The Engagement Journey | The PROPOSAL

The Proposal is one of the biggest days of a man’s life. It’s the day that he has decided I can’t live without her, she is my one and only and I want to spend the rest of my life with her.

But how do you show all of these emotions in one single event?

How do you share how you feel in creative ways?

These are all questions men have when coming to Visions Event Studio to plan their proposals in Chicago.

Last week we had our first post in a series called The Engagement Journey where we will walk from the beginning of,

Will You Marry Me?

all the way to,

I Do.

from the couples inside view of the entire engagement. The highs, the lows and everything in between.

Many thanks to Cory and Marcus who were wonderful clients to work with and were very helpful in writing this post.

Last week we featured THE RING today, it’s all about THE PROPOSAL and of course we will end with THE WEDDING.

Usually, the first thing I ask a client is, “Have you purchased the ring,” this tells me a lot about where the gentleman is at in the phases of planning.

With Marcus the answer was clear, he was working with Blue Nile to create the ring he knew would be perfect for her.

Marcus already had a rough draft in his mind of how he wanted the proposal to go, it would start with a lunch with Cory’s best friend and then have her bring Cory to the proposal location.

As we found the “on bended knee” location we then needed to fill in the gaps from lunch to proposal and onto meeting Marcus. We came up with a treasure hunt/progressive proposal.

As it sounds a treasure hunt usually leads you from one clue to the next, with the end being the grand prize. With the progressive side of the proposal, it was multiple locations with multiple clues that lasted all day.

Marcus was the most creative clients I have worked with in coming up with each note that we custom designed.

They were all Cory and Marcus’ favorite quotes from their favorite TV show. It really brought all of it together with exactly just the right amount of humor.

When we were planning the proposal we both laughed at how much Cory would get a kick out of me popping out of nowhere to give her yet again another clue.

We were right, Cory couldn’t stop laughing at each time she saw me and each time she read each note.

The day of came and the first time Cory saw me she thought ok this is a little strange, it was written all over her face. The second time, she just cracked up laughing and by the third time I was escorting her to her proposal and she couldn’t stop laughing.

Of course Drew was there with her through each part of the progressive proposal that brought the two of them from Summer House of Santa Monica , to London House lobby, to the LH spa and finally to their suite to get ready.

The proposal would end with Marcus standing under the cupola on the rooftop overlooking the city.

I’m going to let them tell you how they took in every moment of the proposal.

The Proposal-

Marcus: At what point did you know you needed to hire a proposal planner?

As soon as I realized that I needed to see the venues and sites in person before putting deposits down. This wasn’t feasible since I was living in New York so I knew at that point that I needed someone to be my eyes and ears in Chicago.

How did hiring a proposal planning help the most?

Huge stress reliever. Jenée handled all of the coordinating as well as the inevitable back and forth regarding schedules.

Cory: You and Marcus had dated quite a while being that you met in college. I will never forget how he told me the story of how you met when we were planning the proposal. With years under your belt as a couple did you see the proposal coming?

It’s crazy but even after dating for almost 7 years before the proposal, it was a COMPLETE surprise to me. I always knew we would get married, so I never put too much pressure on a hard deadline for a proposal. Marcus had done a pretty great job of thoroughly convincing me that a proposal wasn’t coming any time soon since we were planning a big move from New York back to Chicago. The move and the job search for both of us had been stressful, so never in a million years did I think he would propose in the midst of all this! I could not have been any more unsuspecting.

We had inconspicuously acquired the services of your best friend to help us with the proposal. The two of you went to lunch at Summer House Santa Monica, did she act nervous or give away any clues?

My best friend, Drew, was involved in the planning from day 1 and I had no idea! I had no suspicions EVER! Even on the day of the proposal when she was taking me to Summer House Santa Monica, she came over to my house to pick me up and was SO relaxed! I remember Marcus was irritated because we were just on the couch chatting still when we were supposed to be leaving. I still had no idea what was going on and just thought he was being crabby.

When you finally received your first note from the server what were the first thoughts going through your head?

As soon as I received the first note I knew. The note was signed “Michael Scofield” so I knew it was him. We have this inside joke where we sign notes to each other with the names of various characters from movies or shows we like. My second thought was, “I wonder if I’m getting proposed to today?!” And then my third thought was, “I wonder if this means we’re not going to the Bears training camp anymore?” Haha. Then I started freaking out and it was so hard to concentrate on the rest of lunch!

By the third note you are in the LH spa getting pampered with Drew, did you at this point suspect something was up?

By the third note I knew for sure something big was happening. I’d always told him I better have my nails done when he proposed so when we showed up at the salon it pretty much confirmed my suspicions that he was going to pop the question.

Every time you received a note I was awkwardly standing there with a slight grin to greet you and present you with the next note. Marcus and I laughed about how much you would get a kick out of it.

I thoroughly enjoyed your humor and laughing every time you saw me, but when it came time to on bended knee and Marcus was popping the questions, we saw a different side of you. Did you expect to have that kind of reaction?

I did not expect to have that kind of reaction AT ALL! I didn’t think I would cry and I bawled my eyes out! I guess you don’t realize how emotional the moment is until it happens.