A Relatable Fairytale? How Swift Staged a Very Modern Proposal

To anyone following their two-year romance, Taylor Swift's engagement to the American football star Travis Kelce was no great surprise. Nor was the choreographed nature of the engagement shoot.

- Morwenna Ferrier

The series of five photographs, posted on Instagram and now liked 35m times, feature the couple in various acts of staged proposal within a landscaped garden, festooned with roses and urns.

The happy couple - or as they refer to themselves in the post, "your English teacher and your gym teacher" - both wore Ralph Lauren. Kelce, a navy cable-knit polo shirt and tailored shorts, and Swift a smocked white sundress, which sold out moments after the post appeared. The images appear to be a peek into a private moment - yet every bloom, Cartier bracelet and rock had been stage managed.

Swift may be the world's biggest pop star, but she's even better at art directing her own fairytale.

Staged engagement photos have become one of the wedding industry's freshest traditions, a way for couples to mark the moment - or at least a curated version of it.

In the last few years, Alline Beatrici has been photographing proposals and engagements alongside weddings. "This is very much a proposal shoot rather than an engagement shoot," says Beatrici, who prefers a more naturalistic, pose-free style, with a focus on the venue rather than the backdrop. "Sometimes I'll be hiding in a bush waiting for the proposal," she says, "after which I'll let things settle for half an hour, then go back for the engagement photos."