A last minute marriage proposal in New Orleans City Park

unexpected travel complications land a Florida couple in New Orleans for their surprise proposal.

If you’ve spent any time reading this blog you know that a last minute surprise proposal is my JAM. Most New Orleans Proposals schedule a month or less out. Some even schedule less than a week out! But every now and then, I meet a hopeful proposer who is in desperate need of help… with less than 24 hours to go.

Mike was one such hopeful proposer!

Mike and his girlfriend, Abby, were supposed to spend the weekend in New York City where he planned to propose. But his wallet was stolen two days before they were set to depart and there wasn’t enough time to get a new ID and credit cards for the trip. But Mike was not only intent on proposing over the weekend but he was also sure he wanted to do it somewhere other than their home city of Orlando.

He asked Abby where she might like to go for the weekend instead and she suggested New Orleans. So while driving from Florida, Mike managed to sneakily scour the web and find me. It turns out I was exactly the kind of help he was looking for.

We got everything booked while he was still on the road and the next morning he snuck away while Abby was in the shower so we could plan it out. He had never been to New Orleans before so he needed all of the help! He had seen some locations on my website and had an idea of where he wanted to pop the question. I just needed to show him exactly where it was, how to get there, work out a ruse and a rain plan (we are firmly in summer rainy season now!), and find out if he wanted to add anything extra to it.

You know, just a couple quick little things. 😉

We were able to get everything squared away before Abby started wondering where Mike had disappeared to and I got to enjoy the giddiness of making last-minute magic happen.

Mike wanted the location decorated with red rose petals (as has become my calling card, apparently!) and while I typically order them online ahead of time there was clearly no ahead of time here. I hit the grocery before the proposal and they only had 1 dozen red roses available! GAH! They did have 2 bags of pink petals- one light and one dark. So I went with those and hoped that Abby liked pink!

After setting them up I discovered I REALLY liked the pink! The contrast between the two colors and also between the petals and the concrete steps was very, very pretty.

The couple arrived right on schedule and I watched them from across the park. I rarely get nervous during proposals anymore but for some reason this one had my heart pounding! Maybe it was the last-minute nature, maybe it was knowing that Abby definitely expected Mike to propose on this trip. Either way, I was a bit shaky when I switched from taking photos of my assistant to capturing this darling, emotionally charged proposal.

Even though Abby had an idea that this trip was going to bring the big moment, she didn’t know exactly where or when it would happen. And she definitely didn’t expect Mike to have hired a proposal photographer and planner! She was just the sweetest gotdang woman I may have ever met, speaking so softly as she tried not to cry.

This proposal brought a couple added perks: 1. it was the first proposal planning package that included a reel for instagram! I finally succumbed to the algorithm a few weeks ago and found I was really enjoying seeing my proposal photos in video form. So I added a reel into the package and shot the proposal with not only still photos but the stop-motion video in mind.

2. A buddy of mine is doing this badass photo project where he takes and posts a photo every single day for a full year inside of City Park. I let them know we’d be there and he showed up to capture some behind the scenes moments! I was able to send the couple some extra photos from him as well (check him out on instagram!)

I was thrilled to have been available to pull this proposal off with such little notice (I was only barely available, I had to leave immediately after for another proposal at the Tree of Life!) It went off flawlessly and I kind of can’t stop watching their reel (Abby loved my choice of song, “Lover” by Taylor Swift. Think what you want about TSwift but that woman can write a banger!).

Enjoy this selection of images from Abby and Mike’s New Orleans Surprise Proposal Photography as well as the reels it produced!

Ready to plan your own sweet moment (last minute or not!)?