Couple Gets The Most Magical Visitor On Their Engagement Shoot
"I noticed the deer getting closer and closer to the couple ...”BY CAITLIN JILL ANDERS
After Dori Castignola and Austin Swiercz got engaged, they wanted to do a special photo shoot to commemorate the event. They booked a session with photographer Eldina Kovacevic and her company Inna Kova Photography, and the whole group headed out to Saugatuck Dunes State Park in Michigan to capture the perfect pictures.
About 20 minutes into the session, Kovacevic spotted some cacti and decided to have the couple pose in front of them, as cacti aren’t usually found in Michigan and she wanted to take advantage of the rare find. She positioned the couple and then started shooting — but soon realized there was someone else who was curious about the cacti, too.
“I had asked the couple to sit down next to the cacti and just snuggle up with one another. It is then when I started shooting and my assistant, Karen Macy, and I noticed the deer to the right of the couple slowly approaching our way. I figured the deer would be easily startled by us and would run off any moment so I wanted to catch a few frames with the deer in the background. As I kept shooting away, I noticed the deer getting closer and closer to the couple.”
Most deer probably would have run away after seeing the size of the group and the commotion of the photo shoot, but this deer was just too curious — so he walked right up behind the couple, gave a few sniffs and then hammed it up for the camera.
“I just kept shooting what was happening,” Kovacevic said. “Dori said she could feel Austin's heart beating from the way they were sitting when the deer was sniffing on him.”
Everyone was a bit nervous at first, but then another group passed by and told them that the deer was known for being friendly, and everyone was able to relax a bit. Still, they knew that since the deer was a wild animal, they needed to give him his space. They shot photos around him as he milled about, snacking on trees and casually observing the photo shoot.
“He did not show one ounce of aggression and stuck around us for about 10 minutes or so,” Kovacevic said.
Eventually, the deer decided he was bored of being a model and headed off on his way, but at that point the group already had plenty of amazing shots. The whole experience may not have meant much to the passing deer, but the couple he surprised now have the most amazing photos to commemorate their engagement with, and couldn’t be more thankful to the friendly deer and his curiosity.
“It was very magical and so unexpected,” Kovacevic said. “We just happened to be at the right place at the right time.”
https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/deer-joins-couples-engagement-photo-shoot
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Best photobomb ever! I used to live about 30 miles from Saugatuck Dunes State Park. It's gorgeous and right on Lake Michigan. It's a magical spot made all the more magical by that magnificent creature.
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while this is very "magical", it made me cringe a bit since sadly a friendly wild deer, or any wild animal, has a much higher chance of being a dead one, especially come hunting season. 
This one seems so very comfortable with humans. I wonder if it was one that was once nurtured by humans, so sees them as friends not the predators we can be, or if it just has low survival instincts.
allow hunting when so many of them do. Hopefully he stays put where he's safe.
on part of an old farm in NY near Canada. One of my favourite things is watching the deer grazing in various places around the house. Although I wasn't thrilled when they were eating the evergreens next to the house I couldn't blame them. A deer has to be a dear after all and it was a rough Winter for everyone. OTOH it was pretty cool seeing them right up next to the house. They seem to sense that we won't hurt them and our dogs are always under our control. 
We're not to terribly far out of the Adirondacks so along with farm critters locally we also have fox, coyotes and coydogs. I've increasingly heard reports of wolf, black bear, lynx, moose, elk and a big cat too although Environmental Conservation isn't willing to admit that any of it is migrating northward and/or returning yet. I'm not surprised though. We've had turkey buzzards this far north for a couple of decades and it's only recently that EnCon has officially agreed. Climate change is definitely having its impact with the wildlife.
Not everyone wants to kill a friendly deer.
