Every now and then, you can be relaxing or taking in the
sights of the West Baden Springs Hotel atrium, and you hear applause break out.
Just another day, just another engagement.
Those magical moments seem to happen a lot around here. And
they actually happen everywhere at French Lick Resort — from the gardens at
French Lick Springs Hotel, to the balcony rooms at West Baden Springs Hotel, to
the serene hilltop at The Pete Dye Course. For anyone ready to pop the
question, here are the best spots around French Lick Resort to get engaged
(plus a little insight on how we can help).
The Formal Gardens at
West Baden
Marsha Tellstrom is our Senior Concierge at the resort, and
she has another unofficial title: Queen of Engagements.
She has assisted on dozens of engagements, whether fully
arranging an elaborate plan or just helping with small details. One spot stands
out to her as the prime place to pop the question.
“My first go-to is always the garden. Even in the winter we’ve
done one out there, and it was just beautiful.”
The aesthetics of The Gardens are obvious, but the options
are nice, too: We’ve had engagements inside the historic spring houses, at the
gazebo, and of course, just right out in the open of the sprawling garden
grounds. They’re all perfect as well for having a photographer nearby to
capture the moment.
Outdoors at French
Lick Springs Hotel
Similar to its sister property up the road at West Baden,
the gardens in back of French Lick make for a picturesque backdrop for an
engagement. In particular, the iconic Pluto Spring has a storybook type of
romanticism to it. The winding staircase and gold-tinged awning in back of
1875: The Steakhouse (which is another great engagement spot in itself) would
also make for some major style points.
The atrium at West
Baden
The “wow” factor makes the West Baden Springs Hotel atrium
another preferred spot — “just to say, ‘Oh my gosh, I proposed in this amazing
place,” Marsha says.
If you don’t mind a possible audience watching and clapping,
the middle of the atrium is a popular spot to get down on one knee. We had one
engagement in front of the Rookwood Fireplace. And another on the opposite side
of the atrium, with a guitar serenade in a little section that had been blocked
off with Marsha’s help. One of our live music vocalists has even been in on an
engagement— she sang their special song, then he got down on his knee and
proposed.
The mezzanine at West
Baden
Not everyone wants their big moment in the middle of the
atrium with the whole world to see. And there’s all sorts of out-of-the-way locales to pop the question with privacy.
“We had somebody propose on the mezzanine; he was playing
the guitar and set up something nice up there,” Marsha says. “He just wanted
some privacy and still wanted a beautiful place to do it.”
A carriage ride
This speaks for itself. Getting engaged on a carriage ride
would be about the closest you can get to living in a fairy tale.
The Stables
It might not be the first place you’d think of. But you can’t
beat the impressive vistas and the intimate vibe up at The Stables.
“We’ve only done one engagement up there, but what was so
neat about that is we had the fireplace going and we had the pit going, and we
had Champagne and roses set up down there,” Marsha says of one engagement she
helped arrange there. “It was such a beautiful setting, because when he proposed,
the horses were all along the fence back there, and we got great photos of the
two of them. We had roses and Champagne hidden away behind the fire pit for
them to have a toast afterward.”
A special spot of
shared interest
Speaking of The Stables, it’d be an ideal spot for a couple
who are horse lovers or animal lovers. If you both love hiking, there’s 11
miles’ worth of opportunity to pop the question. Anyone who’s a golfer (or just
loves a fantastic view) would be blown away by a wedding proposal up at The
Pete Dye Course —maybe even at one of the Sunset Dinners which will be
returning this summer at The Pete Dye Mansion.
A balcony room or
private guestroom
Want a nice balance between the ambiance of the West Baden
atrium and the seclusion of having a private moment? A room with a balcony at
West Baden Springs Hotel fits the bill precisely.
And just the other day, we had a guest pull off a surprise
proposal with a little help of room service. He had a few days of breakfast
delivered to the room. The final tray they saved for the end had a huge
surprise when she pulled the cover off: a West Baden Chocolate Dome, with “Will
You Marry Me?” written in chocolate on the plate.
Coming soon, we’ll be rolling out special engagement
packages, with options to customize it for the type of experience you’re
wanting to create.
You can also email us anytime and we
can help with the details of pulling off a surprise engagement: “It’s just a
matter of us having conversation and setting it up, whatever they’re wanting to
do,” Marsha says.
Popping the question is tough enough, and we’ve got the
know-how (and brilliant venues) to make everything easier.