The SIMS IRL

Brittney’s Proposal to Simone

Planning the proposal, was the part of the wedding planning process, I undoubtedly enjoyed the most. Mainly because I had full control and the cost was affordable (compared to the wedding lol). The surprise aspect of it was the only stressful part but it also made it very exciting. 

It is important to know what type of proposal you would like to execute based on what’s important to you and your partner. Mainly, Private vs Public and Indoor vs Outdoor. Narrowing these things down will help you with your timeline and cost analysis.

Private proposals will most likely take less time because you won’t have to coordinate with people. Our proposal was public and all my closest friends, my wife’s close friends, family, and parents were in attendance.  Everyone except one of her best friends already resided in the area. 

Since I knew this one particular friend would want to be in attendance, I began planning the proposal 3 months in advance to allow her time to get a flight and also allow myself ample time to plan.

The proposal was also outdoors, at a DC Parks and Recreation monument site: The DC War Memorial. (Pictures below) This was another reason I had to plan in advance because although the permit for the site was surprisingly inexpensive ($60) it took approximately 3-4 weeks to submit the application and undergo a background check to have the site confirmed on the requested date and time. For this reason, I chose to have a proposal planner to assist with the timeline and execution. 

Another primary reason I chose to have a proposal planner, was because I was planning this on my own and since it was a surprise with many moving parts(that I will explain later) I wanted to ensure I had a reliable point of contact at the site,  prior to our arrival to set up everything and eliminate potential hiccups.

The proposal occurred on a Sunday evening in November, on schedule with our monthly date nights. My wife and I alternate date nights monthly, which made planning the proposal on an already scheduled date night easy to execute and eliminated any suspicions on her behalf. 

One weekend night a month we schedule a date night for one another, and the person who plans the date night is responsible for choosing the restaurant location/activity, making the reservation, and paying for the date. Needless to say, this was my most expensive date night up until that point lol. But still affordable in my opinion, based on what occurred and the memories that will last a lifetime.

The proposal planner helped me submit paperwork to not only book the monument site but also help me find a photographer (very important), a violinist (I requested live music), and a candle/florist vendor. All of these vendors, I may have been able to find on my own, but having someone in the industry with previously established relationships was very helpful and took stress off me during the planning process. 

While fancy venue bookings, live musicians, and florists/candle vendors don’t need to be part of your proposal at all, I highly recommend having a photographer. The photographer is most important because when time passes, though you will always have the mental memories of the moment-it’s the pictures that fully capture what happened and that will live forever.

In total, the proposal cost $2235. (not including the ring of course)

The wedding planner cost was $500, the DC Parks and Recreation license $60, the Photographer $800, the Violinist $300, Florist/Candles $575. 

As I am writing this,  we have been happily married now for 2 years, and that $2,235 was the best money I ever spent (&Lasik is a close second lol).