What a Honor it was to help plan and Produce a Wedding proposal!
In December I met with my client, Parker, and he told me he wanted to ask his girlfriend to Marry Him he knew he wanted a Treasure Hunt and he knew he wanted her to walk the dogs at their normal dog park but it was closed.. so I asked him to tell me what locations were important to them and then we went to work, we needed special access to FIVE locations.
Huntington Park
Masonic Temple
At&T Ball Park
The Presidio
and he knew he wanted to Propose at Crissy Field
In the end the locations were:
Huntington Park
AT&T Ball Park
The Presidio
The Palace of Fine Arts
Crissy Field
So we went to work, when The Masonic Temple said they were busy we switched the location to the Palace of Fine Arts.
So Beyond The Fog went into planning mode and hired two people to hand her , her next clue along the path, we also hired a wonderful driver to drive her from clue to clue so that she would not have to park, we also asked him for a list of their favorite songs, we created a playlist to play in the car while she is driving around from clue to clue.
Her very best friend was in on the plans and was necessary to keep her moving in the right direction. The idea was for her to discover the locations based on clues and then at the end of the Treasure Hunt her husband to be would ask her to Marry Him!
It all un folded BEAUTIFULLY!!!!!!!!!
So here is how it played out..
The night before her very best friend flew up from LA she had the first clue.
The week prior the Superbowl was in town and their favorite sport caster happen to be in town covering the Super bowl, Parker got in line to take his picture he told him that he was proposing to his Girlfriend and he needed his help, he video taped him … so when His girlfriend woke up that morning and turned on the TV her favorite news caster came on the TV and said ” Angella! GET UP AND WALK THE DOGS”
That forced her to get up and walk the dogs at Huntington Park on Nob Hill
and when she got there her best friend was standing there and handed her the the first clue..
They returned the dogs to their home and the best friend knew that Eddie would be waiting for her Eddie is our driver and he has a avocado green town car..
they got in the car and the first stop was AT&T Ball Park I was planted there, and I told her one sentence about the building of the Ball Park I handed her , her second clue and sent her on her way, Eddie I know personally and he gave away the connection by walking up to me and saying “Hi Susan” which was blowing it a little but but that was ok because I needed to slow him down because they were running EARLY…
then once she was gone I jumped in my car and zoomed to the warming hut located at the end of Crissy Field, where I knew I would be close enough to keep an “eye’ on things but far enough away so that I was way out of site..via text Eddie would text me their ETA and I would text my other two clue givers… The third spot was The Presidio Lovers Lane I picked that location because during World War II it was the path that the sailors took to meet their lovers !…and I hired my San Francisco Historian to tell her that bit of History and hand her the next clue..
The Fourth Spot was The Palace of Fine Arts when the Masonic Temple turned us down due to a scheduling conflicts, I gave my client five alternatives and he asked his girl friend in a casual conversation to talk to her about her favorite San Francisco Places, and she said
” the Palace of Fine Arts is the most beautiful place in In San Francisco”
I told Parker that I knew many singers and I could have someone sing to her
and hand her a clue, he liked that idea and he said that John Legends “All Of me” is their song so I hired a professional singer to sing “All of me” to her and hand her the last clue, my singer received the music a month prior and had a full month to prepare the song.
When she arrived at the Palace of Fine Arts a whole bunch of tourist from China were watching my singer sing to her and some were crying and clapping and the bride to be sang WITH my singer…
Then the last clue got her to Parker where he and the photographer that I hired were waiting for her to arrive, at one point they passed him at that second Parker text me “they Passed me” and I texted the driver “go back you just passed them”
They turned around both girls got out of the car her best friend sent her up the path ALONE to meet Parker and he asked her to Marry him, .. and she said YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So this was Beyond The Fogs first Wedding Proposal…it took 3 months to plan,
Parker chose the locations, based on places that have meaning for them, He also wrote the clues based on their personal history, I got permissions or not and secured and hired the clue givers, hired the driver hired the photographer drove with the client the exact route timed out the time it took from location to location provided everyone with a map and an itinerary of the day showed the photographer in person WHERE exactly at Crissy he should meet Parker , spoke to the best friend via telephone and told her the play by play bought the boxes and ribbons that would hold each clue, created the playlist burned the play list on a CD and gave it to the driver.
Then the day of the proposal.. once my part was done as clue giver I zoomed to Crissy Field where I texted each clue giver a warning of how far away she was the text chain happened like this : Eddie would text me and I would text the Historian and the Singer to give them her ETA .. THANK GOD I hired my friends because at one point Eddie was hanging up at the top of the Presidio when he should have been at the bottom of the path waiting for them and my Historian called me and said tell Eddie to start driving to the bottom of the path to pick them up..so I did..
Also she arrived to me a whole HOUR to AT&T Ball Park early so I had to tell Eddie slow down …a LOT in order to give my Historian and Singer time to get to their post. I treated everything like a play and I wanted everyone in their place a full half hour prior to her expected arrival …and luckily my photographer likes to be an Hour early for his jobs he had no cell reception so we lucked out that he likes being an hour early he found Parker and together they waited…for Angella.
THANK GOD for my theater training because their early “call times” became their actual arrival times..
It all worked out seamlessly and I can’t wait to do it again!
Photographs By Steven Gregory of StevenGregoryphotography.com