Photographer for a surprise marriage proposal on May 14th. The couple were visiting Switzerland from the USA. They based themselves in Zürich and used Swiss Pass to get around Switzerland.

The weather isn’t great at the moment. Jose’s first location choice was to propose on the Harder Kulm. My advice might have sounded a negative because the viewing platform was always busy. It can be a problem with people walking in front of my camera at the wrong time.

Jose’s next location choice was Iseltwald Pier. They were coming by train from Zürich and unable to get there early. It could be a problem with the tourist buses.

I was in contact with Jose by e-mail. I told him that there was a lot of low cloud over the lake. Little visibility. Not a nice backdrop. They were going to Grindelwald after the engagement. I found out that they had a Swiss Pass. This allowed them to travel to Lauterbrunnen and up to Wengen.

I checked the webcams for Lauterbrunnen and Wengen. The weather was better than in Interlaken. Lauterbrunnen is in a valley and low cloud seems to stay on top of the mountains.

We arranged to meet at Interlaken Ost railway station. Jose’s girlfriend, Kyara, didn’t know about me. We traveled on the train to Lauterbrunnen and they followed me to the location without Kyara knowing about me.

I switched the location to the church viewpoint when I saw the weather conditions using WhatsApp.

Afterward the surprise proposal, we walked to the Staubbach waterfall.

Then we took the train to Wengen and hiked down to another location.

As you can see, it’s very important to use an experienced photographer who regularly photographs people in the area. (Like myself!) Be careful of others who promise you everything but can’t produce on the day. Except a poor excuse on how he or she messed up your important day.

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