Proposals chose me, really.

I spent many years honing my craft and trying to figure out where I fit in an oversaturated wedding photography market. While I continuously produced work I was proud of, I always sort of felt like I was faking it (imposter syndrome much?), like I didn’t really belong in the wedding industry.

I am not poised. I am not polished. I am punny and potty-mouthed and I have never been willing to succumb to whatever editing trends are dominating the market (can “light and airy” die already, PLEASE?).

In 2013, a delightful man named Frank hired me to capture his surprise proposal to his delightful girlfriend, Paola. I literally hid in the bushes on the other side of a bayou to capture him unveiling a photo album (of the secret trip he’d taken to Spain to ask her father for her hand) followed by, of course, the ring on bended knee.

And let me just tell you how much I LOVED every second of it.

I loved the surprise element, the raw emotion ( pure joy, jitters and hopefulness, vulnerability), the effort he put into it, the ephemerality, and being a part of a moment motivated only by real love.

I continued to capture proposals over the following years while still trying to round-peg-square-hole myself into the New Orleans wedding scene. The more proposals I photographed, the more obvious it became how badly these guys needed help. I started lending a hand with planning- just simple things at first like location and time of day. Then it got a bit more involved-with PDFs to guide them and offering up the many tricks of the trade I was amassing as I went.

Then 2020 happened.

In late summer that fateful year, after spending months quarantined together, many people decided they couldn’t wait a second longer to propose to their one and only. Once stay-at-home orders were lifted, hopeful proposers flocked to New Orleans to pop the question. And I, armed with a ton of proposal planning knowledge, started helping people plan these moments for real. From the basics of location selection and time of day to the more nuanced elements that make for a standout proposal, I was guiding people through these experiences from start to finish.

After many years of searching, the thing I had been looking for all along actually found me.

I never felt like I fit as a wedding photographer because that is not where I belonged; I belonged somewhere I could do more, think bigger, and burn brighter. And I finally knew where that was.

So I created a system to help people plan their proposals, collected an entire storage unit of proposal decor, and built a team of people who not only kickass at everything they do but also love being a part of proposals.

The more proposals I had a hand in more elaborate they became. My creativity (and dusty theater production degree) had a chance to run wild and clients started asking me to come up with some super fun, out-of-the-box ideas. The mermaid proposal in mid-2023 was the first of many ultra-niche, super customized proposals. And by the end of the year, every proposer I worked with wanted their proposal personalized in some significant way.

I started incorporating handmade elements into as many proposals as I could (I have an arsenal of crafting machines and an unreasonable amount of crafting skills). I got super into brainstorming unique elements of surprise. I developed my viral “flower chucking” technique and have come up with a bunch of ways to employ it that manage to be unique every time.

My team and I have created a tarot card reading proposal, a real-estate open house proposal, a faux snow proposal, a ghost-tour proposal, a plant sale proposal, a tea reading proposal, an art gallery proposal, a carousel proposal, a basketball proposal… each time I think it can’t possibly get any better and each time it totally does. While the moving parts on some of these are enough to make my head spin, I thrive in the midst of the chaos.

Proposals provide an endless stream of issues that require creative solutions. I am completely pumped every time I get to puzzle one out. As I tell all of my clients, there is always a solution; we just have to find it. And find it we do.

There really is no feeling more satisfying than seeing the result of months of planning come together as someone gets to make their partner the happiest person on the planet- in the middle of a moment built just for them. It is, as the kid’s say, chef’s kiss.

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At the time of this writing, I just completed my 200th proposal (watch it below!) and I am so damn proud of my team for knocking it out of the park. I am truly honored every single time a person puts their trust in me for such a huge life-altering moment. I’m sending out a huge heartfelt thank you to all 200 of you wonderful beings that invited me to be a part of your magic moments.

I can only imagine what kind of wild proposal scenarios I will get to dream up in the years to come. Will it be yours?