kelly + colin | a relaxed and radiant sunset engagement at cylburn arboretum

Kelly and Colin make my heart so happy. They are 2 of the most incredible humans I’ve met… passionate, hardworking, kind, considerate, thoughtful, smart, funny, have impeccable taste in what they wear, who they surround themselves with and how they move through life.

Our time together at Cylburn Arboretum in late May was nothing short of MAGICAL. The gardens were showing off, the sun was golden and glowy and Kelly + Colin were easy, breezy and beautiful in love.

I can’t get over Kelly’s dress (from Lulu’s — always my favorite!) and how her gorgeous blonde hair fell in romantic, soft waves at her shoulders where the dress tied with the cutest long ribboned bows!

And their meet-cute story:

“The short version is through mutual college friends at the University of Maryland. The long version is this: Colin adopted his first ever dog, Goldie, the summer before our senior year of college. Kelly’s roommate at the time was a huge dog lover and as a good friend of Colin’s then roommate, would often take Goldie for walks or watch her on weekends that the boys were away. Colin would always come pick up Goldie after a play date or sleepover and would always take some time to sit and chat. After several of these Goldie-related hang outs, Kelly soon developed a crush on Colin. On a Saturday night out about a month before graduation (with some liquid courage on board), Kelly made the first move and planted kiss on Colin. The rest is history!”

Their proposal story is so incredible, I love it — who knew a day spent getting baby pee on you, paying taxes and getting a flat tire could end up being such a beautiful day!?

After almost 6 years together, Colin decided the time was right and started planning all the proposal details. He asked Kelly’s parents for permission, got the ring, and hired a photographer to capture the moment. He even got in touch with the student coordinator of Kelly’s anesthesia school program to sneakily give Kelly the day off from the hospital, with the disguise of Good Friday as the reason for the day off. Excited to have a rare day off, Kelly quickly decided to spend the day with her sister and 6 day old nephew to get in some baby snuggles. Kelly helped give baby Jett his very first bath, but not without getting a golden shower herself. Being the natural procrastinator she is, Kelly also had to file her taxes that day as it was literally the last day to submit them. This process brought on several frustrations and maybe a few tears. As the afternoon turned to evening, Kelly’s sister and parents kept asking when she was leaving to go home for her dinner date with Colin at Kooper’s Tavern in Fells Point. Kelly was enjoying her time with the family and jokingly said to them, “are you guys trying to kick me out or something?!” Spoiler alert: they were!

Heading to their home in Canton to change from the aforementioned baby pee outfit into something clean for dinner, Kelly wasn’t 5 minutes down the road from her parents’ house when she heard a hissing sound coming from her right front tire and an alert for low tire pressure. After pulling into a Dunkin Donuts parking lot and confirming she had the flattest tire of all time, she called Colin for an update, who said he was getting ready and would call back soon. Kelly also called her dad, who would stop the world to help her with anything. But to her surprise, he told her to just call AAA rather than coming the 5 minutes away to change the tire himself as she expected he would. She quickly let the thought pass since that is what AAA is for anyway. Behind the scenes, Kelly’s family had immediately began changing when she left in preparation to meet them downtown for the proposal and couldn’t show up in nicer clothes then they’d just been wearing minutes before. Colin called back and said he was going to come pick Kelly up to take her to dinner because he didn’t want to wait for AAA. After finally arriving to Fells Point and parking the car, Kelly and Colin started walking down by the water to head to dinner — Kelly still wearing the sprinkled clothes from earlier with no time to go home and change. Colin suggested a quick stop to sit on a bench overlooking the water to decompress after an eventful afternoon.

While sitting together and enjoying the moment, Colin got down on one knee and proposed! Kelly was in complete shock and the tears of happiness came pouring out. Shortly after, Kelly and Colin’s parents and siblings joined to add to the surprise. The next day, a scheduled brunch date turned out to be a surprise engagement party with all of our closest friends. It was an unforgettable weekend filled with so much love and happiness!

Kelly + Colin, I can’t tell you how excited I am for your wedding day!!

Ever since we first had the chance to connect, you’ve brought such a huge smile to my face. Your love story continues to inspire me in the way you both support each other and prioritize time together amongst such busy and successful careers! I can’t wait to celebrate with you and document all the love, joy and candid emotion at your Heron Room + Cosima wedding!

xo,
Naomi