Post by SouthPhiladelphia » October 13th, 2011, 1:47 pm
My SO and I are headed to New Orleans on a planned vacation and I've planned the surprise proposal for the trip. Her parents live in the same town as us and she and I are both close to them and see them often. Since flights are relatively reasonable right now, I can fly her parents to New Orleans for the same weekend as a surprise - to be there and celebrate right after the proposal. I think this would be a great surprise and, in fact, have heard my SO reference another friend's proposal where she was surprised by a party with her friends and family right after the proposal as a "great" idea. After the proposal, I would do a bit where I say, why don't you call your parents...but instead have them walk in when they answer the phone. Then we would leave them for the rest of the evening to do our own celebrating but catch up with them the next day.

But my other train of thought is flying them into a town where they don't know anyone on a trip we originally planned to be on alone, we will feel somewhat compelled to spend most of the entire weekend with them instead of on our own - not that there is anything wrong with that. But it is her "engagement" weekend, which is supposed to be romantic and how romantic is spending some (but not all) the weekend with your parents?

So my question is, would having her parents involved ruin the experience? Or, is the surprise worth it for this once in a lifetime event?