Hey all! I originally posted this one in January of last year but I’m republishing it for the new site. Happy reading!

Let’s be honest up front, proposing ain’t easy.

Now I’ve never had the honor of being proposed to or vice versa, but I’ve been involved in the “planning” stages with several people who wanted to capture the moment. And the P word, PLANNING, is key here.

I will say that even with planning sometimes plans don’t go according to … well, plan. For instance when gale force winds (I’m exaggerating, kinda) make it impossible to speak, press the shutter button and have you and your clients frozen to your very core. Yes, that really happened and they were still one of the best couples I’ve ever worked with because they rolled with the punches while the wind tried to blow us all off of the Brooklyn Bridge, but I digress.

Listen I’m all for spur of the moment, fly by the seat of your pants, but not with capturing a proposal. Why? Well as your photographer I want to capture your moment the way you envision it and for me to do that, planning is key.

Here’s an instance where it did work and the steps I believe made it a truly successful proposal.

Meet with your photographer at least a week before you propose

I know, I know. None of us have extra time to spare. But here’s the deal. If this is important (and it is) you will find the time. My client Chris was ready to propose to his beautiful girlfriend Lauren. He knew he wanted to capture the moment. He knew where he wanted to propose. But that was it which left a lot of questions unanswered. Where should he propose? What if it’s crowded?

By meeting before he proposed we were able to come up with a plan that answered those questions versus just winging it. That’s super helpful because it takes one thing off his plate that he no longer had to worry about. You know, because he had a whole lot more to worry about in the moment.

This is super important. If you know what kind of look, background, whatever it is that you want to see please pass that on to your photographer. Playing a guessing game is to no one’s advantage. Chris knew that he wanted the proposal shots, photos of them right, photos with the NYC skyline in the background both with the remaining daylight and at nighttime. Knowing this helped me to make a checklist so I met all of my clients wishes.