The Dallas Arboretum is one of my favorite places to photograph and truly one of the most romantic spots to propose in Dallas. It’s beautiful year-round, the colors are vibrant, and taking a garden stroll with your love right before asking the big question just screams rom-com in the best way!

If you’re going to propose here, though, it takes some planning and forethought. If you want someone to help you plan, I’d love to help! My name is Madeline, and I’m a Dallas wedding photographer that specializes in colorful images, and the Arboretum is my home terf! I’m there almost every weekend. You can reach out to me through my contact page HERE to check my availability and start planning!

But in the meanntime, here are a few tips to help you get started planning your Dallas Arboretum proposal:

1. Choose a Location Beforehand and Scout it Out

The Dallas Arboretum is huge. There are so many beautiful places to propose, but if you’ve never been before, you could easily get lost and spend all your entire leisurely stroll stressing about finding the proposal spot! If you need help picking out the perfect spot, I have a guide that showcases all my favorite spots with pros and cons of each to help you decide! Just reach out to me through my contact page, and I’d love to send it to you.

A few of my favorite spots, though, are: Crape Myrtle Allee, A Women’s Garden frame and the Sunken Garden steps. But again, I have lots more. So reach out if you want some help!

2. Think About the Time of Day

The arboretum gets crowded on weekends and it gets HOT in the afternoon most of the year. If possible, I would recommend trying to convince your partner to get to the Arboretum when it opens at 9am. That way, you have less people around and it’s less hot. The last thing you want is your significant other dripping sweat during the proposal. Plus, if you do it first thing in the morning, you get to spend the entire day having fun and celebrating together as opposed to be stressed and nervous! Get it out of the way early, I say!

3. Make Sure You’re Standing in the Right Position

It’s super important to make sure you position you and your partner in a way that looks good in the photos. You don’t want the photographer to be looking at your back or her back. So don’t be afraid to grab your partner’s hands and guide them to exactly where you want them to stand before you start! You want both of you to be facing each other, with your sides towards the photographer. That way, you can see both of your faces in that money shot of you on one knee!

4. Have a Backup Plan

The Dallas Arboretum really doesn’t have any great proposal spots that are covered in case of rain. Plus, you’re going to have a tough time convincing your partner to even go to the Arboretum if it’s raining outside. So have a plan B in mind. My first recommendation would be to plan on using Flippen Park, instead. It’s relatively close by, and it has a beautiful gazebo that’s covered. You could bring an umbrella and walk her to the gazebo and propose under it with the rain pouring down. SO ROMANTIC. Here is a blog post that showcases Flippen Park. If you want other options, I’d be happy to help you figure it out during our consultation call!

5. Make Plans for Afterwards

Sometimes people get so wrapped up in planning the actual proposal, they forget to plan the rest of the day. Odds are, after you propose, your FIANCE, yes that’s right. Your fiance will be done with the garden stroll and ready to sit down somewhere to start calling and texting all their friends and family. The Arboretum has a beautiful restaurant that opens at 11am called Restaurant Degolyer. You can see more info about it HERE. So you could make lunch reservations there. There are also some beautiful picnic spots. So maybe pack a blanket, buy some food at the cafe, and enjoy a romantic picnic in the garden while y’all admire the ring! Or simply leave the garden and head out for a day of fun in Dallas.

If you’re looking for a photographer to help you pull off the most important surprise of your life AND get some beautiful pictures of it, I would love to help! Reach out through my contact page, and we can get started!