melanie + james | north point state park beach engagement with their dogs
There are so many reasons to love Mel + James, I don’t know where to start… the first 5 that come to mind:
- They are double dog parents to 2 of the most adorable, photogenic, sweet, energetic and personality-filled pups I’ve ever met.
- Mel’s sense of style; summer dresses, Anthropologie inspo, mood boards + color palettes, modern typefaces and dog-friendly bars + breweries.
- They brought 2 types of liquid courage with them to their esesh: one to drink and one to pop for the photos, obviously (scroll to the end).
- She is a fellow small-business owner too; Little Orange Studio specializes in ‘thoughtfully crafted design’ (love that tagline).
- James proposal was a complete surprise, in a wine cellar of Tagliata, a local Baltimore restaurant with “a significantly large charcuterie board” (the BEST, right?)…more on the proposal details below! 🙂
But how they got to this point is an adorable story on its own… in Mel’s words:
“We first met at a college pre-game party in Salisbury. The pre-game was at James’ house and a mutual friend invited me and my roommate over. Naturally, I was underage and playing beer pong with Captain Morgan. Across from me on the table was James! We bumped into each other back home on spring break at The Stalking Horse where we exchanged numbers and realized that we’re both from Baltimore. We are laughing out loud right now because it seriously is so blurry we can’t even get our story straight. There were so many fun nights following with friends where James and I would bump into each other. We both say that we’re pretty sure we had the same conversations several times and it’s the drunk college version of 50 first dates. We both also worked in Ocean City every summer when the spring semester was over. We had our first date that summer and some of our most favorite memories. I still can’t believe it took us three years at college and three summers working down the beach to finally bump into each other because we had so many mutual friends.”
It’s hard to pick a favorite of these two, but the black and white moments may be my favorite… they so perfectly show the way Mel + James compliment each other.
“If I could just name one thing [I love about James], it would be that I’ve never had more fun with anyone else in any given situation. James makes everything fun and I really love that about him. I’ve never laughed so hard in three hours of stand-still traffic. Some of my favorite memories are times where it was just him and I doing something impromptu and having a blast. Even arguments end up with both of us laughing. How lucky am I to marry someone that makes life so fun— never a dull moment.” ~Mel
“I love Mel’s selflessness and how she always puts other people before herself. She is truly a genuine person and agrees with me when we say that its about the little things in this life. On top of that she always motivates me to be the best possible version on myself and keeps me young at heart. ~James
