New Orleans Surprise Proposal Photography

Joseph proposes in the French Quarter with the sweetest rendition of “Marry You” ever.

(Hit play! You’re gonna wanna listen to this song while you read this post!)

Joseph suffers from Analysis Paralysis, an affliction I know all too well. He has a hard time deciding what’s the best thing to do when presented with too many options. And if you do even the smallest amount of digging on the web about proposing in New Orleans, you’ll find yourself with way, way too many options.

That’s why he hired me to help him sort it all out! I happen to know the best places to propose in New Orleans.

We were joined on our planning call by Joseph and Landon’s friend whose job was to further help him land on some decisions. Joseph and Landon were taking a cruise together as part of their 3 year anniversary celebration and Joseph wanted to pop the question just before they embarked. The obstacles we were up against were that it needed to be early enough to give them time to get back to their hotel, get their bags, and get to the port, and New Orleans had been experiencing an historic heatwave. We expect 100 degree weather in August and September but mid-June is usually still pretty tolerable.

I knew we had to count on some heat so I suggested they grab a pedicab from the Roosevelt to near wherever we decided to stage the surprise proposal. Joseph ended up not only booking a pedicab but a private french Quarter tour with the Cajun Queen!

After looking at locations all over the city and watching Joseph struggle to pick the right one, I showed him my favorite green door in the Quarter. It’s just 2 doors down from a famed haunted mansion and Landon is super into the paranormal. It’s easy to find but off the beaten path a bit so it would be private, covered so in the event of rain we wouldn’t need to move elsewhere, and -possibly the best part- I’d never done a proposal there before!

We settled on the door as their backdrop and solidified the plan. Joseph tried to change this mind again but me and his friend told him to stick with the plan. “Trust me” I said to him. “I’ve done over 100 of these and I know what works. If I’m telling you this is a great plan, it’s a great plan. Go with it!” He let out a long exhale and made the final decision.

Or so I thought!

Four days before the proposal I got a call from Joseph. He had originally wanted to keep it simple without any bells and whistles. But He had seen the Chorus Girls Proposal that I did back in January and wanted to know if I could get the girls for his Proposal. Unfortunately, there was no way I could hire them with that short of a turnaround (not without paying a sizeable last-minute booking fee!). But if he wanted to sweeten this up for his sweetie I was going to throw all of the options at him that I could get on short notice.

What he settled on was hiring this beautiful crooner of a guitarist and singer to perform a song for them. His first choice was Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” and while I know the perfect performer to knock that one out of the park, he wasn’t available bright and early on a Sunday morning. So I asked for a second choice and he said “Marry You” by Bruno Mars. Now THAT I could work with.

If you listen to the lyrics closely, “marry you” is not as romantic as it might seem. So I had the musician, Beardsley, adapt a rendition that was sure to make everyone misty. And it was the best damn version of that song I’d ever heard (if you haven’t played the audio at the top of this post yet, do it! It’s a recording of Beardsley’s rendition I had him do special for this post).

This was the earliest I’d ever done a proposal before but I was so excited for this one I sprung out of bed like a kid on Christmas morning. I assembled the team (Beardsley plus my kickass assistant whose sole job was to make sure I didn’t get hit by cars while shooting the moment) and by some sort of French Quarter miracle we scored a parking spot right across from the door.

The guys were around the corner at a café with Joseph nervously awaiting my go ahead. I gave him the thumbs up as soon as we were all set and I started my own nervous waiting. I had Beardsley play the song he adapted while I waited and holy wow- I got misty eyed! Seriously, I had goosebumps and tears in my eyes it was so beautiful.

I saw the couple heading our way just as a pedicabber arrived. It was the woman who had brought them to the cafe! She very nearly gave it away as she told me she was here for the proposal. I hurried her down a couple of cars to wait as the guys were nearly there. They spotted her but fortunately Landon didn’t think anything of it.

Joseph hit his mark while Beardsley strummed the guitar. He started singing just as Landon said yes. It was only then that Landon noticed what song it was… and that I was in the street photographing! The Cajun Queen had left her tour guide mic on and I could hear her crying down the block! It was so unbelievably sweet I may have even shed a tear or two.

After we took some portraits and revealed all the levels of the surprise to Landon, he wiped away tears and said “this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me!” AWWWWWUH! Not a single one of us were not crying by then.

We loaded the newly engaged couple back into the pedicab and said “bon voyage” before we all piled triumphantly back into my Honda. After worrying so much and some last minute changes, Joseph’s proposal was perfect. 100% perfect.

Enjoy these images from Joseph and Landon’s New Orleans Surprise Proposal Photography.

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