we eloped! let's party!

Well...you let her plan it for herself. In 2023, Andrew bought an engagement ring for Abby and knew he wanted to propose in one of her favorite cities, Chicago. They planned a trip to the Windy City for a few days over New Years, and Andrew reached out to one of her best friends in the photography community to try and cook up a plan to surprise Abby with a proposal inside the Art Institute. Unfortunately, not only was Abby's friend going out of the country over the same dates, but the Art Institute would also be closed for the days they were staying in the city! While Andrew was trying to come up with a plan B, Abby approached him and asked if they could do a photoshoot on North Ave beach one of the nights of their stay with a photographer friend she had in the city. Andrew, thrilled at his luck, agreed (which should have been Abby's first clue that something suspicious was going on). When they got to the photo shoot, it was FREEZING off of Lake Michigan, but they met up with Ashley, Abby's friend, and started the session. Ashley set up a prompt Abby and Andrew regularly did in their shoots together - Abby facing away and Andrew running up behind her to give her a hug. Except this time, he didn't run up and hug her. When she turned around, he was positioned on one knee, with a giant "gotcha" smile on his face, Ashley screaming and shouting with glee in the background. Abby, despite all her years of capturing proposals, (and certainty she would marry Andrew), was completely shocked (and you can see it in the photos). Andrew calls it his greatest achievement. Turns out that as soon as Abby had asked Andrew about doing a session in the city, he got in contact with Ashley over Instagram and let her know he wanted to propose during the shoot. She was happy to help, so they got to planning, and in Abby's ignorance, pulled it off easily and seamlessly. Thanks to Ashley we get to relive that moment of shock, joy and love forever. To see the full gallery, copy and paste this link: https://abbyschwantzcreative.pic-time.com/-theproposal 12.30.23.