I first met Julie when she was the maid of honor for her sister’s wedding last year. She was everything you want a maid of honor to be – joyful, helpful, and genuinely happy for her sister. You can imagine how excited I was when Julie reached out after getting engaged to Matt last December. I’m thrilled I get to work with Julie and Matt and I have to say that getting to work with the same family again is just such an honor.

For their engagement session, I met up with Julie and Matt at Branch Brook Park back in April. I was so happy that they didn’t mind meeting up first thing in the morning because we had the park all to ourselves – and the cherry blossoms, too. All 4,000+ of them! We spent the first part of our time together in the southern portion of the park by a serene lake and then headed to the northern end of the park where there were more cherry blossoms in full bloom.

My favorite part of this session was seeing Julie and Matt so comfortable and absolutely joyful with each other. They warmed up to the camera right away so they made my job really easy! I love the images we created together and can’t wait to capture them again for their Pleasantdale Chateau wedding. They are planning a natural and whimsical wedding and I can’t wait to see it all come together. Get excited to see these two on the blog again in December – it’ll be here in no time – but, for now, enjoy reading their love story below and getting a peek at some of my favorite images from their engagement session.

Spring Cherry Blossom Engagement

Their first date

“We both remember the date being natural and organically funny. Conversation did not have awkward pauses and we extended the date further into the night with a movie to get extra time together.”

When they knew they had found the one

“On our fourth date Matt and I went to a show in the city and had dinner. To catch our train home we ended up running to the station in the pouring rain and both left that date knowing we were in love. On our anniversary every year Matt and I re-create that date (minus the running through the rain, ha).”

The proposal

“Matt proposed to me before taking a flight to go on an annual family trip.  I was incredibly surprised and as I got home from work minutes before our ride to the airport arrived Matt proposed privately within our home. We got to spend time on the plane together letting the engagement soak in before celebrating with my family on a week away.”