Bermuda Engagement Photographers: Nagisa & Nao at Cambridge Beaches

Today's post is so special to us! Nagisa has been one of my absolute best friends for 15 years, and she and Mark have hit it off since day one. Living in Tokyo, we don't see her as often as we'd like, but have been lucky the past three years with four trips between us. Last February 2016 when Mark and I were visiting Tokyo, Nagisa had just started seeing a new guy - "the boy". Fast forward to June this year they both flew out to catch some AC35 action in Bermuda - and we couldn't wait to meet him! Knowing their relationship was getting more and more serious, and because Bermuda will always be her second home, Nagisa planned a vacation portrait session with Nao during their trip.

This is where it's important to know that for Nagisa, having spent her high school and college years in Bermuda and Canada she is 100% bilingual - except maybe for that one time she called a massive centipede a caterpillar, but still - and she was pretty convinced there would be some communication delays between Nao's English our (completely non-existent) Japanese. It turned out that my bilingual bestie seriously underestimated her man's English skills, as he reached out to us on Facebook a few weeks before they left Japan to let us in on a big surprise. In perfect English, he told me his plans to propose during the trip - and best of all wanted to do it during their portrait session! So in secret we messaged back and forth laying the foundation of the scheme, and once they arrived Mark and Nao went on a mission to 'get the boat', which was really code for hashing out the fine tuned details for the next days proposal! I had already contacted Nadja at Cambridge Beaches to plan a celebratory dinner at Breezes following the shoot on property. All the wheels were in motion, and Nagisa had no idea!! 

Now we capture many a proposal and each involves a fair bit of orchestrating ahead of time with the 'question popper'. But holy! Capturing this for a friend was so nerve wracking (is this how you folks feel when proposing!?). Mark managed to discretely start filming on his phone while I kept shooting, and as planned directed Nagisa through poses to a kneeling Nao.  I hope that the images will tell the narrative of Nao's epic proposal - it was such an honour to be able to capture this for our friends. Nagisa, I could not be happier for you. Nao is such an amazing guy and I know you two will have a lifetime of love together! xo