Every “Will you marry me?” moment is beautiful in its own right, but when it’s set in a Montmartre cafe and captured by the amazing Greg Finck…let’s just say we’re a wee bit jealous. Filled with tears and joy (and some seriously stylish moments to boot!) there’s no reason to miss the gallery of goodies all snapped to perfection. Get started here!
From Greg Finck… Tess comes from California and has been living in Paris for some years now. She met Sebastien, a pure Parisian, through the work. Tess and Sebastien just decided that they would quit their job and leave for a for 12-months trip around the world just before moving to the US.
Just before that, they contacted me to realize a couple session and capture some of the moments they lived, as a couple, in Paris. They really wanted to have that session in Montmartre, as this is the area where they had been living for the past year. I couldn’t really say otherwise as Montmartre is the place where I’ve been living in Paris for some years now, and I know the area pretty well. We met in a café around a glass of Chablis, and we took a date for that shoot.
However, some days before the shoot, Sebastien called me to announce me he had decided to propose to Tess during the shoot. He wanted to start by casual couple portraits in Montmartre, and would then take Tess to Café Francoeur, their favorite place in the area, and propose to her. He admitted he was kind of stressed by the idea to propose with a photographer around but I promised I would be very discreet. Tess didn’t have a clue about it.
We started the session a typical couple session, enjoying the nice view from Montmartre even though it was a cold winter day. We then went to Café Francoeur, where Sebastien had all planned. A waiter then brought Tess a gift. It was an antique book of Winnie the Pooh, Tess’ favorite. On the first pages of the book there were some private words, hand-written by Sebastien, which immediately led to Tess’ tears. I can only imagine the words of love that were written here. Then Sebastien put some earphones on Tess’ ears, playing a song special to them. I was sitting at a table nearby, and they were so much into emotion that they couldn’t even feel my presence. After the song, Tess’ eyes were full of tears, and that’s when Sebastien decided to propose. An intense proposal, where he took the ring he had hidden in his pocket. I think images speak for themselves.
This is honestly one of the most intense session I had the opportunity to shoot, and a very special moment to share with these two.
Photography: Greg Finck Photography | Film Scans: Richard Photo Lab