Brookie + Ben | The Proposal
Wow!! What an amazing weekend! Ben had planned this weekend for weeks. The plan was to propose to Brookie on Friday morning, July 4, while sailing over Rockbridge County in a hot air balloon. Perfect plan, right? Yes, perfect plan if the weather cooperates.... On Friday morning at 5:30 a.m., Becky, Phil, Brookie and Boonie picked me up and we headed to Lexington for the balloon ride. The three of us knew what was about to happen but Brookie just thought we were all going to watch her launch and follow the balloon to pick them up when they landed.Now to Brookie,the fact that all of us were going with her to the ride was not unusual or out of the ordinary in any way.The fact that I piled in the car with all my camera gear....nope...not unusual. Ben met us in Lexington and we were at VMI at 5:45 a.m. just as they had been instructed. We arrived and everyone was just standing around...no balloons were up and they were all in a huddle apparently discussing the fact that even though the weather seemed perfect on the ground, the wind in the sky was too high to launch. When they made the announcement that they were not going to launch, a look of disappointed flooded Ben's face. He was determined that Friday was going to be the day he asked Brookie to spend the rest of her life with him!
Although they could reschedule for that evening... launching that evening would ruin Ben's plans even further.Ben had planned a 4th of July engagement party for family and friends. Ben rescheduled the ride for Sunday morning and he sent Becky a text that said, "We are going Sunday morning, but I am doing this today." Well anyone who knows Becky, knows that she will not let a little wind ruin Brookie's big day and her wheels started turning. She sent Ben a text back that said, "Talk to me first...I have a plan."
So to make a long story short Becky made arrangements, with the help of Barry, for Ben and Brookie to go up in the balloon for a tethered ride so Ben could propose. Now WSLS News 10 was there covering the balloon rally. Brookie's best friend, Sarah, is the producer for the morning news show at WSLS. Sarah had made arrangements with the reporter, Jade, to cover the proposal. Jade handed the pilot, Kenny, a GoPro cam to take up with them so he could record the proposal.
They went up and we all were watching from the ground...we saw Ben go down on one knee and the next thing we knew, Kenny yelled out over the side, "She said YES"!! The whole crowd cheered! When they landed it was like a red carpet event. Jade was recording, Joe Dasheill from WDBJ 7 was there and saw that a proposal was happening so he got in on the action as well. Both Jade and Dashiell interviewed Brookie and Ben, but it was WSLS who got the actual proposal on film. Sarah is such an awesome friend to plan this and the whole thing was amazing.... really just like a fairy tale.
Perhaps the most ironic part of the day is that the pilot of the balloon, Kenny Shumate (who is a awesome pilot by the way), offers balloon tours over Orlando and is a former Disney Cast Member of 30 years, so there was even some Disney magic sprinkled into the day.
These are some my photos from the morning. I am so happy and thankful to have been included in the whole event. I wish you both all the happiness and love in the whole wide world!
