I went to middle school with Hailey and have only kept up on instagram since then. I was flying back to Kona to photograph a wedding when I reached out to Hailey, offering a regular couples' photoshoot at the beach. She said she would try to convince Lefty to say yes and about 24 hours later, I got a DM from Lefty. He said he had been planning to propose that weekend and wanted my help orchestrating and making it happen during the photoshoot. The stars just aligned perfectly for this gorgeous moment the morning of September 18th at Mahai'Ula Beach on the Big Island of Hawaii. I had them face back to back and while Hailey wasn't looking, Lefty got down on one knee and blew her away with a gorgeous proposal. She had NO IDEA it was coming, since he told her he didn't even have the ring yet. We popped champagne and continued taking photos in their favorite place to celebrate being engaged!!
Hailey: "I am from a small town on the big Island of Hawaii and when I graduated high school I entered a whole New World when I got to go to college at Cal poly in San Luis Obispo, CA. I was able to get connected with an amazing living situation my freshman year and one of my roommates ended up being Lily Hay, who is Lefty‘s first cousin. At the time, Lefty also happen to be going to college in the same town as well. The first day I was in town, I hadn’t gotten my car yet and I was walking to class when a black, duly truck pulled up next to me and I ended up going to lunch with Lefty. After that, we would see each other around once in a while but Lefty ended up hitting the rodeo Road and I got busy with school instead.
A year or so later, Lefty had come into town to visit his cousin Lily on his way to a rodeo in California. Still his charming self, Lefty ended up sweet talking his way into my life. After that, Lily became his best excuse to come down to San Luis every chance he got. After many weekends, this special cowboy had definitely swept me off my feet and the rest is history!
Over the last few years we’ve gotten to make and enjoy some amazing memories, and I truly look forward to making more that I will cherish the rest of my life with him."
Lefty, WELL DONE with that ring and pulling off the BEST surprise!!! See y'all in OCTOBER!!!
xoxo,
Ave
