adventurous engagement session with mountain views | diablo lake, wa | seattle wedding photographer | anh thu & hoan

This year I have had the opportunity to find and photograph at some spots I absolutely love. Diablo Lake is one spot I had been dying to do a shoot at!

Anh Thu and Hoan wanted beautiful mountainous scenery and Diablo Lake is just that and more! She lives in California while he lives in Washington and she was flying out for one weekend and we were able to schedule their engagement session that weekend!

We had so much fun together and even braved to get behind the guardrail for some amazing shots! I will be back to Diablo Lake many more times!

Hoan planned an amazing proposal to Anh Thu and I want to share his words about his planned proposal that he shared on his Facebook!

"Today I gave the most important speech of my life. It wasn't to a large audience but rather to one special person. Three years ago today, I received the greatest birthday present when I met Anh Thu. It only made sense to propose to her on this special day. I've been planning this for the last couple months. With the help of family members and friends we recreated one of our very first dates.

2.5 years ago, Anh Thu shared w/me about the Before I Die Wall, essentially a wall that helps people to pause to think about what they want to do before they die. She mentioned that she didn't write on the wall so I got the idea to have one of our dates to include writing on this wall together.

After flying in from WA to MN, I was greeted by snow and negative degree weather. As I tried to locate this wall before our date I found myself at an empty parking lot. I go into a restaurant and ask if there was suppose to be a Before I Die Wall here. He told me that it was taken down during the summer time. Rather than giving up, I ran to Target, bought a handful of chalk, and wrote on a brick wall Before I Die. Half way through our date, I ask Anh Thu to go on a walk with me. Once we got to the original location of the wall, I shared with her that I know that the Before I Die Wall is no longer here but that shouldn't stop us from creating our own wall. As we walked a couple steps, she was surprised to see the hand written Before I Die Wall then we wrote our intentions.

Well for the proposal, I thought to myself "Let's create the real thing!" I contacted the organization and got the ok to design an actual Before I Die Wall. I flew into MN on Sat Jul 22 to buy all the materials from Home Depot and invested the last three days w/family and friends to construct and paint a 6ft by 12 ft wall filled with things I wanted to do with Anh Thu before I Die.

Everything was going perfect this evening. Our parents, family, and her close friends arrived on time. The videographer filmed every detail from me sharing a personal message to my future wife, us setting up the wall, me writing on it, etc.

As everyone began to get into position because we heard Anh Thu was on her way, it all of a sudden...started to rain! I'm not talking about sprinkling, I'm talking about straight downpour. All the girls' hair were getting ruined. Dresses got drenched. Everything I wrote on the wall faded away.

I initially thought to myself "You got to be kidding me?!" Then I was like, "You know what. It's going to be all good because nothing is going to stop me from proposing to this woman!" Standing under an umbrella, I began rewriting on the wall as I waited for my soon to be fiance. Rather than having everyone hide behind the wall and come out from behind it after I proposed, we had everyone hide inside the UHaul I rented and jump out after my cue. Anh Thu was shocked and began balling her eyes out

Today's proposal didn't turn out how I exactly I envisioned it, but its ok because the twists and turns only adds to the story and experience. What matters in the end, is that everything worked out the way that it was suppose to."