High School Sweethearts Get Engaged

Coronda asks her girlfriend of ten years to marry her in New Orleans City Park

Y’all know I love a lesbian proposal in New Orleans. Y’all also know I love an elaborate proposal ruse.

Coronda’s proposal to DeiJuan had one of the most elaborate, involved ruses I have yet to witness!

The typical lead-time for a New Orleans Surprise Proposal is 2-4 weeks. Unless it’s lesbian proposal… and then it’s usually several months! Coronda (aka Cocoa) first contacted me in August. She planned to propose to her high school sweetheart turned girlfriend of a decade, DeiJuan, during her Thanksgiving break from school. DeiJuan is in school here in New Orleans and Cocoa is living in Atlanta so she knew she was going to need some help planning from afar.

DeiJuan wanted Cocoa to visit for Thanksgiving but that’s where the ruse began- Cocoa told DeiJuan she wouldn’t be able to take time off of work to be with DeiJuan and her family for Thanksgiving. She knew that DeiJuan would want to stay in New Orleans to spend the holiday with her family and wouldn’t try to visit her in Atlanta instead. DeiJuan was disappointed that Cocoa wasn’t going to visit. Fortunately, Cocoa was working on the surprise of DeiJuan’s life to make up for it!

DeiJuan is a fledgling photographer (as well as a MUA, a jeweler, and a full-time college student. She reminds me a lot of myself- she wears many hats!) and so the first idea Coronda had to get DeiJuan to the park for the proposal was to have someone book a portrait session with DeiJuan. But DeiJuan is so new to the photo game she doesn’t have a website or advertising for sessions yet. So I suggested the gig would need to come as a referral from Cocoa in order to make sense.

Cocoa just so happened to have a cousin in New Orleans who recently got engaged! I asked her to see if he would be cool with pretending to book a session with DeiJuan to get the ruse going. He was down. But then DeiJuan threw a wrench into the works: she didn’t want to book a session during her vacation time with her family!

So it was back to the drawing board. Coronda had told me from the jump that DeiJuan was going to be VERY hard to surprise. She’s observant and quick-thinking. This was going to take some mental gymnastics to figure out!

Coronda thought maybe she would just call her on the day of and ask her to head to the park for a surprise. But we wanted to make sure she was dressed nicely and I was also afraid that she’d figure it out on her way to the park.

And then it came to us- Coronda would “book a portrait session” FOR Cocoa with a local photographer as an apology gift for missing Thanksgiving rather than having DeiJuan work during the holidays.

So I set upon the task of finding a woman photographer that I could pose as who doesn’t have a stitch of proposals on their social media or website. That was tough! My network consists mainly of other wedding photographers. I had to dig deep (remembering people I’ve met or come across is not always my strong suit) but then it hit me. I’d recently seen a series of photos shot at a local nursery that a few of my women friends were in. They were photographed by a local woman who doesn’t do any wedding work- only portraits of women! Perfect!

And then we hit another speed bump.

How were we going to communicate with DeiJuan as this other photographer? Sure, we could use email. But what if she wanted to text or talk on the phone? We couldn’t use my number- they’d come up on DeiJuan’s caller ID as my name (she could also google the number if she was suspicious and easily find my website). So Cocoa planned to try to snag a 504 number on google voice (I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to so I suggested she try 985 or 225 if not!) and attach it to an old phone she had that no longer had cell service. She’d only be able to use it over wifi but that would work just fine.

Cocoa asked what to do if DeiJuan wanted to call. I said she should suggest that she’s busy on a shoot or editing and could only answer texts. I’m not sure if that ever came up but we wanted to be sure we had all of our bases covered!

With the ruse in place all we had to do was wait.

DeiJuan’s favorite color is blue and Coronda’s is red. So Coronda wanted red and blue rose petals for the proposal. Red I could get. But blue? Not so much. Cocoa opted to order some silk petals and I was down with that just so long as we got them picked up after the proposal! I often find confetti or silk flower petals left behind in the park. While it might look pretty during your photoshoot it just looks like trash once you’re gone. Because, well, at that point it is! I do my best to respect the spaces I work in- especially if those spaces are in nature.

Their first date was on the 23rd, Coronda asked DeiJuan to be her girlfriend on the 23rd, and they were going to get married in 2023. So Coronda wanted to make a 23 out of the flower petals. I suggested she also bring photos of the two of them together that spanned the course of their decade-long relationship. Since Coronda would be away from DeiJuan in the weeks leading up to the proposal and also planned to drive in, she would be able to get a hold of the decorative items herself (and even enjoyed doing so!) and bring them to the park on the day before Thanksgiving.

I did advise she not park too close to the location so that DeiJuan wouldn’t see her car when she got there!

The days leading up to the surprise proposal were grey and rainy. But the day before Thanksgiving the sun finally came out! It was cool enough for a sweater but not so warm you needed a coat (although Cocoa opted to wear one because she looked so damn good in it!). I was ecstatic that we would have beautiful setting sun to light the proposal. CIty Park is gorgeous in literally any light but I just love golden hour backlight so much! It makes everything look like magic.

Two hours before the proposal, Cocoa called me in a panic. She said that DeiJuan was excited about the shoot but also wasn’t exactly sure where the fountain was in the park so she was going to go half an hour early to find it. NOOOOOO! That would put her arriving right in the middle of setup. I was having lunch at the time so I told Cocoa I’d shovel the sandwich and get down there ASAP! I asked Cocoa to tell DeiJuan that she had another session right before hers so she shouldn’t arrive early. Cocoa also had DeiJuan’s mom in on it so she could help stall.

When I got to the park, I noticed there was a large hole in the top of the fountain with rebar sticking out of it! There was plastic orange fencing around the rebar to keep people from tumbling into the 3-foot deep hole. Important, yes, but also an absolute eyesore! Coronda was making her way to the fountain from her parking spot further into the park and I worked quickly to get that orange fence out of the way!

It took a lot of muscling to get it off (it was zip-tied on and I didn’t have any scissors!) but I eventually was able to shimmy it down far enough that it was hidden from view. Don’t worry, I put it back afterwards! I definitely don’t want to be responsible for somebody accidentally disappearing into that hole.

Once Cocoa got there we got on setting up. I had never used silk petals before and I quickly discovered that they are much lighter than real rose petals. Which means they blow around a lot easier! While it didn’t take long to arrange them in a 23, I had to continuously put them back in place between the time I set them up and DeiJuan arrived!

I also brought along a big bluetooth speaker so CoCoa could have their song playing when DeiJuan walked up- “Differences” by Ginuwine. You know, just to crank the romance up a bit!

DeiJuan’s mom was sending texts to Cocoa of what DeiJuan was planning to wear. The photographer I had recommended works with a lot of dancers and performers who are wearing rather revealing outfits in their photos. And while DeiJuan would absolutely sley in the outfit she had on, that was definitely not the vibe for the proposal! Cocoa got DeiJuan’s mom to suggest she wear this killer red dress she has and bring the other outfit along to change into if there was time. They were going to be in a public space, afterall.

Fortunately, DeiJuan took the suggestion and put on a show-stopped floor-length red gown. And then they started to make their way to the park. CoCoa hid behind the fountain while I kept an eye out for DeiJuan. It turned out Cocoa’s phone’s bluetooth connection wasn’t working well with the speaker from behind the concrete fountain so we switched it over to my phone instead.

DeiJuan’s mom drove her to the park so I told her where I thought it was best that she park so she wouldn’t see the setup at the fountain from the street. But that might even seem suspicious if her mom parked in a highly specific place!

So I used Cocoa’s burner phone (which had to link to Cocoa’s cell connection via wifi hotspot! Thank you, technology!) and called DeiJuan. I told her that the last session had ended and she could head over whenever she was ready. I told her where I thought the best place to park was. And then I crossed my fingers!

The good thing about that red dress (aside from being STUNNING) was that it made it easy to spot DeiJuan from a long way away. Although there was a red car parked on City Park Ave that kept catching my eye making me think DeiJuan had arrived. When she finally did get there, I saw she was headed in the wrong direction.

And she was calling Coronda!

Coronda sent it to voicemail (which clearly pained her to do) and quickly got the burner phone to me. But the call wouldn’t go through- we needed Cocoa’s wifi! Both of our hands were shaking with adrenaline as Cocoa quickly got the wifi connected. I called DeiJuan, asked her if she was in a red dress, and said I could see her and that she was going the wrong way. I got her course corrected then went to hide behind a tree. I didn’t want her seeing and trying to interact with me before seeing Cocoa.

Cocoa wanted to make a big entrance, emerging from behind the fountain as the song began to play. She said in all the years they had been together, she had never been able to make DeiJuan cry tears of joy. “She better cry this time!” she joked. I didn’t know DeiJuan at all beyond what Cocoa had told me of her. But I knew there was no way anyone could have an experience like this and NOT at least get a little misty.

As soon as I saw that DeiJuan was close, I signaled Cocoa, hit play, and chucked my phone on the ground so I could move freely without the bluetooth cutting out. We definitely did not need the song interrupted by skipping and crackling… or that damn speaker saying “Bluetooth disconnected” all loud as hell.

We suspected DeiJuan might be wearing slides and have her heels in her hand. I told Cocoa if that was the case and she wanted to fake it for a second shot with shoes on after we could. We were definitely right about the shoes but DeiJuan did not care one bit. “What are you doing here!???” she asked before falling into Coronda’s arms. When I was on the phone with DeiJuan, I thought maybe she had somehow figured it out. But nope! The woman had to surprise was very much surprised. And I was very much in tears (as I also am while writing this- GDit!).

I fired away as Cocoa hit her mark and pulled out the ENORMOUS diamond ring she had picked out. She said it was more ring than she had originally planned to get but when she saw it at the store she knew right away that was the one. And after meeting DeiJuan I could tell she was totally right. DeiJuan is one hella sparkly woman and she definitely needs a big rock if it’s going to stand out on her hand.

DeiJuan’s family had crept up behind me while the proposal went down. They were filming on phones and an iPad and all started cheering as soon as the ring was on DeiJuan’s finger. DeiJuan and Coronda stayed glued to each other for the longest time. It was a beautiful thing to witness- this couple at had met in high school, started dating soon after, were still together ten years later after many life changes, and were still in deep, all-encompassing love with each other.

I didn’t get to see DeiJuan’s face for a minute after the proposal. Try as I did- her long hair hid it during the proposal itself. I attempted to shift to get a different angle but the sun shot directly into the lens- and no in the pretty way I normally like. But it’s alright. As soon as she finally emerged from their lengthy embrace, she was all smiles (and also tears!).

Coronda turned to me and pumped her fist in the air. “I did it!” she said. The tears mission was accomplished.

DeiJuan was surprised to see so many of her family members there. They had only just found out earlier that day that the proposal was going to happen! Coronda wanted to tell DeiJuan’s family but they are all so close she was afraid they might let the secret slip (remember, we’d been planning this for months!). I am glad she told DeiJuan’s mom that morning, though, because she was a massive help in getting DeiJuan there!

We did a quick portrait session and made sure to get some family photos as well since they were all together. It was the first time Coronda was meeting some of the cousins! They were about to have a wonderful Holiday celebration as new fiancés.

I showed the back of the camera to Cocoa and DeiJuan and DeiJuan lit up. It’s always nice to get the approval of another photographer- especially if they’re in the photo!

After I delivered preview images early the next morning (I normally do the same night but I was up late battling with my computer after this proposal! One image file was corrupt on the card and the result was lightroom locking the computer up over and over after I had already edited all of the preview images. By the time I finally figured out what the problem was it was late and I was exhausted I knew I had to start the image transferring, selection, and editing process all over again so I tabled it until morning), Coronda said her fiancé wanted to know if I’d mentor her. I was honored! I told her she is welcome to assist me on upcoming jobs so she can watch and learn. I learned a lot from assisting other photographers when I was just starting out.

She actually did assist me on a proposal just this last weekend! Those shots will be on the blog next for sure since it was the very first proposal at Livaudais Hall (and one of the most elaborate proposals I’ve done to date!).

Cocoa mentioned they’d hit me up for their wedding and I sure hope they do. DeiJuan is a sweetheart and the way they love each other is so touching. They both have huge personalities and they aren’t afraid to let them show. That’s a quality I really dig because I am absolutely the same way. I don’t photograph a lot of weddings anymore but theirs is one I would happily take on. There’s no doubt it’s going to be a damn good time.

Photos and video from Coronda and DeiJuan’s LGBTQ Surprise Proposal below!

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