This was one of our trickiest photo sessions yet! An amazingly planned day culminating in the most romantic proposal - their engagement story is told by Andrew:

Background

When Amy and I first became friends and exchanged numbers, she added her contact name as ‘Amazing Amy’ and over the past year we have mentioned on a number of occasions how we’d love to go on the show ‘Amazing Race’. So for our proposal I decided to create ‘Amazing Amy’s Race’. I made little clue cards and distributed them to sentimental locations on the Sunshine Coast along with a single red rose. At each location I had arranged for the card and rose to be presented to her, which would lead us to the next location.

The Day

The day started by picking Amy up at 5.30am where she received her first clue card. After working out where we were headed, we drove to our first stop, which was Point Cartwright to watch the sunrise. From here we headed to our favourite coffee stop, The Pocket Espresso Bar at Moffat Beach. We chilled down by the beach for a little while before heading to Husk and Honey, a gluten free cafe in Nambour for breakfast. Next stop was up the hill to Montville, to Fudgyboombahs for some awesome fudge. We then headed to Kondallila National Park for our picnic lunch and then on to Flame Hill winery, where we enjoyed some wine tasting.

Mt Ngungun (Glass House Mountains) was the last stop of the day (so Amy thought).

I had arranged for a friend to head up before us and set up a picnic.

Here we watched the sunset accompanied by great wine, cheese and some sneaky photographers that I had also arranged. [that's us!]

We then headed to dinner for Amy’s Dad’s birthday (which might I add, was conveniently set up by me as a means to get her to the coast for the weekend). Once we had finished dinner the plan was for all of us to head to Gelateria Milano for the best gelato on the Coast. However, Amy had other ideas. She had made her Dad a Cherry Ripe cake, which held the evening up so much so, that I had to ‘go to the toilet’, leg it up to the gelato shop, retrieve the clue card and rose, race back to the restaurant and arrange for the waiter to deliver them both after we had eaten the cake.

At the end of dinner, the waiter delivered the last clue card and red rose, which lead us to a very sentimental spot: Amy’s mums seat overlooking kings beach. It was here, 12 months previous that we started dating and had our very first kiss. I had a marquee set up with candles in glass jars (Amy loves glass jars) and I also had learned to play ‘I Won’t Give Up’ by Jason Mraz, on guitar (thanks Trish). So I serenaded her before getting down on one knee, declaring my love for her and asking her to marry me.

Hiccups Along The Way

The Ring!!!

The first time I saw the ring was when I placed it on her finger. I had ordered the ring from America 2 months earlier but had many issues and as a result, I was told that the ring wouldn’t arrive until Monday the 15th, which was going to be an issue considering the proposal was on the 13th. It arrived in Sydney, Thursday afternoon the 11th, just as I was about to board the plane to Maroochydore. It cleared customs early Friday morning and I had to arrange for a colleague from work to pick it up and take it straight over to QANTAS freight where I had booked it on a midday flight to Brisbane. My good mate Tim picked up the ring and drove it up Saturday afternoon.

Setting Up The Marquee

An amusing event on the day was the setting up of the marquee. Pretty much the entire walk up Mt Ngungun I was being text by my Dad as to where Amy’s Mum’s chair was. I had to walk behind Amy so that I could reply without being caught out. My parents and a couple of friends of mine set it up late in the afternoon. After the proposal I found out that even after all of the texting etc, they had still set the marquee up at the wrong chair. It wasn’t until the photographers realized this that they picked up the fully set up marquee and carried it down the road to the correct location.

Rain On The Sunshine Coast?

It was pouring rain (as per usual on the coast) right up until Saturday morning? However the only rain of THE DAY was around lunch time and it didn’t affect us one bit. The rest of the time was beautiful and sunny.

Restaurant Reno…

The first restaurant that was booked for dinner called me on the Wednesday before the big day and told me they were closed for renovations.

Rolling the ankle

Mt Ngungun wasn’t without a little drama, with Amy rolling her ankle as we reached the summit.

There were plenty of obstacles put in our path but God delivered in the end...as always. Praise God for a great day, my amazing friends who helped out and praise God for my gorgeous fiancée Amy and our relationship.

A BIG THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING BUSINESSES…

The Pocket Espresso Bar, Moffat Beach
Husk and Honey, Nambour
Fudgyboombahs, Montville
Flame Hill Winery, Montville
Gelateria Milano, Caloundra

AND AN EVEN BIGGER THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE…

Trish Galea for spending an afternoon teaching me the chords to ‘I Won’t Give Up’.

Tim Doeke for the use of his well tuned guitar and for the guitar/singing lesson.

Letisha Parter for her assistance throughout the lead up to the proposal and for climbing Mt Ngungun to set up the picnic.

Matt and Carmen of Chaordic Creative Photography for their help in capturing some great memories .

Tim and Lisa Hurley for their help in picking up/delivering the ring and help setting up the marquee.

My boss Wes and work colleague Alex for racing around Sydney to pick up the ring and get it on the freight flight to Queensland.

To Amy’s Dad Brett for his help in organizing the day and to her brother Alexander for keeping it a secret.

To my parents for their love, support and assistance in not only this event but my entire life in general.

God bless you all!!!

The Blog

The Archives

Place, light and timing..

Andrew and Liz: Engagement Session!

Amy and Andrew: An 'Amazing' Engagement!