Emi Dawson

I founded Big Moments Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to plan the proposals, birthdays, anniversaries and date nights that people care about and never get around to organizing.

I started it after watching my best friend's partner plan a birthday that actually landed, and realizing the hard part was never how much he cared. It was knowing what to do with it.

Every plan at Big Moments Company is human reviewed before it reaches a couple, and right now that human is me.

More about why the company exists is on our philosophy page. Find Emi Dawson on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest.

Posts by Emi Dawson

• Opposite Schedules, Same Couple: How to Stay in the Same Week Working opposite shifts? Find your real overlap, plan 20-minute micro-dates, set rituals that run while one of you sleeps, and guard your one shared night.
• What to Do on Halloween as a Couple When You Skip the Party Halloween for two with no invite needed. A pumpkin contest with stakes, a dusk drive past other people's porches, the candy shift, and a movie with house rules.
• How to Plan a Birthday for Someone Who Plans Everything Their birthday is the one day the logistics should not land on them. Build it from their favorites, keep one surprise, and take every job off their plate.
• How to Turn Your Fall Bucket List Into Actual Plans Give every fall bucket list item a weekend, a two-hour version, an owner, and a rain call, then fit them into the weekends left before Thanksgiving.
• How to Propose to Someone Who Hates Attention A private proposal needs a plan too. How to pick the room and the hour, set the scene without tipping them off, keep the script short, and decide on the camera.
• The Fall Date List That Skips Apple Picking Every idea comes with a time, a cost, and a rain backup. Farmers markets, conservatories, neighborhood walks, and more fall dates that are not apple picking.
• Your Anniversary Is on a Tuesday. Good. Here Is the Plan. Most anniversaries land on a workday. How to mark the actual date with a small real plan, save the big one for the weekend, and set a backup so nothing slips.
• Asking Her Parents for Her Hand in Marriage, Without Asking Anyone's Permission Permission and a blessing are two different requests. Who to ask, what to say, what a no obliges you to do, and the families nobody writes for.
• How to Plan a Romantic Date Night at Home, and What to Do Once You Sit Down A shape for the evening, how long each at-home date night idea really lasts, and what to do in the hour after the plates are cleared.
• Apps for Long-Distance Couples, Sorted by Whether You Both Have to Be Awake We priced 16 apps for long-distance couples from Apple's own listings and sorted them by whether they need you both awake at the same moment.
• 40 Romantic Gestures for Valentine's Day, Sorted by What They Cost You Forty romantic gestures sorted by what they cost you: attention, time, money or nerve. What changes on Valentine's Day, and what to do with only tonight.
• The Relationship Check-In That Does Not Turn Into a Fight Five relationship check-in questions, twenty minutes, the same slot every week. Who goes first, what to do when an answer stings, and how check-ins fall apart.
• Bucket List Ideas for Couples, Sorted by This Saturday, This Year, and Someday A couples bucket list sorted by when you could do it: this Saturday, this season, this year, someday. Plus what to do with the items only one of you wants.
• How to Propose to Your Girlfriend Without Copying Someone Else's Proposal A method for finding the proposal idea instead of borrowing one, ideas grouped by the kind of person she is, and the three things every version needs.
• The Top 10 Worst Ways to Propose The ten proposal mistakes that keep showing up, why each one fails, and what to do instead. Funny, but the reasons are real.
• 5 Reasons to Take the Minimoon Now and Book the Honeymoon for Later A minimoon is a short trip taken right after the wedding. Five reasons to take one now, book the honeymoon for later, and stop treating it as one choice.
• Which Couples App Actually Plans the Date? We Read All of Them We priced every major couples app from Apple's own listings. The big ones cluster at $75 a year to ask you questions. Almost nobody sells the evening itself.
• What Moving to a New City Does to a Couple Research on 206 relocating couples, how long new friendships really take, and a 90 day plan for two people learning a city together.
• How to Be More Romantic When Your Best Guess Keeps Missing You are no better at reading your partner than a stranger is, and much more sure of it. What relationship research says to do instead of guessing.
• Anniversary Date Ideas That Actually Survive Contact With Your Calendar Anniversary date ideas sorted by year, by budget, and by how many hours you have left. Every idea has a price, a booking window, and a backup if it rains.
• You Do Not Need an Anniversary Planner. You Need a Plan. Dinner is not an anniversary plan. A sourced, working-backwards timeline: what to book, when to book it, and how to make the night actually feel like a marker.
• The ADHD Tax Isn't Just Money. Your Relationship Pays It Too. The ADHD tax is not only financial. It can show up as invisible labor, shame, resentment and cancelled plans. Here is how couples can stop paying it.
• The Hardest Part of a Long-Distance Relationship Isn't the Distance Long-distance relationships can work, but the biggest risks may not be the miles. Here is what research says about intimacy, reunions and staying connected.
• Sushi Was Their First Date, So We Started Them There Again Chamere and Anthony won a fully planned date night. Sushi is their go-to food, so we started them at a Fells Point sushi bar. Here is how it went.
• Our First Date Night Giveaway: Two Couples, Two Nights, Zero Generic Ideas We gave away fully planned date nights, keepsakes included. Here's what the winning couples got and what we learned about nights people keep.
• The Cake Wasn't the Point: How Nathaniel Planned Melissa's Birthday A birthday story about what really makes a celebration land. Not the cake, but weeks of quiet, specific attention. The origin of how we think about big moments.
• How Far in Advance Should You Plan a Proposal? Three months, for most proposals. A sourced, working-backwards timeline covering the ring, park permits, photographers, sunset times and weather.
• "Don't Get Me Anything for My Birthday" Is Not the Same as "Do Nothing" She said don't get her anything. Here is what forty years of gift-giving research says to do instead: ask her, spend less, and give her the day, not the object.
• How to Be Romantic When It Doesn't Come Naturally Not a romantic person? Relationship research points to specific, learnable behaviors. What the evidence shows, and five things to try this week.

See the whole blog. Questions go to questions@bigmomentscompany.com, and a real person replies.