Proposal at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks In Fayetteville, Arkansas

The Botanical Garden of the Ozarks is one of the best spots in Northwest Arkansas for any type of photo shoot. I’ve done weddings, engagements, family portraits, and proposals at the garden and it never fails to deliver!

Tanner reached out through my proposal page saying he wanted to ask his high school sweetheart, Erica, to marry him. We brainstormed a few spots and ended up deciding that the Botanical Garden was the right spot. He told me Erica was a nature person but not much of a hiker, she liked the outdoors, the plants, and the animals. So it was a no-brainer for me to suggest the location.

The Garden has many smaller themed gardens for shoots and Tanner chose the Four Seasons Garden as it has plants that thrive year-round and we had just had night frost even though it was still October 🥶 It turns out it was the right choice. Many of the other themed gardens had wilted plants that didn’t handle the frost well.

We also planned to disguise the proposal as a couples shoot. Erica’s birthday was coming up and Tanner told her it was her birthday present! How sweet! We met up at the entrance, I had taken care of the photo permit and fee so we were able to jump the line and get straight to it. I took them to a few of the gardens that still looked ok and about 10 minutes into the shoot we arrived at the Four Seasons Garden. I asked Erica for a couple of solo shots that she could later use for headshots and asked her to look into the distance. This gave Tanner the perfect opportunity to take out the ring and get down on one knee. When I saw him in position, I backed away and let the moment unfold!