Proposal season isn’t over yet, and honestly you can propose at any time of the year not just around the holidays. If you’re looking to propose to the love of your life, here are five tips to planning and enjoying every moment:

1.       Make it personal.

Is there a specific place you like to go hiking or where you had your first date? Make it special for not just them, but for the both of you. When choosing where you’re going to propose, keep in mind are you going to do it in a private setting or a public setting. What would your partner prefer? I’m personally more of a private person, so a public setting was not the way I wanted to get proposed to. Knowing how your partner feels helps a ton when narrowing down the where you want to propose.

2.       Hire a photographer.

Of course, this is going to be number 2! Once you have an idea of what you want to do, reach out to a photographer in that area (or one you know!!) and they can help expand on your idea and give you ideas on how to pull it off seamlessly.

For the proposals I’ve photographed there are two main ideas: be a fly on the wall and capture the proposal from afar or have a couple session/model call and propose on a prompt given. Either way is totally fine, it’s really what works best for the place you’re planning to propose at. We can always go the extra mile and create a giveaway and have your partner win it, the ideas are endless on what we can do to make the surprise even better.

3.       Relax and go with the flow.

THIS is probably the most important tip I can give you from photographing many proposals that did not go 100% to plan. Leading up to the big moment, you’ll want everything to go perfectly - just relax and let things play out naturally.

You don’t want to look suspicious or have anything lead to tension between you two. Keep your photographer up to date on what’s going on or if anything changes and go with it! If you miss sunset by a few minutes – your photographer should have flashes and photo gear to handle any situation.

4.       Enjoy the moment.

Now that you’re #official, enjoy a little time to yourselves. Take some couples photos with your photographer and enjoy the time that only the two of you know that you’re engaged. You can plan with your photographer to have a few photos for you to announce when you are both ready to share the news!

5.       CELEBRATE!!

Do something fun after your proposal. This can be just the two of you, or including family and friends. You don’t have to plan a big engagement party afterwards (or do if you want to!), you can go out for a nice dinner, dessert, or Facetime/meet up with family and friends. Don’t let the celebration and excitement end after “will you marry me?” keep it going for the rest of the day/evening.

Pro-tip:

Take a photo together before proposing and send that photo to your photographer, so they know exactly what you’re wearing! It helps a TON when you’ve never met or there are people where you’re proposing (such as a park/beach/pier). I do this every time and also explain what I’m wearing myself so we can make sure we’re good to go!