Photographer, wife conspire to surprise husband with baby news during photo shoot
Southlake, Texas -- Photographer Kendra Swalls had an idea she had always wanted to try. During a husband-wife photo shoot, she wanted to capture the moment when the husband read the life changing sentence: "We've having a baby!"
Camille and Kyle brought that idea to life, and it went off without a hitch.
Swalls, owner of Paisley Layne Photography, told ABC that she had been sitting on the idea for a while.
Her concept was to have the husband and wife each write something nice about the other, to take photos back-to-back of each holding their message, and to capture the moment when the couple turned around to read what was on the other's sign.
In other words: when the husband learned the good news.
She thought about doing it for her own husband but decided against it.
"Knowing that I couldn't keep a secret long enough to pull it off myself, I knew I needed to find a client that would be willing to make my idea a reality."
But Camille, the wife who brought the idea to life, said she had trouble pulling it off.
"It was extremely difficult keeping the secret from Kyle," she said. "He is the person I talk to about everything, and having to keep this from him was killing me."
Swalls had told Camille about the idea during Camille's wedding. When Camille learned she was pregnant, she asked Swalls if she was still interested in executing it. Swalls said she was overjoyed that Camille and Kyle would be the couple to make her idea a reality.
"Their love for each other is evident when you meet them, and you can tell by the way they look at each other that they are crazy about each other," she said of her clients. "I am honored that they chose me to capture such a special moment."
Camille and Kyle dated for six years before getting married in February 2014. Camille told Kyle that the purpose of the photo shoot was their first holiday card together.
Kyle was suspicious that she scheduled the photo shoot for only a few days after mentioning it, but Camille swore that was the only time that Swalls was available, and Kyle bought it.
When Swalls asked them each to write something for each other, she said, Kyle wrote a "short novel" while Camille just wrote the happy news. Camille told her husband not to peek, and they both posed with their messages.
When he finally turned around to read his wife's note, Swalls caught his entire sweet reaction.
"Kyle's reaction to my note was one of obvious disbelief, at first," Camille said. "I could tell he was trying to wrap his head around my big surprise. After letting it soak in for a few seconds, his reaction turned to sheer excitement, as you can see in the photos."
Camille said that Kyle became so overjoyed that he had to hold back tears for much of the rest of the shoot.
"We can not begin to express how excited we are to become a family of three," said Camille. "This will be our first child and we do not yet know if it will be a boy or girl," said Camille. "We can't wait to meet our precious gift in July!"
