Want to pop the big question but don’t know how? Well you need not worry anymore because we have with us an expert to answer all your proposal related questions. In this blog, we get some inside scoop from one of the most renowned proposal planners in the world boasting of an elite clientele including Arab royalty, top celebrities and famous athletes. We are pleased to bring to you an exclusive interview with Daisy Amodio, Founder of The Proposers in UK and an extremely valuable member of the DWP familia. From talking about her journey, to getting bizarre client demands, to sharing tips on planning the perfect proposal…this interview spills it all!
Being one of the best proposal planners in the world, how has your journey been so far?
It’s been a million ups and downs, hard work and late nights, blood, sweat and a lot of tears, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. From creating an entire industry when no one understood what I was trying to achieve and did not accept me into the ‘wedding world’, to then breaking through the barriers, creating thousands of unique proposals and being an inspiration to others in setting up their own businesses. It’s super rewarding to know I’ve inspired to so many, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.
What was your breakthrough into the world of proposal planning?
Back in 2010 my brother asked me for help planning his proposal. He freely admits he did not have a creative bone in his body, nor the know-how to execute a proposal of his girlfriend’s dreams. I helped plan a personalised treasure hunt around London which ended up on a rooftop at sunset to pop the question.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and afterwards Googled ‘Proposal Planner’. Nothing came up! I couldn’t believe it.
I was really interested into looking into this further. I sent a questionnaire to 500 men of which 50% said they would never pay for help getting down on one knee, the other 50% that knew me, could not understand why I would quit my good job for something unknown. Despite the feedback I knew people had planners for everything, and weddings were getting more and more personalised. I went with my gut and ignored the findings.
Almost 14 years later we’ve created over 5000 marriage proposals across the globe, have our main office at London’s iconic The Shard, 7 full-time staff, two TV shows, an unprecedented amount of press, and of course, a 100% YES success rate.
The Proposers has also led me to set-up two further businesses, one is Daisy Amodio Events where we create 2-3 super luxury weddings and parties a year, and The Romantic Event Academy where we train newbies in the business not only become a romantic event planner, but also to setup an entire business, from how to gain clients, to presenting ideas, marketing and finance.
What is the hottest trends for destination proposals?
Proposals are quite seasonal. The most popular destinations to pop the question are:
Winter months – Dubai, Switzerland and Iceland
Summer months – Santorini, Cote d’Azur, Positano
All year round – London, Paris, Rome
Most recently we’ve seen a trend for Bodrum in Turkey. With is historic places, great beaches, private gardens and luxury hotels, it’s the new hot spot.
What is the major difference in your opinion from Proposal Planners and Wedding Planners?
Proposal Planners are the step before the wedding. We tend to deal with the male, whereas the female usually leads the wedding planning.
I find men a lot easier to deal with, they trust my expert opinion from the outset and value our opinion and ideas.
It’s the job of the proposal planner to really identify what makes the couple so special to each other. We’re a complete secret so to find out a lot of this information we have to ‘stalk’ the lady in question to see what she’s like. We want to create the most perfect proposal for her. Most people only propose once so we need to make sure we get it right.
I say ‘she’ and that’s because our clientele is still 98% male proposing to female. We hope this changes more and not just on leap year.
What is the biggest change you’ve seen in proposal planning over the years?
The biggest change has to be the spend. When I started this business I was offering fully tailored proposals for 500 Euros. Now clients are wanting elaborate all singing, all dancing, one-of-a-kind proposals and sometimes budgets are limitless. The biggest spend to date was just under 1 million Euros.
This was a very unique proposal including 7 continents, private jets, fake police arrest, private hire of Disneyland and the couples faces beamed onto Niagara falls…..and this is only a small part of the proposal, but also bigger than a wedding!
How do you think the pandemic has impacted proposal planning?
We were lucky enough to not be completely impacted like the wedding industry. Whilst our Destinations proposals ceased, we were still able to execute proposals for two people. Especially considering we could set-up and leave the couple do it. At first we decorated coupes gardens or parks. Then when hotels re-opened they did so for only two guests whom lived together so we could then carry on as usual. It was tough but we adapted.
After the pandemic we saw an increase in proposals of those who had postponed during lockdown. Not only this, we saw a 65% increase of clients wanting more creativity and personalisation into their big moment.
What are your top three proposal trends for 2024?
- Uniqueness – packages are out, tailored experiences are in.
- Personalised music – songs written specifically about the couple and performed as they pop the question. Also used on their wedding day.
- Ideas to keep – once their incredible experience is over, couples want something to treasure forever.
Could you tell us about any bizarre demands or requests by clients for their proposal?
I once had someone ask for the real Queen of England to be at his proposals. I told him we could get him a really good fake Queen. He told me I was bad at my job because I couldn’t get her! *laughs*
I also had a client that wanted me to train a squirrel to deliver the ring! Turns out you have the train a squirrel for 3 months in order to do such a thing.
I’ve definitely been taken out of my comfort zone, having a abseil into dark caves to set up proposals, create outfits for cats, and events for pornstars, planting oregano in the pocket of a girlfriend so she would get ‘fake arrested’. I’ve been a Liberian, a bus conductor and a pirate.
My job never has a dull day!
All your work would be extremely close to you but if you had to tell us about any one proposal, the planning journey for which remains very close to your heart, which would it be?
My first ever proposal will always be the one I hold dear to my heart. The lady in question was an aspiring artist but never really made it. We looked at her Pinterest page and noticed that she loved to create hearts. We decided to create a fake art gallery, sent her a ticket. When she arrived she walked into a beautiful room with 10 pictures on easels. Each picture represented a moment in their relationship. Their ‘song’ was playing in the background, and when she got to the final easel there was purple velvet material over the artwork (purple being her favourite colour). She looked at him confused as he whipped off the material to reveal her heart that she has made with the words WILL YOU MARRY ME on it. She of course said YES. The couple went on to use all the artwork at their wedding. I still remain friends with them to this day.
Why should couples seek the expertise of proposal planners? What is the aid or expertise they would gain?
Saying those four famous words is scary enough. The last thing anyone wants to worry about is things going wrong. You get one chance to pop the question before the surprise is gone so it needs to be perfect.
Not only that, if you’re having an elaborate set-up you can’t be worrying about if the photographer is capturing the right shots, are the petals in the correct area, has the singer arrived and so on. A planner literally takes all the stress away.
Do you think the digital domain especially social media has made the job a tad bit more difficult for proposal and wedding planners because a lot of resources are available online for couples to seek inspiration from?
Quite often I’m asked to replicate something they’ve seen online which is super high-end but the budget is quite low. Educating the person is quite tough sometimes because they’ve usually never planned an event so don’t understand how much it costs. There’s usually 8 people that work across a proposal and all need to be paid for their time. From catering to planners, and musicians to photographers. It takes a small professional army to create the magic.
What would be your advice to couples looking to take it to the next level of commitment and pop the big question?
Personalisation, personalisation, personalisation! Making sure the proposal is well thought-out including as many little details about your relationship as possible. It does not need to cost the world, it does not need to cost anything in fact, it just needs to be personalised.
