Learn how to plan a flawless surprise proposal with advice from a professional
You met the one you want to spend the rest of your life with and you want your proposal to be unforgettable. I can help with that! I have been photographing surprise proposals in Chicago for over 10 years. I love photographing proposals because the energy and excitement is contagious. When someone comes to me looking for a photographer, they often have many other questions about planning the perfect proposal. So I decided to make a step-by-step guide for my couples of how to navigate the city of Chicago and plan a surprise proposal.
- Choose a date. Be sure to check for any large events in the city that may be going on. Some of the large events like Lollapalooza, The Chicago Marathon or The Chicago Pride Parade are huge events that shutdown whole portions of the city. You want to make sure wherever you choose for a location, is somewhere that won’t be closed down. Holidays are a popular time to plan a trip or proposal but that also may mean a lot of hurdles as far as traffic and events.
Decide on a Private or Public experience. Some couples would rather keep their proposal private and prefer an intimate moment with the option to tell friends and family in their own time. Other couples want to shout their celebration from the rooftops. If you know your partner wants to share the moment in real time with friends or family, you may want to consider inviting them to secretly witness the proposal from afar and then join you once its over. If you want to have a double surprise, you can consider planning a surprise engagement party afterwards and invite friends and family to that as well.
- Choose a location. First you will want to make the decision of weather you want an indoor or outdoor location. If you are looking for guidance on choosing an outdoor location, visit my blog here, on choosing an outdoor location.
- Choose a photographer. That’s me! You can inquire here to make sure I have your date open.
- Get your storyline straight. In order to really surprise your partner you will need a good story to get them to the actual proposal location. If you want your partner to be dressed up and looking fabulous for additional portraits with the photographer afterwards you need to make sure you find a way to get them to dress up without giving away the surprise. A good way to ensure you are dressed great you may need to make fake plans that you know they would make an effort for. Many of my couples are from outside Chicago and are only in town for vacation which makes for an exciting time to propose on the trip. This makes it easy for them to go to an iconic location since they are already tourists visiting popular locations. If you plan a dinner to follow the proposal don’t forget to make a reservation.
- Prepare the day of. On the day of the proposal you will want to keep your eyes on the weather if its scheduled for the outdoors and keep in contact with your photographer to have a back up location in place. Once showtime gets close you will want give your photographer some information about what your wearing so they can pick you out in a crowd if needed. Also keep them updated about your arrival time. As the photographer I always have the one proposing send me a photo of them as a couple so I know who I’m looking for. I also have them share their location with me so I can track their arrival. Lastly, don’t forget the ring!
Once the time arrives your only responsibility is to enjoy the moment.
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