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Jack Noto of Branchburg got down on one knee to pop the question to Shannon Frascella on the Clinton Bridge near the Red Mill while walking back to their car after a hearty lunch at the Clinton House on Monday, Dec. 26.
That's when a car pulled up, and its driver began snapping photos.
"I was of course very caught up in the moment and not sure how to react,” Noto, 22, said. “I kinda just waved as [the driver] said that she had taken pictures of us.”
After taking some more photos family, Noto and Frascella — a Middlesex native living in Colorado — returned to the bridge to look for the mystery woman behind the lens.
“We walked around Main Street to try to find her car, and I had my brother scrolling back through his photos to try to determine what car it was,” Noto said. “I kept telling Shannon that it felt like we were meant to find her and have those photos but we never did.”
As it turns out, the photographer, Sharon Mahn, wanted to find them, too.
She immediately took to social media, posting the engagement photos on Facebook: "I captured the moment — but have no idea who these young lovebirds are," she wrote.
Someone who Mahn knew happened to recognize Noto. Later that day, one of Noto's friends' father's reached out.
Mahn calls it a "Christmas miracle," and Noto, "The best day of our lives."
As of Thursday, Dec. 29, Mahn's post had around 375 reactions, 100 comments, and 75 shares.
“Things always happen for a reason,” Mahn wrote. “A happy holiday to all... and to all a good night.”
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