Proposal Ideas for San Francisco?

[Riprock]

It''s not a done deal yet, but I may propose in San Francisco in mid March. I''ve been searching and searching online for good locations and have found a few but none just totally exciting. Any ideas?

My top choice so far would be somewhere in Golden Gate Park or the Japanese Tea Garden, but I''m not sure.

Any specific ideas on how to propose, attached with specific locations or activities (ie: Carriage Ride)?

 

[Shawn]

I am thinking of proposing about the same time. In San Fran while on Vacation. I think I am going to do it in a Hot Air Balloon Ride over the napa Valley. I still need to check on a few things though.

 

[Mara]

What does she like? I live in the SF Bayarea and there are tons of things to do but it depends on your tastes. Personally I think things such as the Wine Train through the Napa Valley are fun, the hot air balloon ride sounds great (just don't drop the ring!)...there are also Hornblower Cruises that take you around the bridges and near Alcatraz, etc..they have day and evening/dinner cruises I think. We went on a dinner one for NYE one year and it was a blast. Just make sure she doesn't get seasick!

Someone in the last week proposed to his gf in SF I think...and I liked his idea which was over a few days...he got her a VDay present of a manicure since she had said she wanted one one day..and then the next day they went on a wine tasting day and he did it sometime in the evening in a park I think.

Napa and Sonoma areas are very romantic, they have B&B's and the spa's that are down there, hot springs etc. Or if you are into SF the city (I am not into SF, but rather the more inland warmer places, the city is too cold for me) the typicals are probably Golden Gate Park, or on the Bridge, or on the Cable Car...or in Union Square, or at a nice restaurant.

Also in SF there is Teatro Zinanni which is like this really cool Cirque du Soleil knockoff 'dinner and a circus' show type thing in this huge great permanent tent on Embarcadero. We have wanted to go for years, but somehow we never get around to it. I have heard it is great! Maybe if you talk with the show manager when you book the dinner/show...they can somehow work the proposal into the show!

If she likes public displays that is. I am a more private person so I wanted it out of the limelight and between us. If that is the case..then you can take her to the show/dinner and then for a walk along the Embarcadero or on one of the Piers or similar.

Hope these ideas help!

 

[Riprock]

Thanks Mara

We will be driving in the morning and leaving in the evening from Sacramento on a Saturday so I'm kinda limited. She's a private person.

I guess I'm mainly looking for location ideas

Any "perfect" places to watch a sunset? Any "perfect" places in GG to propose? etc

 

[Shawn]

What about the 17 mile Drive? (somewhere on it anyways) I heard it's supposed to be beautiful down there. I have thought about that also.

 

[Mara]

17 mile drive is pretty but there are normally alot of people on it as well, so its not super private. Plus depending on the day, it can be very windy/chilly because of the elevation. But it is a nice idea. You also have to pay to go on the drive etc...it's kind of touristy.

If you like the sunset...my best recommendation is a beach either in SF along the Sutro Towers area or in Santa Cruz even though it's a bit of a drive. There's nothing prettier or more simple than a picnic in the sand or a little fire with the sunset going down over the water. You can find a private area and be alone. There are alot of small beaches along SC and Capitola area that are not large public beaches.

Sorry I don't know much about GG park or SF areas...maybe someone else can help.

Good luck!!

 

[iarichman]

I too am going to propose in San Francisco in Mid March or so! I live in San Francisco and will be doing it close to our apartment. Anyway....

In your search for a perfect place, I think you should consider a couple of things:

Do you want to propose at a location where many other people may have proposed?

Do you want to propose at a location to which it is easy to return?

If you answer no to either or both of those, you may not want to pick what other people have chosen as a scenic spot. If those two things don't really concern you, then it won't be a problem.

I don't know how much money you want to spend on your trip, but you should look into chartering a boat ride (maybe a smaller shared boat ride)into the bay. Possibly from Sausalito. I know there is a sailing place there called Modern Sailing, but I don't know if they do that sort of thing. Anyway, if you do it on a boat in the bay, you will have great scenery, and wherever you do it, you'll know nobody has ever proposed at that exact location in the water, and that once that moment has passed, you will never be able to get back to that exact place. I think it's romantic. I would stay away from 17 mile drive. It's beautiful, but you may not like proposing on a piece of land that is run by rich people who are charging you to drive around and gawk at their beautiful land.

Good Luck.

 

[Riprock]

Good info iarichman

I would kinda like to stay away from places that lots of people use for proposing. Now, GG is a big park and I'm sure there's some nice little places. What I mean is I don't wanna propose at the top of the Empire State building in NY like many people do. If there's a nice little grove in GG park, then sure.

I'd thought about chartering a boat, tho a little expensive it would be worth it, but I don't want her to get seasick or anything. You never know if that might happen and kinda spoil things. So, feet on solid ground would be best.

I really like Mara's ideas about a beach and a little fire. Can you find wood around the beach to build a fire, Mara, or would I need to bring my own? Also, is there any stores you know of in the downtown SF area that would provide a picnic lunch? Like maybe presented in a little wicker basket or something similar to make it "feel" like a picnic dinner? So I could pick it up on the drive to the beach? At night the wind usually blows out to sea right? (I'm not near the sea).

Thanks again

 

[iarichman]

Sea sick, now I didn't even think of that. Good thing I'm not going to do that. Geez, that could be disasterous. One of the most important moments of your life and your girlfriend spews on you. Or worse, you let one loose. That's funny.

Anyways, are you staying overnight in San Francisco at a hotel or something?

I suggest you go to the website www.craigslist.org and go to the forum market cuisine. It is a website that has lots of locals, and although some of the forums are really obnoxious, the cuisine one isn't. Ask there about your picnic lunch/dinner and tell them you want to pick it up on the way to the beach. I am sure people will recommend places that they personally know to be good. I am not sure which beach you are going to, but I assume it's going to be the beach next to the Sunset district. So you can ask about the places being in the Sunset district, though if you are staying downtown, you can also pick it up there. There is no clear view of the Golden Gate Bridge from that beach, but it's the type were you can build a fire. I would bring a little wood. There is wood there, but mostly larger pieces, and the wood may also be damp. There is a smaller beach which faces out to the Golden Gate, but it's by the rich people, and I don't know about fires there.

Good luck.

 

[Mara]

I am not too sure what the name is of the long stretch of beach I am thinking of but there is one over near the Sutro Baths and Cliff House that is pretty long and I think I have seen fires there at night. I would bring some firewood of your own. Check out the history of the Sutro Baths and Cliff House here. The place is pretty cool--there are ruins of the baths along the ocean there and the Cliff House is a great place to drink or have dinner.

http://www.sallys-place.com/travel/san_francisco/pt_clifhouse.htm

There is a long stretch of beach leading up the hill to this area. But I would search around on the web a bit for beaches in SF that are semi-private and that you can have fires in..some beaches don't allow fires. Figure you can find some info on the internet about where to go.

Iarichman has a good idea about trying to connect with people who may have suggestions on catering..though I would think that you can probably just contact a good restaurant, tell them what you want, bring them the picnic basket the day before (purchaseable from a Williams Sonoma or Crate and Barrel or similar with utensils, plates, etc already inside), and have them pack your order with a bottle of wine or similar, then you just pick up the basket on your way to the beach. You may also want to consider that your new fiance may want to keep the picnic basket as a sentimental gift, since it would be part of the proposal...so you may want to buy one of your own and have the restaurant pack it for you rather that trying to find a place that will have their own for you to use, etc.

Hope this helps a bit.

Good luck!!

 

[Riprock]

More good info Mara and Ia

I was talking to a friend at work yesterday who said he got a good picnic basket from Target with plates and utensils and such. That's gonna ge cheaper than Williams Sonoma =D We have a W/S store here too so I'll at least check it out.

I definitely think I'll go the route of a picnic for dinner, maybe an early dinner around 6pm or so. But only if the weather's nice. Is there anywhere in GG park or overlooking the sea where, if the weather is bad, we could eat our picnic inside???

I'm kinda less enchanted with the beach idea now that I've been thinking about it. Bringing along the wood, firestarter, picnic basket, ring, blanket, etc. Getting the sand out of everything afterwards... no, I think I'll stick to a non-sandy place.

My friend suggested I go to a deli and pick out stuff but I'd rather leave the basket at someplace that has experience in preparing picnic baskets. That may be a tall order, I know.

 

[Iceman]

How about Alcatraz Island

That's a life sentence ! Just Kidding.

Since it is something a girl remembers for ever. I would do the Golden Gate Bridge.
There is a great walk way on it and Its always on tv. When ever the picture comes
up you can say that's were I proposed to you

Do the bridge.

 

[NetRyder]

Hey everyone,

My GF and I are planning a 4 day trip to San Fran in a couple of months.

I am thinking very seriously about proposing while we are there. We have talked about it for a while but nothing really serious. We always said that we would wait until we were both done with college. Well, I will be finishing up this summer since I took a job about a year ago and have been finishing up my classes at night.

I defintely think she will be surprised if we do this in San Fran. Now I just have to pick the right spot and get a ring. I posted on the "rocky talk" board also about 3 stone ring advice. Any ideas on a good spot? How did the the previous posters do in their San Fran proposals?

Thanks all for the advice!

 

[NetRyder]

Anyone?

 

[Mara]

NR--please give more info and did you read the responses on this thread? There were some ideas on there. Are you looking for a beach thing, a more refined dinner thing, a park thing, a theatre thing?

 

[NetRyder]

Thinking about the Bolden Gate park. I have heard it is beautiful thereNot real sure yet. We will only be there a few days.

We are staying in Fisherman's Wharf so something around there might be nice.

 

[Riprock]

Maybe this'll help. I'm Rip, the one who started this thread and I've just returned from Sacramento

I Praise God that it didn't rain in SF yesterday (Saturday) because it enabled us to go to SF from Sac. I ended up taking her to the Japanese Tea Garden to propose and she wasn't expecting it at all. I didn't know where I'd do it and figured I'd let God guide me.

I ended up sitting on a wooden bench near the 2 or 3 ponds by the lantern, on a pretext (we weren't tired), and started to tell her how I feel about her. She later told me she just thought the setting was making me romantic. After a few minutes of that and swiveled onto one knee and proposed

She was shocked for about 1 second and said yes =D

So, I would heartily suggest the tea garden. It is truly beautiful and if you walk very slowly you'll be able to find a beautiful place in there when not many people are around - if you care about that sort of thing

If you like tea, stop in the tea hut first and relax with some tea and snackies.

Here's a little postscript: When we got back to Sac we decided to watch a movie at her house. She had "The Wedding Planner" which I'd never seen. She wanted me to choose among her 50 or so DVDs and I blindly chose that one remembering the previews looking like it was a good movie. She'd seen it. Not until we started watching it did we both realize that it was filmed in SF and at GGpark with the ugly tree orchard AND inside the Tea Garden!!! Pretty freaky huh?

I heartily believe God was in control of all this

Good luck!

 

[NetRyder]

TeaGarden sounds great. Is that seperate from GG Park?

Does anyone have a preference between the 2?

Thanks!

 

[Riprock]

The Japanese Tea Garden is inside Golden Gate Park. There's all sorts of other stuff in GG as well like a Museum, an Arboretum, etc. It's pretty big. The Tea Garden has an entry fee of $3.50 per person I think and I think the tea was around $3 per person with snacks included. We got lucky and found a decent parking space, but still had to walk about 3 minutes to get to the garden.

 

[aljdewey]

Two ideas I have on proposing in SF:

1) If you know neither of you is prone to getting seasick, I would emphatically suggest a sunset cruise on the Hawaiian Chieftain. From April through October, they have public sails that are unbeatable. They dock on Marinship Way in Sausalito and cruise on SF Bay from 6-9 p.m. on Wed, Thurs & Fri nights. It's a 103-ft Tall Ship, extremely romantic and fairly intimate as it only holds about 45 passengers at full capacity--the few times I've gone it was more like 30 people. They serve complimentary beer, wine, mimosas, coffee, soda, & tea, and they also put out a snack spread (salsa/chips, salami & cheese, fresh fruit, crackers, etc.) All of this for just $35 per person....you positively cannot go wrong. When they sail, they sail around the outcropping of Sausalito and go under the GG Bridge; then turn around and sail back under the bridge into SF Bay. You'll watch the sunset over the GG Bridge and watch the lights of the city come up and reflect in the water. They even provide blankets/jackets ....snag one at the onset of the trip when they are first offered! Finally, about 1/2 hour before they dock, they serve hot-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies! They have a website at www.hawaiianchieftain.com.

2) For those who are not water inclined, I'd really recommend proposing on the grounds of Korbel Champagne Cellars winery in Guerneville. Their property is breathtakingly beautiful with a gorgeous onsite garden, and they have an extensive deli/snack shop on site. They have in their wine shop chilled bottles of champagne just large enough for 2, and you could suggest to your girl getting one of these bottles and having a small picnic at the tables on the grounds. Surprise her with a proposal during your picnic, and you'll have the bottle of champagne ready to celebrate on hand!

The thing I like about both of these: they are more unique than the standard GGPark, Cliff House.....and both offer more of an intimate setting for proposal. Finally, both would be truly memorable.

Good luck.