Featured Image Credit: Instagram/jamie_valentino / Getty stock
Ben Thompson
There's nothing quite as romantic as a proposal, is there?
Whether it's an intimate affair over a candlelit dinner or a big public display, it's bound to elicit tears and get somebody's heart fluttering.
And for anyone uncertain about how to pop the question, that's where proposal planners come in.
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Yes, proposal planners are a thing.
You would think that this job would leave you feeling super optimistic about romance.
But I can imagine it would also allow one to see all sides of love.
Perhaps it could make someone a bit cynical about romance, you might think.
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Well, one proposal planner declares he's lost faith in love - all because of one common complaint he gets from his customers.
Writing in Metro, Jamie Valentino let loose with his opinions, starting off by praising most of his customers.
He wrote: "Luckily, most men (and a few women) who came to my company for help weren’t married to their own ideas and I was usually able to provide them with a better alternative."
Valentino admitted that it was never a job he imagined himself falling into, but he leapt in once the opportunity presented itself: "As a hopeless romantic, I loved the idea that I'd have the opportunity to be a part of so many happy memories."
So what made Valentino sour on proposals?
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One common complaint - how people looked in the photos of their happy moment.
Valentino wrote: "It was intriguing to observe how the quality of the photos directly correlated with a client’s satisfaction level.
"Personally, I soon felt I was aiding and abetting the commercialisation of romance. Some clients acted like their partner’s answer was predetermined and so were more concerned with having an Instagram-ready backdrop over anything else.
"That’s hardly surprising given the importance of photography in the era of social media – and I truly don’t think the proposal industry would be so profitable if it wasn’t for the money shot – but it saddened me to see how many people seemed to care more about posting their proposal on Instagram than enjoying the actual moment."
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Valentino said that his job gave him a 'warped' sense of romance, as he exclusively dated wealthy men throughout his early twenties.
Deciding he wanted to experience romance with money, Valentino quit in 2019 and became a travelling writer.
Whilst in Bueno Aires during the 2022 World Cup, he got caught up in the celebrations after Argentina beat France.
In the commotion, he saw a proposal happen in real time.
Valentino recalled: "It was the first time I had witnessed a proposal happening in real life without my orchestration. And it felt like I was seeing it again for the first time sans the jadedness.
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"Most of all, I cherished the fact that they hadn’t thought to take a photo – that is until they noticed me gazing and approached me to ask if I would do the honours. Of course, I said yes.
"This moment reminded me that, even if proposals have become more commercialised, at the heart of each one is a unique love story that can never be replicated.
"And that, for me, will always be priceless."