This Maternity Photo Shoot Turned Surprise Proposal Will Melt Your Heart

“It’s a lot of excitement at once.”

Meet Louis Bruno and Lorenza Pardo.

Lorenza Donna

The Florida-based couple met in college five years ago and have been together ever since. Pardo is currently 26 weeks pregnant with their first child.

The two recently did a maternity photo shoot, which Pardo's best friend set up for them.

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"[She and her husband] were the first people we told we were pregnant," Pardo told BuzzFeed News of her friend. "We FaceTimed them right away, I think two days after we found out, before we told anyone else. And her first thing was, 'We’ll set up your maternity shoot.'"

The friend arranged for her brother-in-law, who is a professional photographer, to take the photos for the couple.

But Bruno had bigger plans.

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He had snuck an engagement ring to the shoot, and proposed to his unsuspecting girlfriend.

"The photographer had us standing back-to-back — he said that’s a shot he does with a lot of couples," Pardo said. "He told me to put my hands on my belly, and then I turned around. I was looking at Louis's face, so I didn’t see the ring at first."

"Then, when I saw it, I just broke down," she said.

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"I’m an emotional person as is, and especially so with pregnancy hormones," she said. "I really don’t even know what he said. I was just crying and shaking."

Pardo said she was so surprised and did not see the proposal coming at all.

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The couple had planned on eventually getting married, she said.

But between the baby and the end of the school year (both Pardo and Bruno are teachers and are working on their master's degrees), she didn't expect it to happen for a while.

"We’ve been together five years, and we were planning on getting married all along," she said. "The baby was a little surprise because I was on birth control, but things happen."

"We knew we’d been together so long, we weren’t going to rush into it," Pardo said.

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"This wasn’t going to change anything. It’s just that things might happen a little out of typical order," she added.

Pardo said this past week has been great, and both her and Bruno's students are so excited for them.

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"They’re in fourth grade, so they want to come to the wedding and watch the baby," she said.

The bride- and mom-to-be said "it still feels surreal," and she and Bruno are very excited for their baby and wedding.

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"It's a lot of excitement at once," she said. "It’s just nice, you know? It’s perfect."