Woman finds couple in Arches proposal photo

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK — An Arkansas woman finally located the happy couple that she snapped a photo of during their marriage proposal in Arches National Park.

Emily Lodes said her family had stopped in Arches National Park during the last week of April while on a vacation. They hiked to the iconic Delicate Arch and were standing across from it when they witnessed a marriage proposal.

Lodes said she had her camera out so she snapped a picture of the tender moment. She planned to give the couple the photo, but it began to rain and she decided to hurry and hike back down with her three children.

Lodes posted the photo on her Facebook page on April 25 in an effort to locate the couple. Within a month, it had been shared more than 30,000 times, and on June 4, Lodes said she finally tracked down the couple in the photo.

“I heard from a friend and one of her aunts and then they gave me her name and I contacted her,” Lodes said. “She told me that all of her friends and family have been contacting her after seeing her photo on the news.”

Lodes said the couple was really excited to have the picture and she was amazed that she was able to finally get in touch with them.

“It’s just amazing how social media works these days,” said Lodes. “That you can just put a photo out there and it can circulate to so many people across so many computer screens and then suddenly the person that’s in a photo can see it and recognize themselves… it’s just amazing that that works.”

Lodes said she plans to email the original photo to the woman as a keepsake.

“She joked about inviting me to the wedding,” Lodes said, laughing.

Lodes said the woman and her fiance are from Florida.