Happy Friday everyone! I’m home from California and am trying to embrace winter, so back to the snowy posts we go! Natalie & Dan’s cozy winter engagements were just the thing to post to get me in the mood! So I included their love story, as always, however I want to first share how the couple and I met first, because it is just too crazy not to share!
Winter Engagements
I was actually shooting a proposal for The Yes Girls (which is a MUST SEE, by the way and you can check it out here). We were all done with the shoot and the couple had started back to their hotel to celebrate and I offered to stay back and help Heather clean up, as it was getting dark FAST! As we were cleaning up, four people came by the boat house and were looking at the dock and watching the sun go down and asked what we were doing. Heather, from The Yes Girls, told them we had just set up for a proposal and now we were cleaning up. They joked that it was REALLY nice of her to set up something so elaborate, and she said well “Thank you, BUT it is my job!” They then teased that they hoped that she got some good photos!
Their Love Story
Natalie and Dan met in college through mutual friends while attending Washington University in St. Louis. Their first date was at the boathouse in Forest Park, right in front of campus. They sat at a table right on the water and she kept obsessing over the ducks that were swimming. Natalie says she was such a total weirdo and she has no idea why he decided to stay with her, but she is very glad he did! (Me too!!) She knew they were in love one day out of the blue. He was cooking a steak for her and she was drinking some wine, and BAM, it just hit her! So, lesson to all, steak and wine are the way to a girl’s heart sometimes!
How He Asked
Dan had originally planned on proposing at the boathouse in Central Park to mirror their first date, but she was running late (as always) and he ran out of time! They had dinner at a tapas restaurant and he proposed just outside under a bunch of construction scaffolding! Natalie says she kind of knew it was coming, but the big surprise was after the proposal when he took her to a bar to meet their parents. It turns out, he had rented the entire basement of the bar for 30 of their closest friends and family to celebrate, including her two best friends that he had flown in!
Their Love Story
Dan and Natalie have very opposite personalities, and Dan likes to say they balance each other out. He is very Type A, and Natalie is very laid back. They feel like they have become better versions of themselves by being together! They love to cook, eat and drink together as well as taking walks and being on the water. Dan is a boat guy and Natalie is a beach girl! They are most looking forward to drinking coffee together every morning and being together even more.
I love these two and am SO glad we met when we did…otherwise I may have never gotten to know these incredible people and shoot their gorgeous cozy winter engagements, and believe me, that would be a crying shame.
XOXO