Couples Hiring Photographers to Capture Marriage Proposals
Posted on September 20, 2007
Everyone who received a romantic wedding proposal certainly remembers it well, even if the marriage didn't turn out so great. But a perfect proposal remains essentially a private moment in time. To the generation which posts every minute of their lives on their blog or social networking site, that's just not good enough.
Now some enterprising would-be grooms are hiring photographers to secretly photograph the moment of the engagement. No, really, they are. It's called Surprise Marriage Proposal Photography and it is the hottest thing ever in the wedding world, according to The New York Times.
The soon to be fiance makes his arrangements with the photographer (there are firms that specialize in this). The photographer trails the couple around a park or other romantic location, surreptitiously disguised as a tourist or something, and takes pictures of the proposal and the joyful acceptance. Women appear to be divided on whether or not this is a good idea. Some women are furious that they weren't warned they were going to be photographed and find the whole thing to be stalkerish. Other women think it's romantic and love having that special moment captured on film.
B&H Photo has some tips if are planning to photograph a surprise proposal yourself.
Anna Post, who wrote Emily Post's Wedding Parties, told the Times, "The trend is on the rise to have all the moments documented in your life. You see it on MySpace and Facebook, where people have posted 200 photographs of themselves, and they're not even photographs of profound moments."
This is all part of the ever-growing trend of Lifecasting: the recording and broadcasting of every bit of your life, using digital media. It's like The Truman Show, but for everyone. The concept is simple: if you don't record it for posterity, it didn't really happen. Of course, that's completely bonkers, but hey, it is fun to look through all those old photos on Flickr.
The surprise photography thing seems kind of alarming to us when we think about how the photographs might catch us not looking our best. On the other hand, if you're heading out to a romantic date with someone you think might propose to you, wouldn't you already be dressed appropriately in slimming attire with full hair and makeup? This could be your engagement day, after all (most women have a good idea when this is coming). And if you look like hell on this date, you're probably don't care about him and are going to say no anyways.
So, what does this cost the romantic man who wants to record this moment forever? The fees vary considerably. If you're short of funds, you should track down an old college buddy or relative that hasn't met your intended yet and has some mad camera skills. For the best results, you really want a professional photographer who knows what he's doing. Shay Stephens in New York offers a $500 package which includes two hours of a photographer's time, a CD-rom of the results in black and white and color, and a stylist who can give you tips about where to stage the proposal for the best lighting/location/dramatic impact.