She’s thought about this moment since she was a little girl. JS: Your proposal photographs are beautiful! They really capture the emotion involved. What type of photography is your background? JA: Paparazzi! I have not hung up the paparazzi job, but I put it on hold for the moment. I have been in the states for nearly six years as a paparazzi photographer and in the United Kingdom for four years doing paparazzi work. About three years ago when I proposed to my now wife, that is where the whole concept came about. I am from England and my wife is Australian and we got engaged in Central Park in New York. Afterwards we spent every day for the next few weeks phoning friends across the world telling them about our exciting news and being a photographer the first thing everyone asked is if we have pictures, and embarrassingly we did not and that was one thing I didn’t really think about. That is where the concept of the business came about because I would have loved to have pictures of the buildup and of our picnic in central park; it was a beautiful day. It would have been lovely to have had it recorded, but we didn’t want a photographer standing two feet away when it was a very intimate moment between me and my now wife. JS: Do you have a favorite proposal story? JA: Some guys like to keep the photographs as a surprise, so they can surprise her the next day. But we had one guy who didn’t tell her for the whole engagement and on the wedding day actually revealed the pictures to her! JS: That is as romantic as it gets! From the jewelers stand point, the woman is more likely to love the ring if it’s presented in an exciting, well thought out way and I think your process gets the men thinking about it and taking it as seriously as it should be taken in the first place. JA: Exactly. And so now we have really tailored this service to being more about helping guys plan their proposal, we can be the independent party that really helps out with any kind of logistics whether it’s flowers to be delivered or certain things that need setting up. You don’t want to rely on friends and family because you obviously don’t want them involved because it is so close to your fiancé to be. So this service now that we are offering is this whole proposal planning,
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photography, video ideas, consultation. The idea is to really help guys, if they want to come up with something wild and elaborate, whether it is flash mobs or graffiti (we have done graffiti murals) we can help cater to that, but the other idea is that we really just want to let guys know that the romantic gesture of getting down on one knee should speak a thousand words. It is such an iconic gesture getting down on one knee and holding up this beautiful sparkling ring and that in itself can be very romantic and we would love the opportunity to be there to document it. JS: And as far as planning for the proposal and locations is that sort of up to the groom? Or is that something you guys handle? JA: Well it all depends; we never want to change a guy’s proposal. It is his idea, it is his unique angle and we want to make sure that it is accessible for us to photograph. What we always try and do, which is why the consultation is key to every engagement, is spend a lot of time talking with the groom and finding out what it is about the proposal that is special and close to him and his fiancé to be. From that we can offer suggestions and ideas, whether it is family orientated or having the family waiting in a nearby bar for a glass of champagne and surprise the newly engaged couple. It is the little things that we offer for every engagement. JS: What are some of your favorite Chicago proposal spots? JA: I mean anywhere and everywhere is great. The parks are really popular especially with summer coming up. We can do things like having your clients set up with a bottle of champagne on ice on a blanket in the park or out on the shoreline. Chicago is such a beautiful city, I have spent so much time there shooting and chasing celebrities, I love it every time I get the opportunity to come there! JS: What kind of packages do you offer? JA: The starting packages consists of a full consultation, so we can sit down with the guy and talk about how exactly he would like to propose, where he would like to propose, an ideas and any logistics that may need extra organizing. We would then like to do a run through at the actual location so the guy can
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