped the area out in February. As beautiful as it was from this angle, it wouldn’t have been practical to use for the actual proposal. As you can see from Matt’s behind the scenes photo, I had to be down very low in order to get this composition with the sky behind the couple’s faces. It would have also been difficult to mark where Sam needed to stop on the grass.
We then took a few photos directly in front of the lighthouse on the main path leading down to it. The reason this angle wouldn’t have worked so well for the proposal is because the path is actually not very long., and so if Matt and I were standing on the path pointing our cameras directly at the couple, we would have been incredibly obvious. Also this path is very busy with people walking up and down often, so we could have had some trouble with that too.
It was starting to get very busy up on the Hoe but we managed to find this quiet area, which had the lighthouse in the distance.
We then started moving closer to the Barbican as we were aware that we needed to get the couple to their gin tour on time. We stumbled across this quiet walled garden area which I loved utilising for some photos. The speckled light through the trees and the exposed brickwork as a backdrop gave us a complete change of scene, even though we were technically still on the Hoe. I love the dark, romantic and slightly gothic vibe that this area offered. It’s nice to be able to include some variety in photo shoots, I think.
We then found some beautiful blossom trees, not far from the walled garden area. It was a tricky space to take photos because the sunlight was casting very harsh, branch shaped shadows on the couple’s faces. Matt managed to help with this a bit by holding some branches out of the way.
And just like that, we were on the Barbican, just in time for the couple’s gin tour. I love these photos with the gin distillery in the background. The street was actually incredibly busy, with cars constantly driving past and people milling about. But I managed to remove all of those distractions in Photoshop.
Once we’d said goodbye to Sam and Jess, Matt and I went for lunch and a catch up. We were so happy with how the proposal went! There’s obviously a lot that could go wrong with an outdoor proposal in a public place, but everything went perfectly to plan. I think my biggest concern was that Jess would spot the two photographers with professional cameras and she’d know something was about to happen. But we managed to hide in plain sight really effectively with my picnic blanket idea.
What have I learned from this second proposal?
The first proposal I photographed (Matthew and Toria at Burgh Island) was an incredibly last minute arrangement. I was first contacted by Matthew only 3 days before the proposal and we didn’t have time to plan out the exact location and angle for the proposal. I was so happy with how it went and I did catch the moment on camera, but if I could go back in time I would have loved to have taken those proposal photos from a different angle. But this time, with Sam contacting me 11 weeks before he proposed to Jess, we had plenty of time to communicate all the fine details before the big day. And scoping out the area beforehand gave me the opportunity to really think about the composition. I was able to analyse the pros and cons of different perspectives and discuss that all with Sam. As a result of this, I am incredibly happy with how Sam and Jess’ proposal photos have turned out.
The only downside of planning it so far in advance is that we didn’t know what the weather was going to be like. And if the weekend had come along and the weather was awful, I’m not sure what we would have done. Sam had his heart set on doing the proposal at the Hoe, so we didn’t have an indoor plan B. And so there’s a chance the proposal might not have gone ahead at all that weekend and Sam and Jess would have returned to Dorset as boyfriend and girlfriend. It may have ended up getting rearranged for next time the couple visit Plymouth (they have family here) or Sam might have decided to propose in Dorset instead. This would have been tricky for me to navigate because I’d put a lot of time into the planning already and I’d kept the whole weekend available for the proposal (as had Matt). So I wouldn’t have been in a position to offer a full refund. It would have been a really shite situation for everyone involved and so if you are planning an outdoor proposal and you don’t live locally, I’d strongly recommend having an indoor plan B in place, just in case.
And guess what?
I’m planning the next proposal right now!!!! It’ll be my first Cornwall proposal and it’ll be in the summer, that’s all I can say for now. I’ve been to visit the location already and scoped it out. I took a lot of go pro video footage, which I’m going to send across to my client this week and of course I’ve taken some photos too. I’m very excited and I can’t wait to share a blog about it later this year. But… maybe I’ll be lucky enough to photograph another proposal between now and then??
Get in touch HERE to book your proposal photography in Devon or Cornwall.
Sam’s review
“I contacted Leah in February for a surprise proposal in April. Wow!! Firstly, she blew me away just by being on the same wave length. She’d admittedly only done one proposal prior to me getting in touch. I said where I wanted to do it and she was ON BOARD! 100% In! From that point she was on my team! Doing place visits and working out angles with extra thoughts and details on the why, where and how!
In the lead up to the day I was consistently messaging Leah about the weather - no doubt because the day, the place and the moment meant so much! Leah in all her good nature and saint-like patience rolled with it when her time allowed.
The day of the moment came, I was in constant contact with her from the moment we left our Airbnb , to the bus journey to the City , to walking to the spot. The moment came and went without AN issue. Writing this is making my eyes water putting a lump in my throat, thinking sbout it and reliving it again.
Leah, from the bottom of my heart (and I’ve no doubt Jess’s heart), thank you so much for everything! I really do not think I could’ve done it without you.
I consider (and I’m sure Jess will) you a friend from that moment on. Please keep in touch.
To anyone reading gauging whether Leah is a good bet? Stop looking and message her. You won’t regret it ”