A playbill for the fake nutcracker ballet surprise proposal placed in the branches of a white christmas tree surrounded by large purple and gold ornaments, gold bows, and twinkling christmas lights. — A real fake playbill for a real fake ballet surprise proposal.

Austin came to me hoping I’d be his new orleans proposal planner for a surprise proposal that he wanted to be “spectacular”... and was only 2 weeks away. As the final proposal of what had already been an incredible year, I was ready to end 2024 on a high note. We wasted no time getting into it!

Austin lives in Virginia but has many friends here in New Orleans. On one trip to visit his friends they all went out for dinner at a restaurant owned by a rather well-known chef. That’s when he set eyes on Emmy. But he didn’t get up the courage to go talk to her. He must have regretted this decision terribly because he decided to fly back the next weekend to return to the restaurant and hope to set eyes on her again. Fate was on his side when he returned and she was there. And Cupid was on his side when she gave him her number.

Fast forward to December 2024 and Austin was ready to make it official. He pretty much gave me free reign to let my imagination run wild. Which is a sure-fire way to get a proposal that is going to blow away all expectations.

The Inspiration

Because I had recently done a proposal for a couple who was dancing together in a production of The Nutcracker, I had ballet on the brain. Plus the proposal was set for 2 days after Christmas so I figured we could get away with a Christmas vibe.
The idea came to me, as many of the best ones do, when I wasn’t even thinking about it! But as soon as it popped into my head I was on the phone to Austin.

I pitched a fake nutcracker performance with a flash-mob audience. We would hire real dancers, real musicians, and have them start a real performance. But a few numbers in, the audience would get up and, with the help of the dancers, would redecorate the stage for a proposal!
The musicians would shift the music, the lighting would change, and Austin would stand to offer Emmy his hand and invite her to walk onto stage with him where he’d pop the question. Austin loved the idea! As it turned out, he had told Emmy he’d take her to see the nutcracker this year but they didn’t get a chance to. Serendipity!

Did I mention I only had 2 weeks to make this happen in? As soon as Austin greenlit the idea I hit the ground running.

Planning the Magic

A couple holds hands while walking down the aisle of the Marigny Opera just before their new orleans surprise proposal. — The couple enters what she thinks is a performance of the Nutcracker.

The first step was the venue and I landed us the Marigny Opera House. The only slot they had available was for a 7:00pm load-in (making this the latest proposal I’ve ever done!) but I was more than happy to take it with the timeline we were working with. I got to work with New Orleans’ premier Flash Mob coordinator, Kenneth Kynt Bryan, who was able to hire 4 ballet dancers who knew nutcracker choreography and 12 audience members… in under 12 hours! I pulled in one of my go-to musicians, Sam Craft, to compile the string quartet. Then I got to work planning out the decor so that it could serve as a Nutcracker backdrop but then be transitioned into a proposal backdrop. Austin said their favorite movie was Pretty Woman and told me about a line they both loved that he’d recently ordered a neon sign of. So I incorporated the line as well as the song “pretty woman” into the plan.

Sam and I met with Kenneth and his dancers the day after Christmas for rehearsal. It was SO fun watching this crazy idea come to life inside a dance studio. Sam and I got to give our input on what we needed and Kenneth and his dancers worked the choreography to fit with it. They were doing an abridged party scene with the living dolls (one of my favorite parts of the Nutcracker). At the end of the doll’s dance, the Drosselmeyer character would walk to the foot of the stage and deliver the Pretty Woman line “In case I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight”. That would signal a music and lighting change, the dancers would exit, and the audience would hurry on to the stage to transition before running out the side door of the Opera House. Then the light would change again, the quartet would start a slowed-down version of “Pretty Woman” and Austin would take his cue.

Decor Design

A ballet dancer leaps into the air during a fake performance of the Nutcracker for a New Orleans surprise Proposal — A real fake ballet performance for a real surprise proposal!

To simplify the transition, I had to create decor that could be easily changed rather than moving on or off stage. I attached a white christmas tree to a dolly and decorated one side of it with big gold ornaments and bows (under-inflated balloons, actually!) and the other side with purple ones, since purple is Emmy’s favorite color. Someone in the mob would rotate the tree to change the color. I attached red poinsettias to a fresh Christmas garland on the mantel (which I sourced from FB marketplace, my favorite decor supply store).Someone would pluck the red flowers off and I had purple flowers waiting in the wings for someone to replace the red ones with. There was a purple velvet aisle runner folks would spread between the aisles of chairs leading to the stage. And last but not least, bags of lavender rose petals would be waiting to toss in an arch in front of the mantel for the couple to stand in.

To really sell the whole thing, I made fake playbills that the couple would be handed at the door. According to my friend Dmitry (who came the night of to take some behind-the-scenes photos and make a polaroid for the couple just for “funsies” as he says), I may have out-Lady’d myself with that one.

Setting the (Literal) Stage

A man proposes to his girlfriend on a New Orleans stage set to look like a Christmas party with a white christmas tree, white fireplace mantle, and hundreds of candles. — She said yes!

My team and I setup 30 white padded chairs, hundreds of LED candles, gold candlestick holders, glass vases, a Christmas tree (with gold bows that shed an ungodly amount of gold glitter), the mantel, and all the extra zhuzh and got working. Victoria (or Mighty Mouse as I like to call her), my longtime right-hand woman, said it felt like decorating for Christmas with family and I absolutely loved that! My team has gotten so tight over the last year (over 50 proposals together will do that!) and it was really great to have them all there for what turned out to be our most elaborate proposal- not only of the year but that we had ever done.

For me, it felt like getting back to my theater production roots (if only Tim Baker could see me now ) and I had the best time designing the light cues with the Opera House’s tech, Bill, and literally setting the stage. I frequently refer to proposals with theater terminology but this time it actually was a full theater production!

We were able to run through the entire thing with the flash mob a few times before the couple arrived (with the last run-through cutting it way too close and me having to shut it down and have everyone take their places just as the couple was pulling on the doors to the Opera House). Two of my assistants met them at the door, handed them playbills, and I dimmed the lights as they made their way to the seats Austin knew they should sit in. My videographer, Levi, and I crept into position as one of the flash mobbers took the stage to ask everyone to silence their phones, and Dmitry went into the choir loft with Bill and the rest of my team to capture in stealth mode.

A Spectacular Surprise

A newly engaged couple poses for an engagement photo at the Marigny Opera House following their Nutcracker Ballet surprise proposal in new orleans. — The newly engaged couple!

After the performance was underway, I crouched next to Austin’s chair and set down a clip-on mic for him to attach to his jacket when the transition happened. While I considered having someone hand it off to him at the door, I didn’t want to risk Emmy seeing it any sooner.

Many people have described to me a feeling of “blacking out” during their proposal. But this may be the first time I felt like I blacked out! I know I was there. I know I captured the whole thing. But it went by so fast and there were so many moving parts that one it was underway I feel like I went on autopilot. The last thing I clearly remember was hiding behind a pillar waiting to catch Emmy’s reaction during the flashmob. And then there was a ring on her finger and she was asking “who were all those people!?!?”. “Oh… they were just here for you” I said.

But even though I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience, everyone played their parts perfectly. It was exactly what Austin had hoped for - Spectacular!

Lagniappe

Emmy was blown away and started calling her family immediately, starting with her sister. I held the flashmob and dancers off outside for a little bit so the couple could share the news with family. Then they came back in for a joyful group photo before I did some portraits with the couple and we reluctantly said our goodbyes. Not before Dmitry handed them a polaroid of their proposal moment, of course. I love it when he shows up to add that bit of magic. It’s not a service I offer or something anyone is even expecting. It’s just Lagniappe, as we like to say here in New Orleans.

I was so ecstatic with how everything turned out I couldn’t sleep that night. It was everything I had hoped it would be and an incredible bow to put on an incredible year. I couldn’t be more proud of my team. I couldn’t be more proud of myself! To me it was a sign that there are big things ahead for all of us and I am so, so excited to see what we create together in the coming year!

Ready to blow everyone’s mind with your own one of a kind proposal?

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