Wedding Proposal Planner Helps Men Navigate the Dos and Don'ts of Popping the Question

June 6, 2011— -- If you need help finding an apartment, you hire a real estate agent. If you're struggling to book a trip, you hire a travel agent. So when it comes to asking one of the most nerve-racking questions of your life -- "Will you marry me?" -- some men will shell out thousands of dollars to hire Sarah Pease.

Pease is the Proposal Planner. She is the owner and creative director of a business called Brilliant Event Planning in New York City. Men hire her to help them form a foolproof wedding proposal strategy that will make their brides-to-be go weak at the knees.

"The reason I'm here to help, and the reason my business has been so successful, is because there are people out there who don't have the time or the creativity, but they know that it's important," she said.

She said that when clients come to her for help, she will develop their proposal idea, handle the logistics -- such as booking a private location -- and sometimes even coach them on what to wear and say when they pop the question.

"It's very creative in the sense that I have to come up with this amazing idea," Pease said. "Something that's personalized for them and something new and different every single time. If one of my clients wants to incorporate a hula-hooping fire dancer into his proposal, I have to be able to find it."

Pease is one of a handful of proposal planners around the country who have carved out a new niche in the wedding industry -- an industry that rakes in some $160 billion a year.

While her business offers different levels of services, Pease said the price for planning a proposal with her usually starts at around $2,000 and can go over $10,000, depending on how elaborate the groom wants his moment to be.

"As everybody says, the wedding is the bride's day, so the proposal is the groom's chance to knock it out of the park."

Nervous about getting down on one knee? Sarah Pease offers her top dos and don'ts for planning the perfect proposal below.

DOS

"If you're using an accomplice, make sure it's someone who fully understands the gravity of the situation and is completely reliable. Asking her parents' permission? Hedge your bets and do it as close to the proposal as possible. An excited parent has been known to slip up and unintentionally ruin the surprise for everyone."

Click on the next page to read Sarah Pease's "don'ts" for planning the perfect proposal.