So I don’t think any of you know this but I am originally from Northern California. I am a from a very small town about 3 hours North of San Francisco. Even though Southern California is my home now, I still love it up North. Today I am so excited to share with you a recent interview I conducted with Lorin Partain. Lorin is a photojournalist and in the interview below he recommends some of the best places to propose in Northern California!
Q: Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. I noticed you consider yourself a photojournalist. How is that different than a photographer?
A: Well it started a few years ago as I was really thinking through my style as a photographer. I realized that almost naturally I was a photojournalist and tended to document the wedding day rather then stage things or pose people. Ultimately what I was getting at was story telling and I wanted to tell the wedding story.
Q: How did that lead you into proposal photojournalism?
A: I realized pretty quickly that the wedding story didn’t start when most photographers start shooting, namely the day of the wedding. The wedding story started way back months or even years earlier at the proposal. I wanted to be there for that moment so when I created the wedding album it would reflect the whole wedding story not just the wedding day.
Q: Can you give our readers some tips on some great locations to propose in Northern California?
A: Wow, that is one of the great things about Northern California; it is the Provence of America and just as picturesque. I grew up here so I am very familiar with the region. We have Napa and Sonoma Valley wine country, we have the City (here we call San Francisco the City), the coast, the mountains. If someone wants to propose in San Francisco, they could go to The Palace of Fine Arts or Baker Beach which has a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Palace of Fine Arts
Q. You mentioned Napa Valley. Can you recommend a good winery for a proposal?
A. One of my favorite spots is V. Sattui Winery. They are also one of the few wineries in Napa Valley that do weddings so you could get married at the same place you propose!
South is Monterey and Carmel which are both very scenic. I would recommend the beach at Carmel which is just near Pebble Beach country club. If you want a waves splashing on the rocks while you kneel and ask kind of thing that would be an epic spot. Or if you want something old world, the Carmel Mission would be amazing.
That doesn’t even mention Yosemite, Gold country, or towns like Auburn and Placerville.
Q: Wow, that brought back a lot of memories. Well thank you for your time and I can’t wait to work with you in the future.
A: Thank you! I am thinking about putting together a book of great places to propose because it is so rich here. Thank you for this interaction, I enjoyed it.
If you are looking for the perfect proposal, hire The Heart Bandits for Marriage Proposal Planning. Also, our clients are always asking us how to hide their bulky engagement ring box on the day they propose. The answer is, buy a skinny engagement ring box!! Ring Stash, www.ringstash.com offers a .5 inch ring box that will help you keep your proposal a secret until you are ready to reveal it.
Michele