A loss for words? Entrepreneur has a proposal

By Marsha Brown
Special to the Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH - When Bobby Deen Jr. met Belinda Davis, he knew that she was no ordinary woman. When he was ready to propose, he wanted something more than the usual.

Searching for precisely the right way to pop the question, Deen called in a specialist.

"I wanted to do something ... different," he said. "I wanted to propose in a way that would go beyond the restaurant-and-roses routine."

Enter Michael Bloomberg, not the mayor of New York but the president of An Exclusive Engagement, an event planning company.

After weighing several scenarios, Deen chose a balconied suite at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel, a limo and a bouquet of daisies, including a red one in the center with a ring attached by a ribbon.

"She was totally surprised," he said. "It was perfect."

Davis said yes, closing another deal for Bloomberg and his startup business for bachelors who need a clue.

Weddings in America have become a $50 billion-a-year industry -- from invitations to honeymoon -- according to U.S.A. Bridal Awards, a company that tracks the industry. Bloomberg, 37, just wants his share of the market.

After all, behind every great wedding, there's a great proposal.

Bloomberg -- a bachelor who has never proposed to anyone -- offers a variety of options, from simply mapping out the battle plan (for which he charges a flat fee) to completely arranging the occasion.

The client can do the legwork, or, for an hourly rate, Bloomberg handles everything: ordering flowers, making reservations, hiring musicians, chartering planes, providing parachutes.

"My target market is made up mostly of busy professionals," he said. "Most want us to take care of all the arrangements because they either don't have the time or they want to make sure that even the smallest detail is seen to."

That matches Deen's case. He heads up his own home theater company, devoting much of his time and creative energy to his work. And he is enamored of Bloomberg's expertise.

"He's very creative, very well-suited to this business," Deen said. "A real people person."

Bloomberg, a Fort Worth native, earned a bachelor of arts in communication from the University of Texas at Arlington with a minor in psychology. He earned a master's degree from Texas Christian University. After school, he took a series of jobs with small companies, mostly working in accounting and financial troubleshooting.

He got into the love business when a friend asked for help setting the stage to propose to his girlfriend. What others might have thought an imposition, Bloomberg found a pleasure.

"In my circle of friends, I've always been the guy everybody would come to for relationship advice," he said.

Bloomberg spent the next six years writing a plan for his business and launched it at the beginning of the year.

"Not a day went by that I didn't think about how I would love to do this for a living," he said.

An Exclusive Engagement specializes in tailored proposals, from ultra-romantic to daring or even funny. If a client wants to propose in a hot-air balloon over a catered lunch and a bouquet of freesias, greeted by a barbershop quartet singing Stairway to Heaven upon descent, it will take some time and money, but it's within Bloomberg's capabilities.

His real challenge is to find the perfect scenario for the specific couple.

It's probably not a good idea to take an introverted prospective bride to Texas Stadium during a sold-out game and blast the question on the Jumbotron in front of 65,000 people, he said.

Confidentiality is another important factor, and one that Bloomberg promises. In other words, in most cases the bride-to-be will never know that her future husband was, well, in need of help.

Bloomberg spends much of his time talking over concepts with friends. He has gathered a select group of women to mull ideas. He calls them the "chick tank."

The idea for women advisers may have started when, even before he took his first college psychology course, he started coaching his sister through the choppy waters of first dates.

He's still her best source of relationship tips, Mindy Bloomberg said.

"I go to Mike for advice because I know he is going to be brutally honest," she said. "He tells me the truth rather than what I want to hear."

Since launching the service, Bloomberg has expanded with a "Date of the Month" club to offer his thoughts on one good date a month. So far, all of his clients have been men.

Bloomberg says that a television network has called about a reality series based on the business. And he is developing a column for an online dating service, Premier Singles, to be called "The Men's Room."

It will be a place of camaraderie for men and a source of knowledge for women, said Andrea O'Brien, a spokeswoman for Premier Singles. Anything from metrosexuals to groomsmen are up for discussion.

"We're hoping 'The Men's Room' reaches out to the men on our site and gives them something to relate to," O'Brien said. "The online dating industry has a history of reaching out to the women first -- now men have something to run to."

For now, Bloomberg likens his service to that of a personal trainer, hired to help achieve physical goals. But emotional goals are important, as well.

"A great proposal is like a great heirloom," he said. "It's a story that's passed down from generation to generation."