Sally and Michael should get a gold medal. Probably a couple, actually, but the first honor I want to bestow upon them is arriving exactly on time at 6am in Polebridge, Montana for their morning elopement. Polebridge is minimum an hour from anywhere, so they must have woken up at 4:30am, at least, then driven through a lot of inky darkness on dirt roads trusting Google Maps and hoping I was real. I didn’t want to risk being late so I slept in the back of my truck, which is a first for me before a shoot. 🙂 It was almost too dark when we met up, but we worked the moody early light in the “downed tree meadow” just north of the Polebridge Mercantile before meeting their family then driving up to Bowman Lake for their peaceful 7:30am ceremony. I know that scientifically this probably isn’t correct, but I feel like sunrise light has a slightly different quality to it than sunset light, and I love it. Also, the lakes are like glass in the early morning, which is how I like them.
Okay, I HAVE to share Sally and Michael’s engagement story because this is quite literally one of the funniest I have ever read. They each wrote out their version:
Sally: We got engaged around our 10th anniversary while I was flossing my teeth. But the whole story begins earlier over cocktails when I asked if there was ever a possibility that we would get married. Michael in his intensely curious manner responded with a number of probing questions, leading me to believe I shouldn’t mention it again for awhile. BUT, at home that night, Michael presented a ring while I was flossing in the bathroom with a line like, “Remember that conversation we had earlier? Well, it’s funny because I had just bought you this.” Flossing!
Michael: I had bought a ring while I was traveling. When I came back it was our 10th anniversary, so we went out. I bought the ring because I thought she would like it, but didn’t intend on asking her that night or even have an idea when or how I would ask her. But, then, as always happens when you’re not trying to get married, Sally begins asking me about marriage while we’re having dinner. This put me on edge because I didn’t want to ask her to marry me while she was asking me how I feel about marriage – partly out of stupid pride and mostly because I didn’t have the ring on me. Unfortunately, while I thought the conversation about marriage was substantive, Sally was irked by it. So, I decided when we got home that I would just grab the ring and ask her. So, we got home and she heads toward the bathroom. I grabbed the ring and headed toward the bathroom, walked in, held out the ring, and asked her. How was I supposed to know she was flossing?! Not the greatest engagement, but I’ll bet we’re one of those rare couples that gets engaged while keeping their oral hygiene on point.
