Allen Huang spent ,000 on his proposal to Fen Lim — a “Harry Potter”-themed lunch at a private Chelsea club organized by a planner, who helped him add the right romantic touches. (Zlatko Batistich)
The sun was setting on the rooftop of the McKittrick Hotel, home of the interactive play “Sleep No More,” when Nataliya Lavryshyn and Josh Ogle proclaimed their love for one another last year.
Pages from Pablo Neruda’s love poems were scattered about, and the pair held hands while Ogle slid a $21,000 diamond ring onto Lavryshyn’s left hand, as a small crowd looked on. Afterward, a 1932 Hupmobile whisked them away to the posh restaurant Daniel, where they had dinner in the exclusive skybox, served by executive chef Daniel Boulud.
The next day, the couple jetted off to Greece and France for two weeks, where they stayed in private villas and honeymoon suites.
The whole shebang cost roughly $45,000.
And that was just the wedding proposal.
When it comes to popping the question, New York grooms-to-be are shelling out thousands of dollars to produce elaborate will-you-marry-me? moments. Such over-the-top engagements have even spawned a thriving industry — proposal planning.
“People, and it’s not just men, really are going bigger and bigger with their proposals,” says Stacy Tasman, founder and CEO of the Manhattan-based Web site HowHeAsked.com, which spotlights awe-inspiring engagement stories.
“The media has a lot to do with it. There are tons of these stories going viral, and they’re all over the news,” she adds.
In the age of YouTube, the pressure is on to produce slick video footage — with flash mobs, scavenger hunts and mock movie trailers setting the bar ever higher.
According to a recent survey on HowHeAsked.com, 75 percent of women want their proposal caught on tape.
Ogle, 27, who runs an ad agency, shelled out $3,500 on his planner — a price tag that doesn’t include the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, videographer and professional story writer he hired to document the event.
“I really wanted her to be wowed and to have a story to tell, something that starts off our official time together and to be able to tell our kids,” says Ogle.
And what did Lavryshyn — who said yes, by the way — think about her guy getting help from a professional?
“Before this whole thing, I didn’t know there were proposal planners,” says Lavryshyn, who was dating Ogle for several months before he popped the question. “I thought the guy would just have the creativity by himself. But it was all amazing.”
Apparently some men need all the help they can get.
When event planner Sarah Pease heard of a guy proposing to his girlfriend by putting a diamond ring at the bottom of a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, she decided get into the proposal business.
Six years later, her company, Brilliant Events, now organizes more engagements than weddings.
“When the grooms come to me, they usually have a budget of about $5,000 all the way up to $50,000,” says Pease, who charges $2,000 and up for her planning services ($500 buys you a consultation and a “proposal blueprint”).
The trend appears to be an outgrowth of a wedding industry that’s on steroids: A survey by TheKnot.com recently found that wedding budgets are at an all-time high since 2008 and that the average wedding in Manhattan costs $76,678.
And even men who want to go the traditional route — a romantic meal, some roses — are turning to planners.
Pease recently helped Allen Huang, 29, organize an intimate “Harry Potter”-themed lunch at the exclusive Norwood Club in Chelsea.
Huang, who grew up in New Jersey, fell in love with Fen Lim, 30, after moving across the world to Australia. He knew he wanted to propose on his first trip back to New York with her, and he hired Pease to help with the long-distance logistics.
“Fen and I had talked about getting married for a long time, and she had told me in a not-so-subtle way that she wanted the proposal to be romantic and intimate,” says Huang, who spent $4,000 on the proposal (not including the cost of the engagement ring).
While Huang’s proposal was intimate — well, except for the photographer snapping away — others, like Salman Ali, want all the world to see.
For his proposal Saturday night, Ali planned a Bollywood-themed flash mob with 25 friends and relatives and 15 professional dancers in the middle of Times Square.
After a romantic dinner at One if by Land, Two if by Sea in the Village, he led his girlfriend, Shumaila Rangoonwala, to 43rd Street. As they turned the corner onto Broadway, Bollywood-style music began to play and dancers emerged from the crowd of tourists.
“I had no idea what was going on. I kept telling Salman, ‘Get out of their way! They’re doing a dance!’ ” says Rangoonwala.
“Then, when he joined in, I was like, ‘Oh, OK, I get it now!’ ”
As soon as Rangoonwala said yes, Ali, 29, was surrounded by family patting him on the back, and his friends from pharmacy school giving him high-fives.
He may have just set a new proposal standard among his group of friends.
To pull off the proposal, Ali paid $2,000 to hire choreographer Derek Mitchell.
He’s the man behind an earlier proposal video that went viral on YouTube, with more than 2 million hits since its June 2012 posting. It depicts a Bryant Park flash-mob complete with a 130-piece marching band. Craig Jones, who commissioned the video and is getting married this weekend, spent $9,000 on its production.
Jones admits it’s a tough act to follow — a prospect his friends are not particularly thrilled about.
“My single guy friends have the typical response of, ‘How am I supposed to top that?’ ” says Jones. “However, my married guy friends have a different response. They tell me I shot myself in the foot because now I will be expected to have bigger and better surprises for the rest of my life.”
The Proposal from Edward Zilberman | Orange Films* on Vimeo.
kstorey@nypost.com