Priya & John

It was as the sun set over the magic Blue Mountains that John asked his girlfriend of five years to marry him. Little did she know that her husband to be had spent months setting up a trip to celebrate her 30th birthday, coordinating with a fake email account to enlist Sarah Moore to capture it all unfolding.

Sarah explains “John organised an entire weekend in the Blue Mountains for the two of them while I came up with the idea of a private lookout at sunset over the Blue Mountains for the proposal itself. When it came time for John to propose (and he was seriously nervous!!) the Mountains didn’t disappoint and put on a spectacular show. Priya had no idea, was completely surprised. I was honoured (and a little teary) to be a part of such a special occasion.”

John tells the story of how the pair came to meet. “In my first year of University, meeting lots of new people for the first time, I added Pree on ‘Facebook,’ thinking she was a similarly sounding classmate. She subsequently approached me at a party to find out how we knew each other – and on meeting such a suave and beautiful woman, I panicked, pretended she added me and pretty much fled! Thankfully she’s a forgiving person and we properly met 4 years later, and despite the initial faux pas, we hit it off and have been together ever since.”

John tells “Mountains have always meant a lot to us – together we have climbed in Wales, New Zealand, Jordan and most recently up Mount Mulanje in Malawi (Africa) – so it just felt like the perfect place to take the next step. There’s something ethereal and timeless about mountains which we can’t get enough of.”

“We had been together 5 years by the time we finally got engaged. Priya had been losing patience with me and I knew it had to be special.

Luckily I had Sarah Moore, photographer extraordinaire who was on hand to help me plan some very special locations, and I ended up asking for Priya’s hand on a cliff as the sun descended over the hills behind, surrounded by 360 views of pristine Australian scenery – waterfalls, greenery and trees. The look on Priya’s face is one of my most precious memories. I then had a meal for her prepared with a few more little surprises.”

On what he loves about Priya, John notes “To say so many things is corny but nonetheless absolutely true. I love Priya’s smile, her sense of adventure, wit, sense of loyalty, her writing, as well as the fact she cannot even cook cornflakes (yet ironically loves Masterchef), is terrified of spiders making Australia an interesting place to live, and is possibly the worst person at lying I have ever met…”