HOW TO POP THE QUESTION

PURSE STRINGS: HOW TO POP THE QUESTION

What do flash mobs and wedding proposals have in common? Everything – at least, if that’s what you want!

Picture this: He knows you’re the one, he’s even bought the ring, but he can’t figure out how to pop the question. What’s a would-be groom to do?

“When you know the time is now, but you don’t know how, that’s when you come to us,” David Bracken of HowToPoptheQuestion.com told us. “The wedding may be for the bride, but the proposal is completely for the groom. The proposal is where everything begins.”

With more than two decades of collective experience in the entertainment and event planning industries, the three partners behind HowToPoptheQuestion.com – David Bracken, Kevin Smith and Robert Hansen – have seen and nearly done it all when it comes to creating magical, memorable experiences.  We recently sat down with them to learn more about HowToPoptheQuestion.com, and here’s what they shared!

Left to Right: Kevin Smith, David Bracken, Robert Hansen

Wiles: WHAT INSPIRED HOW TO POP THE QUESTION.COM?

Kevin Smith: While organizing flash mobs for the 2012 Soul Train Awards, my partners and I kept bumping into women who were recently engaged and totally underwhelmed because they didn’t have an elaborate story to share for how their fiancés proposed. Given Robert’s background in the wedding planning industry, we started brainstorming about how to make that moment he proposes as magical as a wedding would be. With weddings, everything is organized and the details are planned to make it the best wedding, possible. We decided that amount of thought should be put into the proposal.

Wiles: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES THAT MEN FACE IN EVEN GETTING TO THE POINT OF PROPOSING?

Robert Hansen– the challenge for a guy, especially in a city like Los Angeles, is that there a lot more women than men. First, the guy has to figure out what qualities he’s looking for: Can she cook like my Mom, can she dress, and does she laugh at my corny jokes? And so on.

David Bracken – Once he comes to the conclusion that “This is the one,” the next hurdle is getting up the confidence to actually pop the question. We come in to help smooth that transition and help him propose in a way that is meaningful, memorable and captured in time

Wiles: DESCRIBE THE CLIENT EXPERIENCE.

David Bracken – We have 3 major services, beginning with a consultation, where we go over your budget constraints and any other factors to determine what works for you.  Then we research the couple to find out what she’d like and what would be the most memorable experience for them both. Based on that information, we develop a totally customized, themed proposal.

Robert Hansen – We also have pre-packaged proposals containing ideas similar to what you might see on the internet.  We then tailor those ideas to the specific couple with unique color schemes, etc. In those cases, we help secure the venue, say, a restaurant, and then set up the cameras discreetly to capture the moment. Your fiancée to be never even knows we’re there.

Kevin Smith – Our smaller service is sort of a “proposal in a box” help you create a creative way to do it at home using curated lists of themes and ideas we’ve put together. For instance, if she loves to read, we can take her favorite book and carve it out so that when she opens the book the ring is sitting inside.

David Bracken –Given our extensive connections in the entertainment industry, we have access to many locations and venues. We can help with the packages and find venues that make sense. We’ve done flash mobs for clients and can find a flash mob for you, if that’s what you want. A lot of what we do revolves around consulting to find out what makes sense for each couple.

Wiles: WHAT DO YOU FIND MOST REWARDING ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS?

Robert Hansen – We love doing what we do. A new journey begins when a guy goes into the jewelry store and buys a ring that will, hopefully, stay on her finger forever. Seeing this new beginning of a couple’s journey together is absolutely amazing, and being involved in this life-altering decision is satisfying to me.

David Bracken – From a personal standpoint, there’s something to be said that the wedding is usually considered the woman’s domain, and if it’s a success, the woman is congratulated. We want the same thing to happen for the man and the proposal, because it’s the one time that they guy gets to make all of the decisions. She has no idea when the decisions are even being made.

That’s literally at the start of the new relationship, the fun of a wedding starts when the ring is put on her finger that day.  As far as he’s concerned, the wedding vows are made there, when he proposes, and she says “yes” even though she has the opportunity to say “no.” Everything else that happens with the wedding only happens because of what happens the day he proposes. To be a part of that is amazing.

To learn more, please visit howtopopthequestion.com.

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