LGBT Proposal Tips

19 May, 2016 LGBT Proposal Tips

Planning a proposal can be one of the most stressful days in your life. You’re almost to the spot where you’re going to pop the question and you suddenly realize you only have red solo cups for the champagne! That moment when your heart drops as you feel for the ring in your jacket pocket and it’s GONE…and that you may have lost it in a 7-Eleven. Or when you realize that you most definitely lost your earring somewhere in the mix. You know, minor details;) Below are a few proposal stories and tips that I have collected from 3 lesbian couples who pulled off their proposals with flying colors. Hopefully these tips help you out a little when planning your proposal.

1. GET A PHOTOGRAPHER.

2. SCOPE OUT THE EXACT LOCATION WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO GET DOWN ON ONE KNEE.

3. BE YOURSELF.

Pictured at the end are a few images from Kat & Paige’s rooftop proposal that I shot in Dallas. We were dodging storms and I was hiding like a ninja on my small rooftop. It is so fun to watch how it all unfolds…being there for one of the most intimate moments in a couples relationship is quite the experience.

CASSIE & KAYLA

Where/how did you propose?

I proposed in the ocean in St. Thomas! It was on a super quiet spot called Lindquist beach, it’s our favorite spot on the island.

What would you have done differently about your proposal?

If I could change one thing, I probably would have planned for Steph Grant to be there hahaha. But really I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

What is the funniest moment from the proposal?

Definitely some serious nerves. We were in St. Thomas for an entire week with friends before they left and I proposed… I was so stressed out about it that I had a hard time enjoying the trip up until that moment! Kayla and I even fought a bit because she wanted me to have a good time and I was so stressed. She thought I was stressing about work, little did she know haha.

How far in advance did you start planning the proposal?

Since the day I met her! Just kidding, truly I didn’t have a massive proposal planned. Reason being that I knew something would go wrong, or I would mess something up. Or lose the ring, haha. I didn’t even have any kind of proposal plan, I was just waiting for the right moment. I kept it super simple, just her and I in a beautiful place. I also knew my anxiety couldn’t handle a large proposal, and I’m also REALLY REALLY bad at keeping secrets. As soon as I bought the diamond I wanted to be like here here here here take it take it, but it burned a hole in my pocket all week at the beach! Couldn’t wait to get that thing on her finger.

One piece of advice to someone planning a proposal?

If I could give any advice, just do what feels right, in the right moment. Don’t plan something crazy because love wasn’t meant to impress, it was meant to be cherished. I didn’t plan something over the top because I knew the wedding would be crazy (our personalities would allow nothing less, haha). I wanted us to have an intimate moment of just us two, soaking it in, enjoying each other. We waited a couple hours before we told our family and friends and we didn’t share on social media until the following day. We had lunch at a small Mexican restaurant on the island and the waitress saw Kayla’s ring, and we told her she was the first person to know we were engaged. It was fantastic because the moment was ours and only ours. I wouldn’t change a thing.

KATIE & ERIKA

Where/how did you propose?

I surprised Erika with a random weekend trip to New York City. She was ecstatic when I told her and ended up surprising me with tickets to the musical “Wicked” before we left on our trip. The night of our musical I planned a romantic dinner at an Italian restaurant in the city. This was going to be our big “date night” that weekend. We both got dressed up and I told her to be ready at a certain time because I wanted to go take pics in Central Park before our dinner reservation and before the sun went down. Little did she know I had hired Jen, a mutual friend of mine, to hide in the park and take pictures when I proposed. But of course being a typical girl she was late getting ready and I was rushing her out the door. She seemed so confused to why I was so concerned about these pictures we HAD to have before dinner lol. We took a cab to Central Park because there was no way we could make it there walking in Erika’s 6-inch stilettos. As we got to the entrance of Central Park I was texting Jen to find the location where she was at. That was probably the hardest part … finding where Jen was while keeping Erika distracted taking selfies in the Park. Finally I found Jen hiding in a tree so we walked over to the bridge near by. There were a few people around and I was starting to get nervous. I turned to Erika, knowing that Jen had a good view, and began nervously fumbling over my words telling her how much she means to me. Finally I got down on one knee and popped the question. She said YES, grabbed my face and kissed me! Jen took a few more “after” pics and then we went to dinner where our friends Rae and Matt had called in from Texas to order us a bottle of Champagne to celebrate. After dinner we ended our evening seeing the musical “Wicked”. It was the truly the most MAGICAL night.

What would you have done differently about your proposal?

The only thing I would have done differently is to have scoped out the exact location that I was going to get down on one knee. This was a problem only because I was proposing in Central Park and didn’t have the time or resources to look before heading to NYC that weekend. I basically had to wing it and hope I ended up close to where the photographer was. Central Park is massive and when you’re nervous to propose and trying to hunt for a photographer at the same time it can be overwhelming lol.

What is the funniest moment/story from the proposal?

I don’t know if this was a funny moment or pure panic on my part lol. Erika had decided to get fake eye lashes on the day before our flight to NYC. The next morning Erika woke up with swollen eyes. Come to find out she was allergic to the glue they use to put the lashes on. She was freaking out because she didn’t want to have puffy eyes in any pictures we took that weekend but I was freaking out because l was proposing that weekend and hired a photographer to capture the moments. I knew Erika would not be happy if her puffy eyes were in our proposal photos so we rushed into action and pushed our early flight back until later that morning, while she rushed to the Lash studio to get the fake lashes removed. We put a cold cloth on her eyes that morning to help the swelling and by the time the proposal day came around the swelling had gone down. WHEWWW!

How far in advance did you start planning the proposal?

I only planned a couple months in advance. I honestly had no idea what I was going to do with the ring once I got it. I picked up the ring from the Jewlers in September 2015 and wanted to give it to her so bad, but knew I had to make it special (both of us are hopeless romantics). I wanted to incorporate traveling into the proposal because that is a huge passion of ours, so I decided that it HAD to be a destination proposal. But where to? She had never been to NYC and was obsessed with Christmas time and pretty lights so I booked us flights for a weekend getaway in December.

One piece of advice to someone planning a proposal?

Hmmm … I don’t think there’s any perfect advice for planning a proposal. Just do what feels right in your heart. You know your other half better than anyone so doing something that is special between the two of you always makes the proposal more memorable. In my case, incorporating our love for travel.

KAT & PAIGE

What is the funniest moment/story from the proposal?

I was WAY too worked up. I thought yoga and mimosas the morning of would help me calm down, but I think it made me more of a hot mess. Murphy’s Law pretty much applied to our entire day, but I’d say we had two best/worst/funniest highlight moments. Since I was proposing on a private rooftop, I figured mimosas (see my theme here?) would be good choice. We swung by a 7-11 and I ran in to pick up champagne and OJ. I had a “come to jesus” meeting with myself in front of the champagne cooler. Before opening the door and selecting a bottle, I pulled the ring out of my inner coat pocket and gave myself a pep talk. I placed the ring back, grabbed drinks, walked 10 steps and realized it was gone when I went to check out. Needless to say, I LOST it. I enlisted the children of a very kind family of 5 to crawl on the ground with me and find the ring! The mom saved the day by patting me down (I was groped) and discovering that it was caught in the lining of my coat.

After that heart-attack we went straight to the rooftop where the real mess began. While still having a panic attack inside from the gas station fiasco, I began to go through my “speech” before I got down on one knee. Except that speech went the WRONG direction real fast. Before I knew what was happening, I was telling Paige “this just isn’t working out for me” and “we’ve been living together and doing this same thing now for awhile”. Her eyes were HUGE and of course she was confused as hell. Inside I’m yelling at myself to shut up but outside, I just kept talking. I think I had a small stroke. However, I finally caught my breath and brought it back around full circle. I’m pretty sure I closed with “so we really should take this to the next level”, then got down on one knee. She was so confused and hesitated to respond. I quickly sold her with “I already talked to your mother and she is okay with it”. She said YES! 

How far in advance did you start planning the proposal?

I toyed with ideas probably 4 months in advance but didn’t start digging into logistics until about 2 months out. Because I was trying to coordinate with venues for a surprise dinner and then surprise after-party, it look a little more time to get things confirmed.

One piece of advice to someone planning a proposal?

BE YOURSELF. It’s easier said than done, but it’s VERY easy to get caught up in everything needing to be perfect. I definitely fell victim to this and it made for a stressful day. If you’re proposing, chances are your spouse loves you no matter what… when you’re being sexy, being sick, being funny or being bitchy. They still love you. So if I could re-do the proposal, I’d try to keep it more casual and true to the nature of our relationship, versus trying to go above and beyond. (And if this doesn’t work out, I’m never proposing again!).

LGBT Proposal Tips