A Surprise Proposal at Quinta de Sant’Ana | Noah & Sabrina
When Noah first reached out to me, he and Sabrina were planning a big trip through Portugal, travelling from Porto to Lisbon and down to the Algarve. Except Noah had a tiny additional item on the itinerary that Sabrina knew absolutely nothing about: after almost six years together, he was going to ask her to marry him.
And once he told me their story, I was LOCKED IN.
They met in 2020, right at the beginning of university and, inconveniently, right in the middle of a global pandemic. They actually found each other through an Instagram page created for their university class and started talking online. For three or four months, their entire relationship existed virtually before they could finally meet in person.
When they eventually did, it was in an almost completely empty shopping centre, which feels VERY 2020 in retrospect. That was also where Noah first asked Sabrina to be his girlfriend, with a surprise box he had painted himself and filled with little things he knew she loved - isn’t this the sweetest thing ever???
Six years, university, graduation, several apartments and a whole lot of life together later, we had another surprise to organise.
Finding the right proposal location
Noah originally had another place in mind for the proposal, but as we started talking about what he wanted the moment to actually feel like, I suggested Quinta de Sant’Ana. I had photographed a proposal there back in 2021 and remembered how lovely it was for exactly this kind of thing: beautiful Portuguese countryside, close enough to Lisbon to make it easy, but peaceful and private enough that Noah and Sabrina could actually have a moment together without an audience appearing in the background. Thankfully, the team at Quinta de Sant’Ana were completely on board with our little operation too. They were SO helpful from the beginning and, when I arrived, everything looked beautiful. The picnic was ready, the light was gorgeous, and all the tiny pieces of the plan were officially in motion.
I got there before them so I could photograph everything, get the drone up and find my hiding spot before they arrived. Once I spotted the two of them, I gave them their space and waited for Noah to do his thing, which left him with arguably the hardest part of any surprise proposal: acting completely normal while casually carrying an engagement ring and knowing exactly what is about to happen. They had some time to enjoy the picnic together before he finally made his move and, somehow, Sabrina genuinely had no idea. One minute they were sitting together enjoying an afternoon in Portugal and the next Noah was down on one knee asking the girl he had first met through Instagram during lockdown to marry him and she said yes, of course.
Once the secret was officially, we wandered around the Quinta for their first portraits as an engaged couple. We didn't turn the afternoon into a big formal engagement shoot either. We kept everything relaxed and let them actually enjoy what had just happened, with plenty of wandering, laughing, hugging and, naturally, repeatedly inspecting a certain very new piece of jewelry. And knowing a little more of their story made the whole thing even sweeter: they’re building a life together and now getting engaged during their first big adventure through Portugal. I have a feeling 2020 Noah, who once made Sabrina a handmade box to ask her to be his girlfriend, would be pretty pleased with how things turned out.
And I have to end this with a huge thank you to Tiago and everyone at Quinta de Sant’Ana, because they were genuinely wonderful throughout the whole thing. Surprise proposals involve so many tiny moving parts behind the scenes that the person being proposed to will hopefully never know existed, and having a team who understands the secrecy, the timing and all those little logistics makes such a difference. They couldn't have made us feel more welcome or been more helpful in making Noah's plan happen.
🤍
Planning a surprise proposal in Portugal?
If you’re planning to propose during a trip to Lisbon, Sintra or elsewhere in Portugal, you absolutely do not need to arrive knowing exactly where, when or how you’re going to do it.
Tell me about the two of you, what your partner would actually enjoy, whether they’d love something private or wouldn’t mind a little audience, and what you want the moment to feel like. From there, we can figure out a location and a plan that feels like you, rather than recreating something you found on Pinterest.
And yes, I am very happy to participate in elaborate international secrets. It is basically part of the job description at this point.
