Guru emailed me in March 2026 to hire me to capture his proposal at Mt. Rainier in the summer. He wanted the most beautiful spot to get down on a knee and propose to his girlfriend, Alexandra, and asked me for advice. He said it was important to have wildflowers in the scenes because Alexandra was excited to see them on their mountain adventure. Since I’ve been photographing at Mt. Rainier since 2010 and have been photographing proposals at Rainier for the past ten years, I had some great advice for him on the specific spot where he could propose and where we could capture some incredible scenes with wildflowers.
I admit I was a little nervous when he said he had to propose on July 10th because most years, the snow isn’t fully melted on the lower trails near the Paradise Inn. This is what Reflection Lake typically looks like in early July. It is even lower in elevation than the proposal areas I recommend in Paradise. The photo on the left is what I captured on July 8, 2017 and the one on the right was captured on July 10th this year.
As you can see, we’ve had a warmer winter/spring to melt all the snow this year which made me excited to see more wildflowers coming out than I normally see at this time in the season.
Guru asked if I could provide both videography and photography services. Since my expertise is in photography only, I created a plan that would work for both of us. I told him I could pose as a tourist photographing the mountain from a beautiful spot near the Paradise parking lot. Then he would hike with Alexandra, approach me, and ask if I could take a photo of them with his phone. He would then hand his iPhone to me in video mode and I would capture his proposal on video. I was really glad it all went according to plan. He got his proposal captured on his phone and then I led them both on a two-hour hike on the mountain, stopping to take photos with a variety of scenes including woods, wildflowers, mountain, marmots, chipmunks, and deer.
Guru did a great job communicating with me throughout the entire process which helped give his proposal great success! It was a lot of fun getting to know them on the mountain and photographing them, especially the way Guru lit up when I told him to put his arm around Alexandra or grab her hand for a walk up the mountain.
I’m really thankful for the amazing weather and the beautiful views we enjoyed.
Congrats to Guru and Alexandra!!!
