Hello and welcome to the end of engagement season! 
Yup, you heard right, the time between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day is best known in the wedding industry as “engagement season” and we are nearing the end of it. This time of the year about 50% of couples get engaged! If you are planning to be one of these people then you have come to the right place! Today’s blog is all about proposal tips, thoughtful considerations and a trend that you may want to remember when proposal day arrives!
Let’s start with a trend!
A relatively recent trend (that I honestly don’t see going away, pretty much ever), is hidden professional photographs. Now this sounds like it has been around a while but this trend is more about inviting someone who captures special moments for a living. They take pictures from the beginning, capturing the exact moment the proposal happens. Per the trend, this is a professional, but as with everything there are ways to adjust this – hello photography student! If you do want to go through a professional think of a photographer your soon-to-be fiancée has mentioned or that they follow on social media. There are many different options and price points. The goal is to have someone you feel confident will capture this moment.
Now that we have covered a quick trend lets discuss a couple of ideas to help with individual preference. These tips depend on the person you are proposing to and their personal interests. Hopefully you will find that these can loosely be applied to almost any proposal.
- Make them comfortable. If you know your better half would never want to be caught dead without makeup, take this into consideration. Make up an excuse to have them get dolled up for a night out or make sure they know the party at your parent’s house will be dressy – try to make this as natural as possible so they think you are just being helpful and not suspicious. Overall, you know your partner, make sure that this moment is going to be a time when they can focus on their feelings and not be upset that they didn’t look the way they envisioned.
- If you two have already taken the plunge of pet parenthood then you may want to include your furry babe in on the moment. A pup with a ring on its collar or a well timed entrance can make your proposal all the more personal and picture swooning.
- The element of surprise. In this day and age there are a lot of couples that tell me, as a wedding planner, that they knew an engagement was coming. However, the best is when they are STILL completely caught off guard – in a good way (not in a, I hate hockey and he proposed to me at a hockey game on the jumbo-tron kind of way).
Pro Tips!
– Try a surprise, informal “engagement party” after the big proposal. Doesn’t have to be big, or over the top, just a gathering of people who would have been the first to know.
– If you are planning to propose in the next couple of months start paying attention to the fun things your better half would like to do (not that you weren’t paying attention before but just in case). If she mentions that she would like to go to the symphony or a concert – make that night all the more special with a proposal.
– If you are planning to propose during/right before a family event make sure to let the host know that a proposal is happening, you don’t want to overshadow anything, plus they may have tips on the perfect time to get down on bended knee. (Thanks Paige and Chris for sharing your engagement photos with us) Photo credit: Francesco Spighi
Well, that is it for me! I hope that these tips help you in the proposal process! If you have any questions, comments or would like to see any questions answered on our blog feel free to email me at lindseylozama@iplanyourwedding.com.
Happy engagements!