NEW YEAR’S EVE PROPOSAL – A 15-SECOND CHECKLIST FOR PHOTOS YOU’LL ACTUALLY KEEP
NEW YEAR’S EVE PROPOSAL – A 15-SECOND CHECKLIST FOR PHOTOS YOU’LL ACTUALLY KEEP
Planning to propose on New Year’s Eve?
Maybe it’s a rooftop in a big city, a cozy hotel bar, or a quiet street after dinner. Either way, you probably want the photos to look as intentional as the moment feels.
The reality? New Year’s Eve proposals are usually beautiful – and often badly photographed.
Backlit silhouettes, blurry screenshots from a video, or a shaky clip where the “yes” happens off-frame.
We’re The Lopes Photography – an editorial wedding and Super 8 team working with destination couples around the world. This is the simple 15-second checklist we use to help couples walk away with proposal photos that feel intentional, not accidental.
Whether you’re proposing in your hometown or flying somewhere for a special trip, you can use this guide with a hired photographer or a friend filming on their phone.
Prefer to watch instead of read?
Here’s the 15-second checklist as a 48-second quick video.
Why New Year’s Eve proposals are hard to photograph
New Year’s Eve sounds perfect on paper:
City lights, candles, fireworks.
Everyone dressed up.
A big, emotional moment to end the year.
But from a photography perspective, it’s a minefield:
Low light – phones and cameras struggle in the dark.
Backlighting – fairy lights and street lamps behind you = silhouettes.
Chaos – crowds, movement, hugs, random people walking straight through the frame.
The good news: you don’t need a production crew or a 20-minute photoshoot.
You just need to make three tiny decisions before you drop to one knee.
The 15-Second Proposal Checklist
You can literally run through this in your head while you’re “just going for a walk” or “taking one last selfie before midnight”.
1. Put the light in front of you
If there’s one thing that decides whether your photo looks clean and editorial or completely unusable, it’s this:
Light behind you = silhouettes.
Light in front of you = faces.
Look around for your brightest, softest light source and position yourselves so it’s lighting your faces, not sitting directly behind your heads.
That might be:
A restaurant or hotel window behind the person filming you.
A pool of light from a streetlamp, slightly off to the side.
A cluster of candles or indoor lamps in front of you, not behind.
Quick test:
Before you propose, ask for “one fast photo” and check your faces.
If your features are clear and not blown out, you’re good. If you’re silhouettes, rotate your position a little and try again.
2. If a friend is filming, make their life easy
If you’re not hiring a photographer and a friend is filming, they’re probably nervous too. Give them a simple script:
Use the 0.5 lens (ultra-wide) on a recent smartphone.
This gives more room for movement and makes it harder to “miss” the moment.Lock exposure if possible.
On most phones, a long press on your face locks focus + exposure. That means the camera won’t keep hunting every time a firework explodes or someone walks past with their phone light on.Start recording 10 seconds early.
Tell them: “Hit record when we start walking to that spot and don’t stop until we’ve hugged.”
The first few seconds can be trimmed; missing the “yes” cannot.
You don’t need complicated settings – you just need your friend to be calm, standing still, with a wide enough frame that the whole story is visible.
3. After the “yes”, hold still for 5 seconds
This is the piece almost everyone forgets.
After the “yes”, the ring, the hug, your first instinct will be to move. Walk. Spin. Jump. Look around at everyone cheering.
Instead, freeze together for 5 seconds.
Stay close.
Keep your faces towards the camera.
Hold the ring hand somewhere visible (not hidden in a pocket).
Those 5 seconds are where:
The cleanest screenshots come from a video.
The most frame-worthy stills are captured.
You get one iconic image of the proposal that doesn’t look like security footage.
You can go wild afterwards – but give yourself those 5 seconds first.
Do you actually need a photographer for a New Year’s Eve proposal?
You can absolutely follow this checklist with a friend filming.
But if photos really matter to you, or you’re travelling for this moment, a photographer is often worth it.
A good proposal photographer will:
Help you choose the spot with light, crowds and backgrounds in mind.
Build a simple micro-timeline around your dinner/countdown/travel plan.
Stay discreet – more like an observer than a production crew.
Capture both the proposal itself and a short portrait set afterwards.
You still get to be fully present; they just make sure the photos look like how it felt.
Planning a destination proposal (anywhere in the world)
Whether you’re proposing in Lisbon, London, New York, or a small coastal town, the principles are the same:
Choose a location with a clean backdrop.
Rooftops, quiet viewpoints, hotel terraces, and calm side streets usually photograph better than the busiest main squares.Think in time windows, not to-the-minute.
Around sunset or after the sun has dropped, and city lights are on, it tends to be more flattering than harsh daylight. For New Year’s Eve, aim for a moment where people are excited but not packed tightly together.Have a simple cover story.
“Let’s grab one last drink outside” or “Let’s take a quick photo over there” works better than a complicated excuse that ramps up anxiety.Decide who’s documenting it.
Friend with a phone? A photographer? Both?
Make sure whoever is documenting knows the 15-second checklist: light in front, 0.5 lens, start early, hold still.Accept that perfection isn’t the goal.
This is still a real moment, not a movie set. The magic is in how honest it feels.
Super 8 here feels like an arthouse film set inside a palace: arches, candlelight, saturated colour, and guests moving through courtyards and corridors. It’s less about recording every second and more about catching the in-between moments—family arriving, fabric moving in the wind, the shift from ceremony to celebration.
We’ve also filmed Super 8 at other Sintra venues like Palácio de Seteais, where long corridors, garden paths, and hilltop views give a softer, vintage-European mood. Across Sintra, the combination of architecture + fog + forest makes Super 8 feel naturally cinematic.
FAQ – Quick answers for nervous proposers
Can I use this checklist even if it’s not New Year’s Eve?
Yes. Everything here applies to any nighttime proposal – birthdays, anniversaries, or “random” city breaks that aren’t random at all.
What if it rains or it’s very windy?
Have a Plan B that’s covered but still atmospheric: a bar with big windows, a hotel balcony, a sheltered courtyard. The same rules apply – put the light in front of you and keep the background simple.
What if we already booked another photographer for the wedding?
That’s totally fine. Many couples hire one photographer for the wedding day and a different one just for the proposal or engagement weekend, especially if the proposal is happening in a different city.
Super 8 here feels timeless and polished: gloved hands on banisters, champagne being poured, guests crossing parquet floors, candlelight catching jewellery and glassware. It’s less about wild party footage and more about a slow, elegant record of how the evening actually felt in those rooms.
Along the coast in Cascais, at venues like The Oitavos, the mood shifts to something more graphic and modern:
strong architectural lines
panoramic Atlantic views
decks, glass and sharp light
Here, Super 8 becomes bolder and more minimal—perfect if you want your wedding film to feel clean, contemporary and design-led while still having that nostalgic, analogue texture.
Let The Lopes Photography quietly document your proposal
If you’re planning a New Year’s Eve (or any nighttime) proposal and you care about how it’s photographed, this little checklist will already put you ahead of most people.
And if you’d rather not leave it to chance:
We’re The Lopes Photography – an editorial destination wedding and Super 8 team working mainly across Portugal, Italy, and France, with couples flying in from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and beyond.
If you’re planning to propose in Portugal or somewhere in Europe and want the moment documented quietly (editorial, not performative), we’d love to hear from you.
You can reach us here → CONTACT PAGE LINK.
Your proposal only happens once. The photos should feel as intentional as the question you’re asking.
Here, we’re usually mixing:
a little ceremony/vows
a few portrait sequences in the dunes or by the house
and the feeling of the evening as people spread across the property
It’s the opposite of stiff or staged; it feels like a home movie if your friends were all very well-dressed.
Your Portugal wedding photographers, The Lopes Photography.