Pa. couple connects with photographer who spotted their engagement at Longwood Gardens
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (CBS) -- A picture is worth a thousand words, and sometimes a few hundred shares too.
Phoenixville couple Joey Chowanec and Kristin Beshada went viral after a photographer snapped some pictures of their engagement, unknown to them, and then used the power of social media to get in touch with them.
Here's what happened: last month, Chowanec popped the question to Beshada, his longtime girlfriend, at one of their favorite spots: Longwood Gardens.
"I had a whole speech in my head, froze up. I didn't say anything that I planned on saying," Joey said. "And I just stood there for a couple of seconds. And then I was like, I should just get down on one knee."
Joey's mom manned the iPhone camera – capturing the moment.
But the couple would soon learn someone else also snapped some photos of the moment – that would go viral.
That someone was Laura Reiger, a photographer based in Leesport, Pennsylvania.
She was at Longwood Gardens taking senior portraits in the same spot.
"As I turned around, he was on one knee proposing to her. Like, oh, so cute. I couldn't resist, so I hopped behind the mom and just snapped a photo."
Reiger says she wasn't able to connect with the couple at Longwood and share these pictures.
So she turned to social media later that day, posting the photos on Facebook and asking "Does anyone know this couple?"
And within 30 minutes, she found an answer.
"One of my friends from nursing school, she actually tagged me in something…so I clicked on that. and I was just like, oh my goodness," Beshada said.
The couple has been together a little over two years after meeting on Hinge.
The couple says friends in different Facebook groups saw the post and reached out too.
"I was super excited. I was just like, this is the best. what are the chances that someone you know, snapped such beautiful pictures of us?" Beshada said.
Some would call this story the power of social media.
"Everybody knows somebody who knows you, we're all a lot more connected than I guess we think we are," Reiger said.
Whatever you call it, pure joy is what Reiger's lens captured of the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Chowanec.
The couple says they'll treasure the photos for a lifetime.
"It was really neat just to be part of someone else's story and let them have those memories from me," Reiger said.
"It's obviously a very special moment to us. So for us to have those, I mean, we couldn't be more thankful," Chowanec said.