New Orleans Surprise Proposal Photography

Some quick thinking was in store for this sweet City Park Surprise Proposal

If you’ve spent any time perusing my blog you would know I love an elaborate ruse. Simple Surprise Proposals are lovely- but if it takes a complex story and different people participating in order to pull it off? I’m here for it.

Don’s proposal plan was simple. He’d hit up the fountain in City Park on his way to a fancy lunch with his girlfriend, Alex, and I’d be there waiting to catch the moment. Like all proposals, I got to the location ahead of time to make sure everything is as it needs to be. And as I walked up to the fountain, I saw that things were most certainly NOT as they needed to be. You might remember the kids practicing Frozen from Ed and Jordana’s proposal. Well the kids were back and this time it wasn’t just a rehearsal- it was a full theatrical production of 101 Dalmatians using the fountain as a stage complete with a full parental audience.

Shit.

I sidle up to a parent at the back of the crowd and asked how much longer the production was supposed to last. He said not much longer, maybe 10 minutes. So I shot Ed and text and told him he needed to stall. He said he couldn’t. They were already headed that way. It wasn’t even ten till go time yet! He had told her their reservation was for 11- the proposal time! I looked across the park and sure enough, I spotted them making their way to the fountain. There was no way he could pull off a proposal at that location without it being swarmed by children dressed as spotted dogs. I had to come up with something and I had to come up with it FAST.

I didn’t know if he had my number saved in his phone or not and didn’t want to risk it. So in a small state of panic, I grabbed my assistant’s phone and rang up Don.

“Hello, Mr. Wu” I started in my very best hospitality voice. “This is the restaurant calling. We are terribly sorry but there was a mixup with your reservation and your table won’t be ready for another half an hour.”

“Oh…wow” he said. “That’s a pretty bad mixup. We were already on our way.”

“Yes, I’m very sorry, we are using a new booking system and haven’t worked all the bugs out. Your table will be ready in half an hour!”

“Ok, well I guess we will just wait in the park then” he said.

“Yes, good idea, it’s a beautiful day. We will see you soon!”

I hung up, wiped the beads of adrenaline sweat that had formed on my brow, and started gearing up. The kids finished their performance, took some photos on the fountain, and started making their way away from the location. As soon as it was clear, I called Don again. “Hi, Mr. Wu. It’s the restaurant again. Your table is ready! You can head on over.” It was funny watching Don just across the park picking up his phone for our elaborate ruse. I tossed my assistant his phone and fired off some shots of him, looking as if he was my subject until Don got to the location. When she was looking away from me, he looked over at me and I shot him a thumbs up. Then he popped the question!

Afterwards, I told Alex it had been me calling and not the restaurant. She said she had been ready to go leave them a bad yelp review for such a mix up! Instead, she got to enjoy a New Orleas engagement session in the park before still getting that delicious lunch at “the restaurant”.

Want to come up with your own elaborate ruse?

Here’s what Don had to say about the expereince:

“Lady was excellent all around with our surprise proposal. Easy to work with, quick on her feet (her quick thinking helped save our proposal from conflicting with a kids birthday party) and the pictures came out great. Highly recommended!”

Enjoy this selection of images from Don’s New Orleans Surprise Proposal to Alex!