Before Katy and I ever even met in-person I already felt like we were two peas in a pod…
She’d ask, “Want to meet early morning?”… ”Yes! I’m totally a morning person!”
I’d say, “I love coffee.. want to grab Caribou?” … “Me too!”
That’s pretty much how most of our conversation topics went, just short of finishing each other’s sentences lol Aside from the fact that I was so excited to work with Katy, I was totally eager to shoot hers and Matt’s wedding because it was scheduled to be the perfect fall-day ceremony outside on the lawn of the Lake Forest Armour House which is one of my favorite venues. Instead of an engagement session we decided to have more of a ‘beloved session’ post-wedding which I think was way more fun anyway 
We went back to the place that they had just said their vows at not long and walked around the grounds, talked about their amazing honeymoon, and enjoyed the gorgeous fall foliage. Per my last e-session post, I thought I’d have Katy tell you all about their proposal story for herself 
THEIR PROPOSAL
“Matt’s grandparents had invited me to join their side of the family for Christmas, in Virginia Beach. I was flattered and immediately said, “YES!” Realizing what I had done, I doubled checked with my mom to make sure that was okay. She smiled and said, ” Of course, but you will be very missed.”
Matt and I are very playful and like to tease each other, especially about who gives the most gifts at Christmas, or who is getting the most expensive gift/gifts. And in usual fashion we were teasing one another days before leaving for Virginia. I had told him that I definitely win for most money spent this year. He said that I could be getting a really really expensive gift this year and that he would win. Then, I decided to blurt out, “ An engagement ring is not a Christmas gift.” Matt said “Yes it is! It’s a gift!”. To which I replied, “Okay it’s a gift, but not a Christmas gift..it’s a I-love-you-so-much-will-you-spend-the-rest-of-your-life-with-me-gift!”. So after that I thought don’t plan on getting engaged this year!
Getting to Virginia Beach was not the best travel experience that year… Matt and I didn’t get to sit with each other on the plane… we sat on the runway for 45minutes waiting for the snow storm to calm down… we had a connection in Detroit that we had to run as fast as we could to make… I think we had something like 7 minutes to get to the other end of the airport. I felt like I was in the movie Home Alone, frantically running for our flight. Thank God we made it! And landed in Virginia Beach at 12;15 am on Christmas Eve. We got to Matt’s grandparents house and slept.
That morning we got up and visited for a little bit. Then, Matt asked me if I wanted to go see the Virginia Beach board walk. We hopped in the car and drove down to the beach. It looked like it was a beautiful day..clear sky, the sun was shining! I wore a light jacket, pretty scarf..I was at the beach, right? Wrong! We both dressed way too light. It was 45 degrees and windy…bbuurrr. I put my scarf over my head, tied it like a babushka and zipped my coat over it. We wanted to walk down to Poseidon..king of the sea. Sixteen blocks later we made it! The two of us were standing there holding each other close saying sweet things. I was thinking he loves me soooooo much because I came to Virginia for Christmas. He had just finished saying how happy he was and how much he loved me. And that he had brought me here for a reason. I thought,”Holy crap! Is this, like, the moment?!”. And it was! He pulled away from me..got down on one knee..took my right hand and started saying more sweet things. I, smoothly, took back my right hand, and gave him my left. He continued with the sweetness..and then popped open that magic box and said,”Will you marry me?” Of course I said YES!!! I even think I was nodding yes during the proposal! I’m so lucky to have found such an incredible man to share my life with!”
