Some shoots are memorable because of what happens in front of the camera.
This one was memorable before I’d even taken the camera out of my bag.
Victor first contacted me from the Dominican Republic with plans to propose to his girlfriend, Nicole, during his first ever visit to the UK. They are both from the Dominican Republic, although Nicole currently works in London, and Victor had chosen somewhere pretty special for the proposal - Stourhead.
More specifically, Apollo’s Temple.
There was a reason Victor had chosen this exact spot.
Stourhead features in the 2005 film Pride & Prejudice, and Apollo’s Temple is the setting for one of the film’s most memorable scenes between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy.
For Victor, it was the perfect place to ask Nicole to marry him.
So we had a plan.
Victor and Nicole would make their way through Stourhead Gardens towards Apollo’s Temple, while the photographer and I would already be in position waiting for them.
The idea was to stay completely out of sight so Nicole wouldn't suspect a thing.
And somehow, despite two people hiding in bushes with cameras, we managed it.
Whenever there was a chance we'd been spotted, we simply carried on as though we were there photographing and filming Stourhead itself.
Nicole didn't suspect a thing.
There was, however, one fairly significant problem.
I was in France.
On the morning of the proposal, I was still in Nice.
My flight was due to land at Gatwick at 1:20pm and I needed to be at Stourhead and ready to film by 4:30pm.
On paper, it worked.
In reality, I still needed to get off the plane, wait for my luggage, collect my car from valet parking and then drive from Gatwick to Stourhead.
Any significant delay and I wasn't making it.
After a few delays, what should have been a fairly comfortable journey suddenly became very, very tight.
Thankfully, somebody somewhere was looking out for me.
My bag was about the fourth one onto the baggage carousel, there was no queue to collect my car keys, and I got on the road as quickly as I possibly could.
I eventually pulled into Stourhead with around 15 minutes to spare.
Which would have been absolutely fine…
if Apollo’s Temple had been next to the car park.
It isn't.
So after travelling from Nice, flying into Gatwick, collecting my bags and driving across the country, the final part of the journey involved me running up what felt like an endless number of steps through Stourhead Gardens carrying my camera equipment.
By the time I reached Apollo’s Temple I was dripping with sweat, completely out of breath and probably didn't look particularly cinematic myself.
But I'd made it.
And I am so glad I did.
Once we were in position, everything suddenly became incredibly calm.
The weather was beautiful, the crowds had almost completely disappeared and there was a point where it genuinely felt as though we had Stourhead Gardens to ourselves.
Considering how frantic the previous few hours had been, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect setting.
Then Victor and Nicole appeared.
We stayed hidden and let everything unfold naturally.
Victor had prepared a speech for Nicole, and this wasn't a quick few sentences before getting down on one knee.
He had written something incredibly personal and spent several minutes reading it to her.
You could see the emotion gradually building between them.
Nicole genuinely had no idea what was happening.
The surprise on her face, the emotion between them and the realisation of what Victor had planned made it such an incredible moment to witness through the camera.
Then, at Apollo’s Temple, during his first ever trip to the UK, Victor asked Nicole to marry him.
And she said yes.
It wasn’t actually my first time filming at Apollo’s Temple — I’d previously filmed a beautiful wedding ceremony in this exact spot.
Afterwards, we had some time to explore and capture the two of them around the gardens.
Everything seemed to come together perfectly.
The light, the weather, the quietness of the gardens and obviously Stourhead itself.
It's difficult to imagine many better places for a proposal.
There was something particularly special about knowing Victor had travelled all the way from the Dominican Republic and chosen this exact little corner of Wiltshire because of a film he'd seen.
And now Apollo’s Temple wasn't just somewhere from Pride & Prejudice anymore.
It was the place where he and Nicole got engaged.
This was the first proposal I've ever filmed at Stourhead, and I think it'll be one I remember for a very long time.
Partly because I don't particularly want to repeat the experience of racing from Gatwick Airport and sprinting through Stourhead Gardens with 15 minutes to spare.
But mainly because of what happened afterwards.
It's very easy when you do this for a living to get caught up in the work side of it.
The travelling. The cameras. The editing. The emails. The deadlines.
And then occasionally I have a day that reminds me what my job actually is.
I get trusted to capture some of the happiest moments in people's lives.
For Victor and Nicole, this was one of those moments that divides life into a before and an after.
They'll always have the story of Victor travelling to England, bringing Nicole to Stourhead and asking her to marry him at Apollo’s Temple.
Years from now, they'll hopefully watch this film and be taken straight back to this afternoon.
They'll hear Victor's speech again.
They'll see Nicole's reaction.
They'll remember how it felt.
And I got to be there to preserve it for them.
When I actually stop and think about that, it's a pretty incredible thing to call work.
What started for me as one of the most stressful couple of hours I've had in a long time ended up becoming a really memorable afternoon - not only for Victor and Nicole, but for me too.
A stunning setting.
A beautiful moment.
And two people agreeing to spend the rest of their lives together.
Being a wedding filmmaker based in Dorset, Stourhead is one of those incredible locations I'm lucky enough to have relatively close to home, and after filming both weddings and now a proposal here, it's somewhere I'll always love coming back to.
Victor & Nicole, congratulations.
And thank you for trusting me to capture it.
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