Their love story: We met through a group of mutual friends and bonded over exploring the city that we love, Portland, by bicycle. Will and I fell head over heels for each other, but because both of us are very shy people we spent the beginnings of our relationship playing coy and chasing each other around on bike. We now have been together over 5 years and still are head over heels for each other, but are no longer shy about it! A lot has happened over that five year span as we have both grown with each other, trying to be the best person we can be, and encouraging each other every step of the way. Our lives are truly blessed to have found each other and live a happy life in Portland with our dog (sometimes thought of as our child), Cassidy.
The proposal: For our five year dating anniversary Will planned a weekend away at the coast in Long Beach, WA, which is a quaint coastal town just north of Astoria, OR. Long Beach has miles of boardwalk and trails that line the beach so we had a lot of fun renting bikes from our hotel and cruising the trails. On the second day, we decided to rent bikes and take a picnic on the beach. However, being a busy Sunday all the bikes were out and we waited forever for some to be returned. We were both getting really frustrated and (and a little hungry decided to just pack up the car and drive up the peninsula to a beach. As we got further north, Will drove out on to the beach because it is apparently legal in Washington to drive on the beach. I was such a worry wart the entire time about it too. After all my fretting, we enjoyed a lovely picnic on a surprisingly clear day to find that we had the entire beach to ourselves. There was literally no one in sight. After our picnic we started to walk around and Will was talking about how the last five years of our relationship have been so fast, but the most amazing of our life. At this point I am starting to understand what is happening, but it feels hazy and surreal at the same time. He then gets down on one knee and pulls the ring out of his pocket and tells me he wants to continue our life together for the rest of our lives and will I marry him? It was perfect, simple, intimate and totally us.
About their engagement session: When Will and I were brainstorming our engagement session we knew that we wanted to portray ourselves in our normal life, nothing fussy, just comfortable. However, being a blogger with a creative spirit I also wanted to style our shoot a bit. When I told Brittany she was totally excited and I knew we were going to have a great shoot. Despite, the poor weather we were able to get some cover shooting underneath my favorite bridge in Portland in Cathedral Park. I rented some of the items from Something Borrowed and laid out on my great-grandmother's Navajo rug (it's over a century old!) Living in the Pacific NW has made beer nuts out of Will and I so we each shared a beer, which is something we often do together. We brought our dog, Cassidy, who is such a big part of our life together and Brittany did an amazing job capturing the intimacy of our relationship as well as the spirit of our little family. The second part of our shoot is our favorite because it just felt so natural and true to our everyday life together. The lobby of the Ace Hotel is a favorite spot for us. It is so welcoming that Will and I find ourselves sometimes enjoying coffee there, getting drinks with friends or visiting the photo booth that it only seemed natural to capture that everyday part of our life. We couldn't be happier with how the pictures turned out. Brittany was an amazing and comfortable photographer that we sometimes forgot she was there and were able to just be ourselves. The drinks might have helped with that too!
