Last fall I was happily surprised to get a phone call from Amberly an Atlanta based wedding planner and owner of Wrenwood Design I met through a business conference group. She was working with a sweet couple who wasn’t officially engaged yet but the groom to be wanted to plan an extra special proposal for his then girlfriend while they were on vacation in St. Pete. it was so sweet of Amberly to think of me to help pull it off. Planning proposals is my jam and I love every minute of it. We got on a group email and talked through details. I realized immediately how much Calee meant to Jake and how special he wanted things for his girl. It was heartwarming.
As I often do when planning a proposal for people I’ve never met, I did a little internet research on Calee. She has an amazing Instagram account and I now follow her regularly, you should too! I pulled a lot of the colors right from her Instagram feed and that was my inspiration for the entire aesthetic of the beach picnic proposal. I saw a lot of burnt orange, teal and neutral colors, talking my language for sure!
I put together a design plan and sent it over to Jake. Once he approved I went to work sourcing each detail. I spotted those two large, burnt orange pillows and the rest came together from there. I knew I wanted to incorporate some dried florals and wood elements too.
I always like to provide a celebratory snack to give my couple after their proposal wether it be a charcuterie board and champagne or in Jake and Calee’s case, milk and cookies! Jake knows how much Calee loves macaroons too so I decided to make them a cookie grazing board. Not just any cookie grazing board though, a gluten and dairy free cookie board. I ordered the gluten and dairy free macs and cookies from Baked & Whipped by Bri and she was amazing to work with.
Proposals are always full of so much nervous excitement for me. There are so many variables that have to align just right in order to pull it off. I give the person who is proposing a Google Earth location and loose timeline. They almost always come at a different time and end up slightly off from the location because they have to force them to come to a specific spot at a specific time and it rarely works out just right. It always makes me laugh. In this case, we were hiding behind the rental beach chairs and I see Jake and Calee start to walk up from the left. From the right is a HUGE family of about 30 getting ready to walk directly in the path of the proposal and block Ashley, the photographer from getting THE shot. I ran Baywatch style (not really but like to think I looked like that, ha) screaming at this poor family to to go the other way without saying proposal so I don’t give it away. It’s always something, haha.
Jake & Calee were absolutely giddy around each other and it completely made me giddy too. They have the kind of infectious love that makes me absolutely love my job. Calee was completely shocked by all of it-the proposal-the ring-the picnic-the whole setup. Her reaction was adorable and it was a complete honor to help Jake give her the fanfair she deserved. Jake, thanks for trusting me to make all of this happen. I wish you two all the love and happiness together.
If you are traveling to the Tampa Bay area and need help planning a proposal or just want a styled picnic I would love to help you. Contact me to get on my calendar.
Photography: Ashley Izquierdo Photography | Proposal Planning, design & styling: Ambr Veatch | Cookies and macaroons: Whipped & Baked by Bri