New Orleans Surprise Proposal Photography in the French Quarter

Jason and Carrie

When Jason decided to stage his Surprise Proposal to Carrie, he knew he had to do it in New Orleans. He also knew he better go big or go home. He got in touch with the amazing people over at Royal Carriages and told him he had an idea for what he wanted but needed some local help to make it all happen.

That’s where I came in!

I hopped on a call and Jason told me how he wanted his New Orleans Surprise Proposal to go: he wanted to take a French Quarter carriage ride then stop some point along the way, propose, and have a brass band waiting to play. We got on google street view together to help him pick the perfect spot. We had to look at a couple of factors when picking the right spot: sun position at that time of day, car traffic, and where cars can park. There was definitely some overthinking going on for Jason so after a good hour of looking at beautiful lower French Quarter houses, I said “hey, you’re overthinking. Do you like the look of this house? Awesome. Let’s do it there.” I could hear the sigh of relief from his end of the phone. That part was done.

I connected him with the St Roch Syncopators for his surprise second-line band performance. I had worked with Ed Doskey and his band before and knew they would be up for the task. The plan was for the carriage to stop at Dauphine and Dumaine while I was waiting across the street and the band was around the corner waiting for Carrie to say “yes” so they could start to play. After their first song, we’d do a few quick portraits with the band then we would follow the carriage for another song before sending the couple on their way to celebrate.

On the morning of the proposal, Stephanie and Stormy at Royal Carriages were all set for the surprise. My assistant and I were waiting expectantly on Dauphine while the brass band was hiding around the corner. The carriage pulled up, my assistant blocked traffic a half block down, and I was pretending to be a tourist waiting on her uber with my cameras at the ready. But instead of crossing the street, Jason and Carrie walked around the corner! I watched as they disappeared from my view before running down the block towards them, a camera slung on each shoulder.

“What’s he doing??” the band leader asked me. “I don’t know!” I said as I booked it after them. I caught up just in time to see Jason take a knee in front of a random house we definitely had not planned on using! But she said yes, I didn’t miss the moment, and the band was there ready to play! We all laughed at the mixup after the band stopped playing and chalked it up to a nervous “oops!”. Carrie was a good sport and they re-created the moment in front of the right house! We did a few quick portraits before loading them into the carriage and sending them on their way with me and the band following along.

Things might not have gone exactly as planned but the moment was still perfect for Jason and Carrie. He even said it was better than he expected! It just goes to show that sometimes in New Orleans Surprise Proposals, everything goes right out the window and yet it is still perfect.

Want some help planning your New Orleans Surprise Proposal?