Blog
Notes from inside the bay.
Field notes on planning proposals in Puerto Vallarta, the psychology behind knowing you're ready, and the small craft of designing the moment, written by Olivia Ortiz.
Planning Your Proposal · January 2026 · 8 min read
7 Things Nobody Tells You Before a Destination Beach Proposal
You've got the ring, or you're close. You've decided you want to propose somewhere beautiful, a beach, a warm coast, somewhere with sand and golden light instead of your living room.
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Before You Propose · November 2025 · 10 min read
Why Personalized Proposals Feel More Meaningful Than Beautiful Ones
The difference between a pretty proposal setup and one built from a couple's own story, explained through psychology and anthropology. Why personalization, not decoration, is what people remember.
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Before You Propose · October 2025 · 10 min read
How Travel Shapes Relationships: The Anthropology of Going Somewhere Together
Liminality, Victor Turner's communitas, and the Arons' self-expansion model: what anthropology and relationship science actually say about why a trip can deepen a partnership.
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Planning Your Proposal · August 2025 · 7 min read
Why Puerto Vallarta Is Worth the Trip to Propose
The actual case for a destination proposal in Puerto Vallarta: the trip becomes the cover story, the geography frames mountain and sea in one shot, and the light was made for the camera.
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Planning Your Proposal · July 2025 · 9 min read
How to Plan a Surprise Proposal Without Them Suspecting a Thing
A planner's playbook for a surprise proposal your partner never sees coming: cover stories, hiding the ring, the hidden photographer, weather backups, and managing your own nerves.
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Planning Your Proposal · May 2025 · 10 min read
The Best Places to Propose in Puerto Vallarta (From Someone Who Lives Here)
A local's honest guide to the strongest proposal settings in the bay: beaches, rooftops, the Romantic Zone, private villas, a hidden fishing village, and a colonial mountain town.
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Before You Propose · April 2025 · 9 min read
Is This the One? What Relationship Science Says About Knowing You're Ready to Propose
Forty years of couples research, from John Gottman's Love Lab onward, on the quiet, daily patterns that actually predict whether you're ready to propose.
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Planning Your Proposal · February 2025 · 9 min read
How to Plan a Surprise Proposal in Puerto Vallarta, Step by Step
The exact sequence a planner uses to design a surprise proposal in Puerto Vallarta, from picking the cover trip to managing your own face on the day.
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Planning Your Proposal · November 2024 · 10 min read
Proposal Photography in Puerto Vallarta: How Coordination Actually Works
Why proposal photography coordination is its own craft, and how the brief, the position, the second shooter, and the timing decide whether the gallery holds up for a lifetime.
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