Proposal at Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park | Arpan + Purvi

As an Estes Park Colorado Photographer I photograph elopements, engagements and weddings in Rocky Mountain National Park pretty frequently. However, the opportunity to photograph proposals haven’t come around as frequently because it is less common for people to hire a proposal photographer than it is for them to hire an engagement photographer, elopement photographer or wedding photographer.

When Arpan called me on the phone on Wednesday morning he let me know that his girlfriend Purvi was in Estes Park Colorado for business and that he was planning to fly out and spend the end of her trip together in Rocky Mountain National Park and Boulder Colorado. He knew that he wanted to propose to her while he was on his trip to Colorado, so we set the plans in motion. I shared all of my favorite Rocky Mountain National Park locations with him and we decided that Sprague Lake at sunset on Friday was going to be absolutely perfect. Well, proposals are obviously a surprise and when Friday afternoon rolled around Arpan could tell that his girlfriend was way too tired. We started texting frantically and decided to pull an audible and reschedule for the following morning at sunrise. We managed to pull it off so well that Purvi didn’t even get a little bit suspicious!

I rolled in to the parking lot at Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park dark and early and staked out my spot to capture their special moment. It actually ended up working out so perfectly because there were baby moose and elk at Sprague Lake and there were wildlife photographers everywhere taking photos, so I blended right in. I watched Arpan and Purvi walk up the trail to the dock at Sprague Lake. They snuggled in, watched the alpenglow turn the mountain range pink in the distance as the sun came up and then Arpan got down on one knee and asked Purvi to marry him. She obviously said yaaaaaas!

What happened next was a surprise to even me – and it was absolutely amazing. We wandered back to the parking lot from the dock at Sprague Lake and Arpan opened the trunk to their rental car, unzipped a suitcase and it was filled with brand new outfit choices from Club Monaco in New York, so Purvi got to pick out outfits to take engagement photos right after their proposal. He even grabbed her makeup so that she could put that on if she wanted to too. It truly ended up being a perfect morning and I’m so glad I got to photograph such a special moment in their relationship!

Estes Park Colorado Photographer – Sharee Davenport