Thanks to random photographer and Facebook, this Edmonton couple now have photos of their engagement
Andrea Alderman was adjusting her camera settings and waiting to take photos of her kids the ice castle in Hawrelak Park when she saw a man get down on one knee.
The man proposed to his girlfriend in front of the ice throne on Saturday, and she accepted.
Alderman, who was in line to see the ice throne, took a few photos of the newly engaged couple. She let the couple have their moment.
"I wasn't going to chase after them," Alderman, a Hinton-based professional photographer, told CBC's Radio Active.
"I wasn't going to lose my place in line [at the ice throne], either."
Alderman later took to Facebook, posting the proposal photos and hoping to find the couple.
Three hours and 1,500 shares later, the photos reached Edmontonians Zach Jamieson and Bethany Fiske.
The proposal
Fiske, 28, always told her now-fiancee she didn't want a public proposal.
But the proposal she got happened in front of dozens of people, and a few more on Fiske's Facebook page, after Jamieson asked another person in line to livestream it.
It wasn't exactly a private moment, especially with Alderman's photos reaching more than 180,000 people on Facebook.
But for 27-year-old Jamieson, it felt like it.
"It was just me and her at that moment," Jamieson said. He had planned to propose for a couple of weeks and wanted to break the news to Fiske's friends with a Facebook live video.
Jamieson, who works in fireproofing, met Fiske almost four years ago. He had long wanted to propose but personal and financial issues got in the way.
But after receiving a reminder call from the jewelry store where he had put a deposit on a ring, he decided the time was as right as any.
"I love her," he said. "I just know that she is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with."
Jamieson hoped Fiske had no idea, but he's pretty sure she knew. "She had that woman's intuition," Jamieson said.
"I didn't know it was going to happen then, I just knew he was acting weird," Fiske said.
After Jamieson got down on one knee, Fiske was surprised — likely because she didn't expect a public proposal.
"I feel like I was still in shock from the whole thing," she said. "All I remember is him saying my full name and then everything kind of went blank."
"I remember her saying, 'What are you doing?' "Jamieson added.
'A sweet moment'
Watching from afar, Alderman and around 70 other people applauded and cheered after they were sure Fiske had said yes.
"I had tears in my eyes," Alderman said. "It was a sweet moment."
Since reconnecting with the couple, Alderman has offered to take their engagement photos without charge.
Fiske and Jamieson haven't set a wedding date, but Alderman is a front-runner to be their wedding photographer.
"I'll get to photograph them behind my lens on their terms," Alderman said.
