New Orleans Surprise Proposal Photography

An LGBTQ Surprise Proposal at Armstrong Park

I started working with Amareya on her New Orleans Surprise Proposal several months ago. Most of the time when I jump on a call or zoom with a Surprise Proposal client, we get in and get down to business. But Amareya and I spent a lot of time just talking about our lives, our work, and how the last year had affected us on both personal and professional levels. She felt like a friend long before she and Tyler showed up to Armstrong Park- which made me feel even more compelled to make sure to knock this one out of the figurative park.

We hired Dr. Sick to play “Best Part” by Daniel Caesar and HER. It was a challenging song for him to learn- the musical part was easy enough but there were a lot of lyrics. He told me the timing on the vocals is also syncopated, making it more difficult. He listened to it on repeat while he drove to Austin for the week before the proposal, learning by listening. He nailed it, of course. He always does.

Dr. Sick ran through the song while he waited and a few women stopped and one of them sang a duet with him! She said he’d made her day. It was pretty rad spreading joy to people other than our client!

I had my assistant hide inside of the gate to the park to stop people from walking into the shot once Amareya and Tyler arrived. Once I had eyes on them coming through the quarter to meet us, he started asking people to use an alternate exit. The happily obliged. But what we didn’t have was an extra few people to stop pedestrians from going into the park! I was busy photographing and couldn’t get folks to stop. But that’s ok because Amareya and Tyler were caught up in the moment listening to a “random” musician play their song. Plus I photoshopped a nice photo of them in front of the arches without people in the photo for them. The look on Tyler’s face when Amareya pulled out the ring was priceless.

We got started late- as is often the case with a proposal where one person doesn’t know they need to be somewhere at a certain time. So our portrait walk through the quarter was mostly after the sun had fully set which made for some moody portraits. This couple was not the sweet and sentimental type. They never stopped cracking jokes and laughing. At one point, Tyler decided to do the Robot to Amareya protesting “no! no! don’t do the robot again!”. Clearly, they kept each other in stitches all the time.

This proposal had a first- while the couple was embracing each other outside of Armstrong Park, celebrating their newly minted “fiance” status, a man walked by and started yelling at them to repent, saying they were abominations in the eyes of the lord. I was horrified. As a queer person who also dates men and 100% passes for straight, this is not something I experience in my everyday life. I watched them while he kept yelling as he (thankfully) walked away. Tyler gripped her chest and started saying “Oh Please! Help me! Help me! Like that? Is that what you mean?” with a big smile on her face. Amareya laughed along with Tyler and I breathed a sigh of relief. They let it roll off the way they have likely had to do many times in their lives. The idea that anyone could yell something like that at two people so clearly in love really made my stomach turn. The sad truth is, there are many people like that passerby in the world. That’s why these queer proposals are so very important to me (and why I offer a discount to queer couples looking to propose or wed). Love is love. Full stop.

Looking to pop the question in New Orleans?

Enjoy this selection of photos from Amareya and Tyler’s New Orleans Surprise Proposal Photography at Armstrong Park.