I recently filmed and edited a proposal film at the Kennedy Center for a client who wanted something very special for his girlfriend. He wanted it to be a surprise and for the event to be well-organized and carefully planned. We turned it into a short documentary where the proposal is filmed, and then interviews about the events leading up to the proposal are explored with the couple. It turned out to be a great experience for everyone, and I wanted to share some thoughts about what made this a successful project.

Firstly, planning to capture a surprise marriage proposal is not an easy task. There has to be planning around how the photographers or videographers will be incognito until the moment that he goes down on one knee. This sounds easy, but it isn’t as straightforward as you might think. My team spent hours planning the exact location for the best angles and background – first hoping to do it on the Kennedy Center’s first-floor balcony, but finding out it was closed on the day of the proposal, we moved to the roof instead.

The weather was a concern – of course, a sunset is ideal, but it happened to be cloudy on the day this was planned to take place. We were also worried about rain, but got lucky with the timing.

We also had to pinpoint the exact movements of the couple after the show they attended. They watched the performance of the Nutcracker, which had a convenient intermission for us to meet the groom in the men’s bathroom to prep before the shoot happened on the roof.

Secondly, with videography, there must be good sound quality. In the bathroom during intermission, we equipped the groom with a hidden microphone in his clothing. Then, we waited on the roof for the couple to arrive, pretending to be unassuming tourists looking at the view. We captured the proposal from multiple angles using iPhones and professional cameras.

The editing for this video took weeks as we turned it into a full documentary. This project required a producer/director plus a film crew. We hope you like this film, and you can see it on our portfolio page (and it’s embedded below)!