This is your day, your moment, let’s make it unforgettable! Let’s personalize your proposal.

Your wedding proposal. This is it, the big moment, and we understand more than you know how nerve-wracking it can be spending countless hours trying to come up with a plan, a location, and personalize your proposal all at the same time.

The number one question asked by all women after they are proposed is: 

“HOW DID HE PROPOSE?”

The question clearly shows that they aren’t interested in the where, or the when, it’s the How did he personalize the proposal? How did he display your love story in an event?

Personalizing your proposal is really the be all end all of what we do as Chicago Proposal Planners ™. We infuse who you are as a couple as well as the details of your story, the journey that brought you two together and how you have arrived at the bended knee moment.

This is an art. This is a craft and yes we are professionals. But, you can do it with a little guidance from the help of proposal planners.

There is a plan that we follow when working with our clients to personalize their proposal and we are going to lay out the blueprint to follow as well as a few secrets of things NOT to include when trying to make your proposal unique.

The Personalizing Blueprint of Your Proposal

Now that you know that we know what you’re going through, let’s talk solutions. The easiest and most effective way to personalize your dream proposal is to make sure that every detail is made meaningful and memorable. Everything you chose in planning the proposal sets the scene: the location, the vendors, your attire, and your cover-up story all come together to create a personalized proposal that she’ll love to tell.

Location, Location, Location

Realtors will agree, the location you pick is extremely important. The location you choose for your proposal can make or break your proposal.  From Ambassador Chicago, Tiffany Celebration Garden, to Lincoln Park Conservatory, the venue you chose can make your proposal a spectacle of perfection. 

The location you pick to plan your proposal will be remembered for the rest of your lives. So make it memorable. Choose a place that she’ll love to go to, that’s not too public and has a romantic and intimate aesthetic that sets the perfect scape for the proposal. You want to make sure that your proposal location ensures comfortability for both of you. Take into consideration her comfort, the weather, and the temperature when deciding to do your venue outside. This helps to personalize the proposal by ensuring it’s a spot she’ll love and feel her most comfortable in.

If you want to go a more sentimental route, choose a location that has a special meaning for the both of you; a location that reminds you of the first kiss. It adds that perfect amount of romance while being a personalized proposal.

Vendors That Put the P in personalize

Your proposal is a moment that lasts with you forever, and you want to make sure it does. This brings us to our next point: picking the right vendor to help capture the event. Choosing vendors that will give you the absolute best service is the only way to guarantee a perfect proposal.

We work with couples all the time and the number one thing we recommend you have during your proposal is a photographer, better yet, a videographer. Capturing your proposal and being able to share, replay, and relive that experience is a great detail to include in your proposal. Your proposal needs to be so perfect that words can’t express it; let your photos and videos do the talking. A picture holds a thousand words, cliche we know. But hiring a photographer and/or videographer brings these words to life.

Alongside our expertise in proposal planning, Visions Event Studio also offers photography packages to our clients exclusively. We believe if we are the ones planning all the details we know what details to capture, ensuring your perfect moments will be remembered for years to come.

Dress to impress: The formality will set the tone for personalizing your proposal

When personalizing your proposal, you don’t want to skip the suit. Come on, we know you don’t want to wear the blazer but this moment is a once in a lifetime, so proposal-appropriate attire is a necessity for the occasion. Whether you hire a photographer or not, your proposal is a special moment that will be remembered forever. Don’t dampen the moment by wearing something too casual. 

While this is not the Met Gala, your attire should match the occasion as you should wear something that is practical, comfortable, and formal. Some men go for the standard black-tie look, but you can personalize your look by wearing colors that match the decor of the proposal or a color that has significant meaning in your relationship.

Find a way to get her to dress in cohesion with the design of the proposal, or maybe even buy her the outfit and have her change when she gets there. This seems like an impossible task but trust us, after planning hundreds of proposals, we know it can be done. 

While you should dress more formally than normal for this occasion, you can find ways to personalize your look to fit your relationship in a way that she’ll love and remember. Visions is known for doing the impossible: getting her to dress how you want her to. If you need advice, we’re here to lend an expert’s hand. Reach out through our social media pages or simply send a message in the text box below and we will give you our little secrets of how we do this. 

The “Cover-up” must be in tangent with day to day lives for it to be personal

We’re going to let you in on a secret: women have built-in antennas. We do. And those antennas sound an alarm when you’re acting weird or funny about something, that’s why we can always tell what you’re up to. This is not a good thing considering you’re planning a surprise proposal. The moment she sees you acting funny or out of routine, she is going to sense something weird and that you’re proposing. This means the entire day leading up to the proposal must go as normal as possible, making sure that she doesn’t suspect that something big is coming. This is where the “cover-up” comes into play.

The ”cover-up” is essentially the story you concoct in order to get her to the proposal without her being aware that it is a proposal. This aspect of your proposal is perhaps the most effective way to personalize the event as it relies on you incorporating your normal schedule into the proposal. The cover-up changes with each couple because each couple has their own routines and normalities that suit their relationship. 

The cover-up begins at the start of the day and includes your daily routine as well as the excuse you create that gets her to the proposal. Your cover-up story for getting her to the location of the proposal must involve her being well dressed as well, yet the excuse you make cannot be too far off from something the two of you normally do.

The cover-up story relies solely on the details of your relationship which is the best way to personalize the proposal. The event is even more special as the success of your cover-up truly surprises her; in this, you get her raw reaction to it all and make the entire proposal more special.  Getting others to help solidify the plan makes the event an even bigger surprise for her. Friends, bosses, but you must TRUST the person and not too many or the surprise will be ruined. The surprise is all the more special when her antennas don’t go off and she never suspects anything.

Include inside jokes

You’ve heard this before: laughter is the best medicine. Including inside jokes or a running joke that is within your relationship is a great way to personalize your proposal as well as make the event less nerve-wracking for the both of you.

Getting her to laugh at your proposal will help to decrease any stress that either of you may be feeling. Include a small detail of something that was immensely and memorably funny within your relationship. Incorporating that moment into your proposal is a great way to show her that you’ve thought through the planning of this proposal and it also reminds her of all the laughs and happiness you’ve shared with her along with this love story.  Incorporating jokes into your proposal are some of the best moments we have planned with these details included. 

Laughs aren’t just funny, they carry a deep intimacy between the two of you.

Let the tears start flowing and the emotion start showing

You’re planning your proposal for a reason: she is the one you don’t want to live without. She makes you a better person. 

You love her, plain and simple. 

Your proposal should show that and so, yes, cue the tissues, you should definitely show more emotion than usual. 

When you’re about to propose, you need to show her your emotions. Showing emotion during your proposal not only allows you to express all you need to say. It’s also a way to let her know how you really feel.

Getting emotional can come in the form of tears. Yet, if you’re not comfortable showing emotion, make sure to plan a location that makes you comfortable to get raw with your feelings. Private settings are the most optimal locations for showcasing emotion. Showing emotion is the best way to show your heart. Allowing yourself to give a heartfelt speech about your feelings and her specialness is the most effective way to personalize your proposal. Don’t get tear shy, let the tears flow so that she knows you mean it.

You know her best and she knows what she wants, let’s use it

We’re here to help you plan your proposal, giving you techniques that can help to personalize your proposal to make it as special as possible.

Our blueprint is here to help guide you in this process, yet the biggest tool to help you plan and personalize the proposal is her.

No, you don’t need to ask her directly, but there are ways to get her opinion on how to make the proposal perfect: using her social media and including memories of your relationship.

Social Media

When planning your surprise proposal, her social media can become your best friend. While it may seem hectic and stressful to scroll through dozens if not hundreds of photos on her social media profiles, it can make all the difference when planning the proposal and personalizing it to her taste. While you may have picked the perfect venue for your proposal, her social media pages can help to inspire you on how to decorate. 

An unlikely superhero that can help you in planning your proposal: her Pinterest page.

Her Pinterest board can help to show you what she wants her dream proposal to be, allowing some of the stress elevated from you. Her board may give hints to the color scheme she’d like, the decorations, the style, and even what time of day she wants it to happen. 

Luckily for you, we already have a post here on the site that helps you navigate using Pinterest to help create your perfect personalized proposal. From our post on how you can use Pinterest to plan your proposal, we highlight how her vision can become your blueprint. Using her board helps you plan and personalize the proposal in a way that surprises her in the best way possible. 

Memories

It’s an old saying that you can tell a lot about a woman by the contents of her purse; well with the 21st century, you can tell even more by a woman’s phone. Her phone holds a wide array of information and tools that you can use to help plan the perfect proposal. 

One way to personalize your proposal is to include old memories from your relationship with her. They are a reminder of how special and meaningful your relationship is. Including these memories in the proposal can help to remind her of the love you two share. It adds a beautiful and personal touch to the proposal.

These memories, pictures, and videos are all located on her phone or even her social media profiles. Using either of the two will make for an unforgettable and memorable proposal. Showcase these photos in the proposal. They highlight the memories of your relationship and add a personal touch to the decorative details of the proposal.

What Not To Do in Planning Your Proposal

Picture it now: everyone she knows is screaming in excitement as she adorns that stunning ring asking:

“How did he propose?” 

While this moment is about surprising her and showing her how you feel, the spotlight is on YOU. It’s up to you to make sure everything is perfect and worthy of her friends’ adoration. It’s a lot of pressure, we know. That’s why we’re here for you.

To ensure everything is perfect and worthy of telling you not only have to follow our tips of what to DO. You also need to follow our tips on what you DON’T want to do.

For starters, DO NOT forget the photography. You may be caught up in picking the venue, concocting the cover story, and remembering the ring. But, the number one thing women want for their proposals is to have the moment captured forever. Do not overlook this. We offer our photography packages to our clients because it is the most requested thing for women. Do not skip it.

Secondly, DO NOT let her be underdressed. Again, her close ones are going to ask what she wore. Taking our advice, you want to have videographers and photographers there to capture the proposal. Don’t let her arrive at the surprise proposal wearing sweatpants. Make sure your cover story allows her to be in appropriate attire. Another option: have a dress she can change into once she arrives.

The second request women always want for their proposals is to make sure their nails are done. While she can change into the dress at the venue, your cover story must include her nails looking their best. This occasion, this story, will be seen and told a thousand times leading up to the wedding; make sure she looks her best for this moment.

Thirdly, you DO NOT want to go out of your comfort zone when you pick your location. The location you choose will stay with the two of you forever. However, you do not want it to be somewhere that throws you out of your comfort zone. You need to pick a location that makes you comfortable to show emotion and ask the question.

These are great to remember. But, we have The Top 5 THINGS NOT TO DO WHEN PLANNING YOUR PROPOSAL you don’t want to do when planning your personalized proposal.  These are golden tips you will not want to forget or ignore when planning your proposal.

Click below to download it, read it, remember it, and refer to it when planning that perfect proposal.

Ready, set, propose!

We know what you’re going through. We know this process is tough, but luckily, you’ve found us. We’ve worked with clients and implemented these techniques to help create the perfect proposal. 

Your proposal is a special occasion for you and your girlfriend, and it means a lot to us too. Your proposal will be remembered for the rest of your lives, make sure it’s a moment worth remembering. 

Following our blueprint to a successful personalized proposal will ensure an event that she will remember, love, laugh, and cry tears of joy.

Need an extra hand? We’re here to help

We know these tips work in personalizing your proposal. We are sure this blueprint we’ve laid out will no doubt render amazing results! 

But, are you still stuck? Need an extra hand, a bit of advice, or some direction in how to get it all started? We’re here to help. Tell us your ideas, thoughts, or troubles, and we’ll gladly provide any tips that can help. Book a call and we are more than happy to extend an extra hand. We’re so excited to hear from you and help you create the proposal of your dreams!