Congratulations from your family

Having your new fiancé read messages of congratulations from your family is such a special way to start off this next step of your future together. Of course, you’ll probably get text messages and comments on social media once you reveal the big news, but going old school with hand-written congratulations shows you really put some extra thought into, not just your proposal, but afterwards too.

You could have your family members all sign a card and give your new fiancé this card after they say yes. If your family lives all over the place and signing one card isn’t feasible, each of them could mail you a letter or card by a certain deadline before you leave.

To prevent any suspicion, you can have the letters mailed to you at work. Or you could ask another family member or close friend to keep them safe for you until you’re ready to pack the cards into your suitcase. If it’s too risky to pack them, you can also mail your family letters directly to us.

This does require some advance planning, but if you have time to do this, it will be such a sweet gesture welcoming them to the family.

For Lawton and Maddy’s proposal, we took our message in a bottle add on and changed it to incorporate Lawton’s family. Normally, we use a message in a bottle before the proposal. You write a message on it for your sweetie to read right before you get down on one knee.

This time, we gave Lawton and Maddy the message in a bottle after the proposal. Lawton’s mom was in charge of getting family members to write messages of congratulations on a scroll. She mailed the scroll to us. We put it in a bottle and gave it to their photographer so Maddy and Lawton could read the messages while she captured their reactions.

If your family prefers talking to writing, another thought is to have them send you videos of them giving you well wishes that you can watch together after the proposal. Since this is likely to take a while to watch, we recommend playing the videos when you are back in your room, instead of during your photo session.

Presents after your proposal

A classic way to celebrate your engagement is with a bottle of champagne. If you’re staying at a resort, it’s easy for family to call and order a bottle to be delivered to your room. If you’re staying at an Airbnb or somewhere without a front desk or room service, then we may be able to help deliver the present during their photo session.

We love how Francis’ family contacted us to add champagne with a little note to his engagement session with Brianna. You can see their story here.

If your loved ones want to put a Hawaii spin on their surprise, leis are a beautiful addition to your photos.

Tony’s sister Brenda lives on the island of Oahu and worked with us to help plan his proposal to Katie. She wanted them to have beautiful leis after the proposal. Brenda purposely picked specialty leis that you can’t just find in the grocery store – maile intertwined with tuberose for Tony and a white orchid and pink rose lei for Katie.

Using technology to bring family to you

If your sweetie is super close to someone who won’t be there for the proposal itself, you can go above and beyond by calling that special person right before the proposal and putting your phone in your pocket. After the proposal, you can reveal that special person was “there” the whole time. Mikey introduced us to this idea when he proposed to Caitlin with her mom on the phone in his pocket.

If you decide to do this, put your phone in your back pocket or somewhere it won’t be bulky and distracting in photos. Do a test run by calling the person, sticking your phone in the pocket you’re planning on using, looking in the mirror to ensure it doesn’t create an unsightly bulge in pictures, and confirming they can hear on the other end.

You can also FaceTime loved ones after the proposal. Just keep in mind that any time you spend chatting will be taking away from your photography time, so you’ll want to keep it short or save the FaceTime for when you don’t have anything to do or anywhere to be.

You’ll also want to double check the time difference as it may be very late where relatives live. We’re 5-6 hours behind EST depending on the time of the year, so it could be midnight when you’re calling.

Conclusion

Your engagement is an exciting time, not just for you two but for your friends and families as well. We hope these ideas will inspire you on how you can incorporate your nearest and dearest when they won’t be here for the proposal in person.

If you have any new ideas on how you want to involve family in your proposal, we’re all ears! The sooner you contact us to start planning, the better!

The post How to Involve Family in your Destination Proposal – Part 2 appeared first on Engaged on Maui | Maui Proposal Photographer.

There are so many ways to incorporate family into your proposal we split this topic into two parts. This first part will focus on a family proposal when they are here on Maui too.

If you want to involve loved ones in your Maui proposal but they won’t be able to travel, then part two is for you.

Since Maui is a vacation destination, you may be traveling here with family and using the trip as the perfect time to propose.

If they are on island with you and have the option to be at the proposal, you have to ask yourself the following questions:

– Do you want loved ones to watch the proposal?
– Or would you rather have that moment to yourselves and celebrate with them afterwards?
– Can family help you pull off a great cover story?
– Or do you think they will ruin the surprise?
– Do you want family to be part of your photo session?

Your answers to these questions will help us determine the best way for family to be involved, while still making sure you are happy with the plan. Your comfort in the proposal plan is key to its success!

If you want family to witness the proposal

If you want family to be able to watch the proposal take place, you can all come to the proposal spot together or family can arrive early to hide and watch the proposal in secret.

Family photo session cover story

When you arrive to the proposal location together, we often use the cover story that you are there for family photos. This gives you a reason to be dressed up for pictures and be at the proposal location at a specified time.

We also suggest you have your mom or their mom or whoever is planning your Maui vacation tell you and your future fiancé about the family photo shoot. That way, it seems like this photo shoot is not your idea and you are just going along with it.

The family photo session cover story works well if…
– you are not the planner in your relationship
– you would have a difficult time getting your sweetie to a certain place at a certain time without arousing suspicion
– you know they want to be dressed up
– family photos is something your family would appreciate (whether family photo shoots are a regular thing for you or your family is long overdue for photos)
– it would help you to have more direction from the photographer

In the family photo session proposal, we usually do spend the first portion doing family photos. When it’s time for couples photos, the photographer usually leaves you and your sweetie for last. Then it’s proposal time and the rest of the photo session will be focused on engagement photos.

Mona thought they were doing a photo session with her family until AJ got down on one knee.

Jamin and Lyndsay’s group included her mom and stepdad, sister and family, as well as Jamin’s son. One of the best things about these family photo session proposals is being able to see everyone’s reactions and feel the love in their congratulations.

Family present, photographer hiding

Maybe the family photo session cover story is not your style or something you think your sweetie would see right through. You can also use a different excuse such as watching the sunset before dinner. One family used the cover story that they had been to that beach on a visit years earlier and wanted to revisit it.

Since the photographer will be incognito and not able to direct you, we provide instructions on where family should be so they aren’t photobombing your proposal.

For Matt and Sara’s proposal, Matt asked his mom to take a photo of them right before he popped the question. Our photographer was waiting farther away at a different angle, so she could capture the proposal and Matt’s parents watching, without them blocking Sara’s reaction.

Family is hiding

What if you want family to be there when you get down on one knee but you don’t want your sweetie to know they are there? In that case, loved ones should arrive to the proposal location before you two arrive, so they can witness the big moment but be hidden.

This plan requires choosing from certain locations and an additional fee.

The location needs to either have tree cover or somewhere family can hide without being seen or be a long beach where the proposal can occur at one end and family wait at the other end. An open space or a small cove with nowhere to hide won’t work for this type of plan.

An additional fee is also required for a proposal with a family surprise because a proposal planner will need to be on-site to meet family at the proposal spot, hide them, and cue them when to come out of hiding.

Speaking of coming out of hiding, family can run out of hiding right after you propose. However we love to do what we call a two-stage or even three-stage surprise.

In a two-stage surprise, you would propose and family would stay hidden while you start your engagement session.

Your fiancé then believes the proposal is the only surprise. But when the time is right and your photographer is ready, we have family come out of hiding so your photographer is poised to capture everyone’s reactions.

With the delayed surprise, your fiancé gets a little bit of time to absorb that you are engaged before loved ones come out to congratulate you. We also get two genuine reactions – one for the proposal and another for the family surprise.

A three-stage surprise fits when you are traveling with one side of the family and your sweetie knows they are on Maui, but you have other family or friends that are flying in for the proposal and your other half has no idea they will be here. The party you are traveling with would come out of hiding first and be in some photos with you. Loved ones who are arriving as a surprise would come out last and your sweetie will be blown away.

We did a three-stage surprise for Tim and Leesa’s proposal. First, Tim asked Leesa to marry him at sunrise. After a few minutes of engagement photos, Tim’s mom and sister came out to congratulate them. Just when Leesa thought the surprises were over, her mom and stepdad came out and she was shocked! It’s always been a dream for Leesa and her mom to visit Hawaii together and she didn’t expect it to come true yet – and to have their dream come true to celebrate Tim and Leesa’s proposal was amazing!

Tim chose to add leis to their engagement session. We did a twist on a lei exchange, a Hawaiian marriage tradition where the couple gives leis to each other’s parents to symbolize the joining of families. Since both moms were there, we had Tim’s mom present Leesa with a lei and Leesa’s mom give Tim a lei.

Sometimes, we combine different techniques. For Giles and Kesslee’s proposal, they were traveling with Giles’ family, so we used the family photo shoot cover story as an excuse to get them to the beach. We pretended the photographer was running late when she was actually already waiting on the beach. This gave Giles an opportunity to walk Kesslee down the beach “while they were waiting on the photographer.”

Kesslee’s mom and grandma flew in to watch the proposal. Kesslee had no clue they were on Maui, so they arrived to the beach and hid among the trees until after the proposal when it was time for the big reveal! Check their engagement story out here.

If you want family there after the proposal

What if family is here on island, but you don’t want an audience for the proposal? How you involve them depends on if you want them in photos or not.

Family arrives after proposal

If you want a private proposal but you still want family photos, the best thing to do is select a proposal package with multiple locations and have loved ones show up to congratulate you at the second location.

With this option, and really any time you want to involve family in your proposal, please make sure you let your proposal planner know so we can write this into your itinerary. If family is arriving after the proposal, you may think we don’t need to know. However, in order for us to give you the best experience, it’s always helpful for us to know the full plan.

For Stephen and Brandee’s proposal, he got down on one knee and friends showed up later at their second location for celebratory photos.

Family joins you at dinner

Some couples want to have the proposal and entire engagement session to themselves. Having family meet you afterwards at dinner is a nice compromise to have your privacy and still invite them to be part of your special night.

Recap of options when family is on Maui

Please let your proposal coordinator know if you are thinking of involving family and/or friends in your proposal. We can help you figure out the best plan and make sure your photographer is aware of all the details.

If you want family to witness your proposal and it makes sense for you all to arrive together, you can go to the proposal location under the guise of doing a family photo session. You can use another excuse if you want family to go to the location together but have the photographer to capture the proposal sneakily.

If you want loved ones to be there as a surprise, they would arrive early and witness the proposal from a hiding spot. This requires choosing from locations with somewhere to hide and an additional fee for an on-site coordinator.

If you want a private proposal, family should arrive at a second location, after you’ve already popped the question. Make sure to let us know, so we can coordinate the details and ensure everyone is on the same page.

If you want your photo session to be just the two of you but still want to celebrate with family, then loved ones should join you at dinner.

How can you involve loved ones in your proposal when they aren’t here on Maui? Check out ideas in How to Involve Family in your Destination Proposal – Part 2!

The post How to Involve Family in your Destination Proposal – Part 1 appeared first on Engaged on Maui | Maui Proposal Photographer.

The Best Places To Propose In Maui

Maui exudes romance! With over 30 miles of beaches and a huge variety of settings to drop to one knee, Maui has you covered. We know that choosing the best location could depend on your personalities, her subtle hinting, your sense of adventure, or sentimental incorporations. That being said, we wanted to gather a list of our favorite proposal locations to help you out! Without further ado. here are some of our all-time favorite best places to propose in Maui:

SOUTH SHORE BEACHES

Conveniently located near many of the best restaurants on the island and offering some of the most romantic sunset views, there are dozens of white sand beaches to choose from in Kihei, Wailea and Makena. Black lava rocks are present at many of these ideal proposal locations. These rocks in particular offer a gorgeous contrast to the blue water and colorful sunsets.

THE TOP OF A VOLCANO

What’s more romantic than a proposal in the clouds? Maui is home to the largest dormant volcano. Haleakala (meaning ‘house of the sun’) features otherworldly beauty and is consistently rated one of the best places to view sunrise or sunset. The drive itself is picturesque but you’ll need warm clothing for this location.

JUNGLE

Hanging vines, lush foliage, and fragrant ginger flowers set a tropical vibe for that once in a lifetime question. Follow up with an engagement photography session at the shoreline. Talk about two incredible settings in one magical West Maui location!

HAIKU MILL

There is a reason this is one of the most coveted wedding venues in the state. The Haiku Mill is over 150 years old, with a breathtaking mix of French-inspired décor, vine-draped ruins, and spectacular flora. A stroll beneath the Mill’s archway is like a trip back in time.

SECLUDED PENINSULA

Get a new perspective on Maui and sweep her off her feet, literally! A helicopter tour is the best way to explore otherwise inaccessible valleys and waterfalls. It is also the best way to reach secluded locations. This way, you can be sure to pop the question without an audience.

CLIFFSIDE

Imagine the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks, the Maui sun setting on the horizon. Just the two of you, perched precariously in the most secluded island chain in the world. The imagery of a cliffside location is one of our very favorites and can easily be combined with a beach proposal or photo session.

FOREST

Not just any forest, take her to a stand of Eucalyptus with bicoastal island views. Nothing on Maui is ordinary! A forest offers privacy and a sense of adventure to start your lifetime together.

Need some help in selecting the best places to propose in Maui?

Contact Engaged on Maui to get started!

The post Best Places To Propose In Maui appeared first on Engaged on Maui | Maui Proposal Photographer.