{"id":24478,"date":"2026-08-07T13:23:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/?p=24478"},"modified":"2026-08-07T13:24:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:24:55","slug":"when-chatgpt-plays-matchmaker-for-photographers-anyway-patrick-asked-and-alexa-said-yes-coronado-bay-coronado-ca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/2026\/08\/07\/when-chatgpt-plays-matchmaker-for-photographers-anyway-patrick-asked-and-alexa-said-yes-coronado-bay-coronado-ca\/","title":{"rendered":"When ChatGPT Plays Matchmaker (For Photographers, Anyway) – Patrick asked and Alexa said yes! – Coronado Bay, Coronado, CA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday, at dusk, on Coronado Bay Beach, Patrick got down on one knee and asked Alexa to marry him \u2014 and she said\u00a0YES!<\/strong>. Cue the happy tears, the racing heart, and that perfect blue-dusk skyline glowing behind them like it had been ordered special for the occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrick and Alexa flew in all the way from the East Coast to soak up some California magic in a Whales’ Vagina (according to Ron Burgundy) and they picked one of my favorite spots in the whole city for it. The water, the skyline, that dusky blue light \u2014 it’s a proposal backdrop money can’t buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the part that had me genuinely stunned, though. When I asked Patrick how he found me, expecting the usual “Google” or “Yelp” “bathroom wall of the Olive Garden” or “my cousin’s friend used you,” he said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“ChatGPT told me about you and you were the first one listed…”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been discovered in a lot of ways over the years… but an AI chatbot personally recommending me to a guy planning to propose to the love of his life? That’s a new one, and honestly? I’ll take it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But none of that mattered once the moment actually happened. Watching Alexa’s face when Patrick dropped to one knee \u2014 the surprise, the tears, the way she looked at him before she even got the word “yes” all the way out \u2014 that’s the whole reason I love this job. Technology can point people in the right direction, but it can’t capture\u00a0that<\/em>. That part is still all heart. Even more the other patrons walking on the boardwalk seeing me hiding my big lense behind the wall while I waited for the moment waiting in anticipation, cheering them on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations, Patrick and Alexa. Thank you for trusting me \u2014 and apparently, ChatGPT \u2014 with a moment this big. Welcome to San Diego, and welcome to forever. \ud83d\udc8d\ud83c\udf07<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yesterday, at dusk, on Coronado Bay Beach, Patrick got down on one knee and asked Alexa to marry him \u2014 and she said\u00a0YES!. Cue the happy tears, the racing heart, and that perfect blue-dusk skyline glowing behind them like it had been ordered special for the occasion. Patrick and Alexa flew in all the way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,766],"tags":[110,1232,13,1233,1231,1234,761,95],"class_list":["post-24478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engagements","category-proposals","tag-engaged","tag-proposal-photography","tag-san-diego-engagement","tag-san-diego-photgorapher","tag-san-diego-proposal","tag-shesaidyes","tag-socal-photographer","tag-temecula-photographer"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24478"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24506,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24478\/revisions\/24506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stephywong.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}