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To My Surprise

Spencer Asks Bethany to Marry Him

By Tineke Ziemer

November 26^th, 2022

By Bethany Parkinson

What a Weird Way to Say Goodbye

As I walked downstairs towards the door to leave, I noticed my mom holding back tears. It wasn’t the fact that she was crying that was odd, but the words she was saying…

“You’re growing up so fast”

…that stumped me. To add to the weird feeling in my gut, when I walked out the door my dad started tearing up as well. His words confused me to…

“You know if you ever need anything I am always here for you right? Make sure you always do what you think is best. Your mom and I raised you to make good decisions, and we trust you and love you very much.”

I was just going to a couples photoshoot with Tineke that I had booked weeks prior, they were acting like this was a new stage in my life, as if I had never done a photoshoot with Tineke before (we all know I have done MANY). Why was letting me go this time so difficult for them?

That was all the thought I put into it though as I had about 45 minutes to pick up my boyfriend, Spencer, and then drive out to a friends farm for the photoshoot. There was no time to waste thinking about my oddly emotional parents!

The Photoshoot I had Planned

When we arrived, we noticed Tineke and her son, Jo (one of my life-long best friends and cousin), getting out of their SUV. While they were grabbing all their gear, our feet were attacked by some miniature goats and adorable dogs - what a cute way to start the evening! While I was being distracted by the dogs, Jo asked if he could record some of our photoshoot. I, thinking it was for a school project, agreed. You can tell I was very distracted because it was, in fact, June 17th. School had ended and Jo had actually already graduated.

We began the shoot by walking down a beautiful dirt path, to a barn. Where we then were drawn to a nearby old fire truck (Spencer is a Firefighter). From there we walked to a spot on the property with beautiful golden light shining behind us. It was here that Tineke asked Jo to pull out his phone, press record and play some romantic music for us to dance too. Little did I know it would be our last dance as Boyfriend and Girlfriend.

From that location we trudged our way over to the edge of the forest, through a few gates we could barely get to open, and finally, to where we knew of a trail that would lead us out into the big fields on the property. Once we reached the trail we realized we had made a bit of a mistake - the trail was not a trail, but essentially a mud ecosystem with mud trenches, mud hills, mud puddles and mud streams. We tried to contact the friends who owned the property and get them to pick us up in their side-by-side, but unfortunately we had little-to-no service. So, being the adventurous folk we are, we just started walking. After a while, we got ahold of the owners and they did pick us up and drive us the rest of the way to the fields. But imagine if we had gone back????

Here is Jo in the back of the side-by-side after we took photos in the fields. Notice the square shaped object in the side pocket of his cargo pants…

The Photoshoot Everyone Else Had Planned

It was reaching the end of our shoot, and the sun was just setting so we wanted to get a few last pictures in. Everyone was debating on the location when Spencer spoke up and said “its a good thing I didn’t get a structure fire call tonight!” To which I responded, “Even if you had gotten one, you wouldn’t have gone.” Everyone laughed and Tineke pointed out that the spot Spencer had been vouching for during the debate was the best. It was a perfect spot: A tall tree framing the shot, a beautiful old fence, a field behind it full of yellow flowers and a tree-covered hill where the sun was just peaking over, casting a glowy-light everywhere.

Tineke positioned me to be in front of Spencer, facing towards her and away from him. She told me to look off into the distance, and I heard the camera clicking away. Little did I know she was taking photos of Jo shaking Spencers hand and giving him the ring he had carried the whole way. Tineke ran behind me to get the shot from the other angle. Then she told me to turn around.

I turned around, made eye contact with Spencer, and my mind exploded. After screaming “What?!” A few times over and over again and TURNING BACK AROUND to face the fields because I could not comprehend what was happening, I realized that I was missing the moment I had always dreamed of. The moment me and Spencer had talked about so many times. So I turned around again, and listened to the love of my life ask me to marry him. To which I said… “IS THAT WHY MOM WAS CRYING?”

After which I, of course, said YES!

Poor Spencer. I took so long to say yes, he thought I was going to say no! He was quite relieved when he realized he was wrong.

The rest of our evening was spent driving around town telling everyone and sharing stories and laughs about how even though there were many obviously hints, I was completely oblivious to all of them. Including Spencers secret sentence he had previously told Tineke he would say when he found the prefect location on the property to propose - “It’s a good thing I didn’t get a structure fire call tonight.”

I mean, can you blame me for being so distracted when that is the man I had by my side?

Footnotes

If you want to have a surprise engagement too, contact Northern Persona Photography at northernpersonaoffice@gmail.com or message us on Facebook or Instagram

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FootNotes

If you want to have a surprise engagement too, contact Northern Persona Photography at northernpersonaoffice@gmail.com or message us on Facebook or Instagram