Meet the Woman Who Plans Over-the-Top Marriage Proposals ~ Hot Gossip Town

Sarah Pease designs and executes perfect proposals.

For lots of people — guys mostly — coming up with a proposal can be just as stressful as planning a wedding. That's why wedding planners like Sarah Pease and Brilliant Event Planning are now offering proposal planning services, which, as Pease describes it, sounds like something out of Ocean's 11, complete with disguises and cover stories. Along with the weddings they plan, Pease and her team find themselves doing as many as six proposals a month. Cosmopolitan.com spoke with Pease about how she plans such elaborate proposals.
When a client comes to you to plan a proposal, are they hands-on, or do they let you decide how things are done?They realize that this is important. They may just not have a creative bone in their body or they may not have the time to dedicate or even the resources or knowledge of how to pull something like this off. By and large, everything we do is completely designed for them and it's really inspired by their love story. We talk about all the burning questions about the person who's proposing, their future plans and their lives together, the story of their lives before they began dating, and things that they may be interested outside of just the scope of their relationship. That is number one. Then my team and I come up with a great idea and we present it to the client. And at that junction, they have the opportunity to fix things. They can say, "She's not going to be impressed by a Lamborghini, can we change it up to a Rolls Royce?" Because they're the one that knows the person they're proposing to the best.
Do your clients tell their fiancées about you, or do you operate in the shadows?You know, I would say 99.9 percent of the guys are delighted to introduce us after she says yes, they say, "This is Sarah, this is my accomplice." The woman can tell, Oh, wow, this is amazing, this is a dream moment and there's no way he did that on his own.
I don't know anyone who's had an adverse reaction to the fact I helped them. Because they know that otherwise they would be stuck with some sort of lame, typical marriage proposal. And no one wants to share the story of a lame marriage proposal.
Even though the idea of an "engagement planner" is still relatively new?Oh, absolutely. And I would say it is a little bit taboo. Some people are a little like, "Oh, well, it's not as special." What I would say to them is, "Couples have people to plan their wedding and does that make their wedding any less special, any less detailed or personal?" Absolutely not and so when they ask, it's the same thing for the marriage proposal.

What do you charge for your services?I have two levels of service. If I come up with a great idea for you and then it's up to you to actually execute it, that's $500, flat fee. It's a presentation and blueprint of everything. There's also the $2,000 package. That includes everything that I just described, the initial consultation, coming up with the idea, and then all the planning of it, all of the recruitment of the vendors and putting everything together the day of the actual thing. I also have a sister company for the guys whose budget is economical and that's all-inclusive packaging so you can control your budget a bit better.
Are there any proposals that really stand out to you?If there's ever a time where a proposal doesn't hit me emotionally, then I don't love my job anymore. But I have to tell you there was one: A couple recently had come from the United Kingdom and they flew into New York and we had the entire rooftop of the Bryant Park Grill. There's a really killer view of the city. We had one of our personnel pretending to be the hostess and the gentleman client said, "We heard there's a really great view from the rooftop. Would you mind letting us go peek up there for a second?" And so the hostess made it seem like, "Oh, let me just take you up there really quick." And we got them up there and there was a whole choir of singers that began to sing and beneath them there was a gigantic sign that said, "Jane, please become a Bryant." (His last name was Bryant, that's why they chose to do it in Bryant Park.) So it said, "Will you become a Bryant? Will you marry me?" She was so emotional and so surprised. It just touched my heart.
But slash my own proposal that my husband designed on his own without my help, that's my favorite.
Have you ever had someone plan this whole thing out and then they say no?[Laughs] I've never had that, no. And I hope I never would. I will tell you this one guy came to me to propose and ultimately I had to recommend him against it, because it sounded like for a couple weeks he had cheated on her. And it was his way to get her back, to pop the question. I said, listen, I am not a relationship expert by any imagination, but this really isn't the time to be planning something as serious as this. Maybe you should have a conversation first before popping the question. I never knew what happened, he never got back to me. I can only hope that they worked it out. Or they just figured out they weren't right for each other.

Have you ever had any close calls or times when the plan didn't work out?There was one client who insisted on popping the question at home, and his fiancée worked five doors down. She would come home for lunch every single day. Well, certainly I can't set up an entire proposal in 10 minutes, it takes a whole day to set up. So we worked with the superintendent of the building and we put up fumigation notices on their doors and in their mailboxes four weeks before, two weeks before, a week before, the day before, the morning of, everything. The "fumigation" was set from 9:30 to 5 p.m. on this particular day. She saw it a million times. So at lunchtime, we're maybe two or three hours into setting up and I'm standing in the lobby and I see this girl come in and I'm like, Oh, god. I see her, I recognize her. I like to see everyone ahead of time just because I like to see the couples I'm designing for. My whole body goes cold. I'm sweating, my heart is pounding. I am thinking to myself like, What do I do? Do I tackle this girl? Do I tell her she can't go in? My mind is racing and I can't take action because I am so freaked out and I really don't know what to do, and all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see the super of the building. And he comes over and talks to her, and she's angry but we finally convince her and she walks away and goes back out the door, and I am telling you, it was the closest call I've ever had. To this day, it gives me chills.
Do you have any advice for people who are about to plan their own proposals?I've had some clients practice what they're going to say to me, and it's the funniest thing in the world. I'm the only woman who's been proposed to more than any other woman on the face of this earth. Literally. The main thing I see after they propose that they would change: Aim to say less. Less is more. Pick up three major points. I don't care if you've loved this girl or this guy for years and years and years, and you're an Oscar-winning actor. You are going to be mad if you forget. So plan three main things and focus on those and you should write a love letter. You can pull it out of your pocket and read your love letter to the person you're proposing to.
courtesy by cosmo

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