We met in our last year of undergrad at Oregon State through mutual friends (Sandy’s roommate and Josh’s classmate were dating at the time, now married). After graduation, I (Sandy) moved up to Washington State University for pharmacy school while Josh moved to Eugene, Oregon and started his career. After the first year of work, Josh quickly decided being a grown up was overrated and went to WSU for graduate school in engineering… and to be closer to me… I’d like to think :).

As I was nearing graduation of what became my “professional student’s career”, it was about that time in taking the next step. With a few “friendly” hints from me, Josh took a trip back to Eugene to get the ring. We were planning a trip to visit my sister in Alabama that next week and Josh had originally planned to do it then. Fortunately, Josh is awful at keeping secrets and waiting for the “moment”. So when he got back from Eugene, he suggested we take my dogs out for a walk… at 7 am. Having had experience with Josh and early mornings, it became pretty obvious something was going on. We walked along a trail to a beach/park and Josh got pretty quiet (you may know how chatty he normally is!). To mess with him, I was telling him we needed to head back so I could pack for the airport. Then he got down on one knee and proposed. It was the exact proposal I had wanted, a private and personal engagement.

Cathleen and Michael Wedding from Hildebrand Productions on Vimeo.

A big shout out to our favorite vendors. You all did such an amazing job at taking care of Cathleen and Michael and making their big day flawless!

Weddings by Wendy Wendy Taggart-Walker www.simpleewendy.com

Cobalt Wedding Events Cammie Watts www.cobalteventrentals.com

Venue: Murano Hotel

Here’s Brenna and I at Coulon Park. Brenna and James engagement shoot was so much fun. We have so much in common. We even wore the same shirt to the shoot! I promised not to wear a white gown on her wedding day though! We are both animal lovers and we own the same shirt. We are practically twins! 1f609 She wants to someday have a mini farm with goats, chickens and other fun farm animals. I think some of this was news to James but he sounds like the calm, cool, adventurous type so it’ll all work out.

Brenna is such a natural beauty…perfect complexion and so natural in front of the camera. And to think she had a Mohawk before she grew her hair out for her wedding! What personality, I love it!

This is Brandon and I at my cousin Lance and his beautiful fiance, Ariana’s wedding at Huntley Lodge in Cle Elum. Yes we shot lots of photos but yes we had a lot of fun too! I am so glad Lance and Ariana found each other. Ariana fits right into our family like she was always a part of it and her family is so super nice. They are peas in a pod. Both laid back, like to be adventurous (hello skydiving!) and hard working. They’re in Costa Rica right now on their honeymoon. I cannot wait to hear about their adventures down there! I’m sure they’re seeing and doing everything life has to offer in the jungles full of monkeys, volcanoes, zip lines and beaches…so cool!

Cheers to the lovely couple!
-Dawn

Mark and Holly both grew up merely miles away from each other in Kent, WA but they did not actually meet until the time was right in late 2009. Holly’s sister, Heather, went to Kentridge High School (95-97) with Mark (97-99) but boundaries changed forcing Holly to attend Kentwood High School (99-01).

In 2000, Mark started working for Holly’s uncle, Terry.

In 2005, Mark went to Terry’s wedding at Holly’s grandpa’s home in Ellensburg, WA. Holly was in town that weekend at the rodeo with friends but did not end up making it to the wedding that day.

In 2009, Holly’s dad, Jack, and wife, Tanya purchased a plot of land in Ravensdale, WA to build their dream home. They invited the family out for a hot bonfire to celebrate on a cold autumn day. Terry and Holly spoke very briefly at the bonfire but he invited her to the annual Turkey Bowl. The Turkey Bowl is a game of flag football where Terry’s frozen Thanksgiving Day turkey can be used in the game for extra points. It sounded interesting and he mentioned there would be a lot of single guys there. Holly (completely out of character) decided to go ahead alone and freeze her butt off watching a bunch of guys play football with a family she hardly knew.

Mark spotted Holly walking toward the bleachers while they were warming up on the field. After the game Mark hung around to help clean up, but really to ask Terry’s son Corey, “Who’s the hottie?”. He looked over his shoulder and simply said, “That’s my cousin.” and kept on walking.

On the way back to the house for food and drinks, Mark tried to mentally prepare himself for approaching Holly. For the first time in 7 years, Mark knew he needed to jump back on the horse and get back into the dating scene.

During the after-party, Holly located the outdoor fireplace to warm up next to. Mark immediately found a wing-man, Dave, and slid into conversation with Holly. They talked with ease and knew there could be something there but the conversation ended abruptly.

Holly had to leave to meet up with a friend (which she was already an hour late). She made sure to pass on her phone number loudly to her cousin, Corey right in front of Mark. Mark was so deep in thought about how to ask for her phone number that he completely missed the opportunity to take down the number while she gave it to Corey. Over the course of the next few weeks Mark frequently bugged Corey to give him Holly’s number. When Mark finally got her number and made the first call they both knew something special was beginning.

On September 15, 2012, Mark and Holly were wine tasting for the first time in the Tri-Cities. They spent the day enjoying each others company in the hot summer sun. They walked along the river, played frisbee in the park and went to a few wineries for tastings. There was one winery that really stuck out to Holly when researching places to go for the quick weekend trip which was Tagaris Winery in Richland, WA. They had an indoor bar and restaurant with outdoor seating with a live band at night. They tasted the best wine of the weekend in the bar and joined the wine club before moving to the patio next to a large fountain for dinner. After dinner, Mark got down on one knee and proposed to (a very surprised) Holly. Of course she said yes!

What’s your story? How did you meet? How did the proposal go?
We met on Eharmony.com. I (Alicia) had moved to Seattle about a year and a half prior to that and had been having no luck meeting new people, girls and guys alike. I started going to a local church and made some girl friends (now part of my wedding party); one of them suggested that I use internet dating to meet potential guys. Being from a small town with old fashioned values I had never thought of this type of dating, but after feeling so secluded in the big city I thought it would be worth a try. Kevin says he started using it for the same reasons, all of his guy friends were married and meeting single, successful women seemed near impossible. After about 9 months of Eharmony for me, I was matched with Kevin and we exchanged emails for an entire Summer, but never did meet. I had been on a few dead end dates and in August of that summer I decided that I was going to close down my Eharmony account. Kevin had emailed me in that same week and said he was going to shut his down too, and gave me his personal email. He also suggested that we meet. We emailed a few more times before I decided to give him my phone number. He called me the next day and we planned a date. We were going to meet at a restaurant down at Southcenter, near where he lived. The day of the date it was gorgeous outside, it was warm and summery, even in late September. I started thinking about the date and thought that I would feel more comfortable if we met closer to my house and that it might be nice to be outside, more relaxed. I called Kevin and asked if he would like to Picnic at Gasworks Park instead. He thought it was a great idea. I stopped by PCC on the way there and that’s when I started feeling nervous. I grabbed some sandwiches and some other Organic stuff (I wasn’t sure if he was the typical Seattlite or not!) When I pulled into the parking lot I called Kevin. He answered and said that he was in the parking lot, standing by the path. There were quite a few people around and I had only seen a few photos so I was pretty nervous. Then he saw me (red hair is hard to miss) and I saw him smile and wave at me. He was tall and blonde and adorable, talk about butterflies! We had our picnic and walked around the park, just talking. He was so easy to talk to and so laid back, I remember feeling instantly comfortable with him. After a few hours we decided to go over to Fremont and have a few drinks. The night was full of laughing and great conversation, it went perfectly and ended respectfully. I was so excited. It was sometime after our 4th date that I was driving home from his house one day and felt this overwhelming sense of “knowing.” I knew right then and there that Kevin was “the one.” I had always heard people talk about that feeling but never really believed it was a true thing until that day.

We were both on the same page from day one. We both wanted first and foremost, a family. We didn’t really plan on having the family before the marriage, but it did happen that way and we were both thrilled to find out we were having a baby. We considered having a shotgun wedding, before the baby was born, but decided that we wanted to wait until our little family was settled. Kevin had been talking about proposing to me for months, even only 6 months after we met. I think we both knew right away what was going to be. I gave him several “hints” at what kind of ring I wanted. Two of my best friends got engaged in Fall of 2012, it was then that I started to feel antsy, especially because I knew he would want to wait until the hype from their engagements were over.

I honestly had NO idea that Kevin was going to propose when he did. We were in my hometown of Longview WA over Thanksgiving holiday this past winter visiting my family when he popped the question. It had been a great trip, lots of food and time with my parents and siblings, even a few old friends. It was Saturday evening and Kevin suggested we go out to dinner, just us, to get away for a bit. I thought it was a great idea because I was feeling a little overwhelmed with my parents house and my siblings running around. We went to a local restaurant that I always loved and had dinner. From there we decided to just drive around town and look at Christmas lights. The city of Longview decorates one of the islands in the lake every year on Thanksgiving. Its funny that Kevin took me there because it is a place that has always been special to me, since I was a little kid.

We parked by the lake and walked down the path next to the water. It was super cold and crisp, but perfectly clear skies that night. There wasn’t a soul around either (which is unusual). We stood there looking at the hundreds of Christmas lights hanging over the water and on the trees when he said that he had something that he wanted me to wear in the photos for tomorrow (we were having professional maternity photos done the next day). I was puzzled until he put his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out the box. I was shocked and excited. He got on his knee and asked the question, I of course said yes. It was an exciting time and the ring what exactly what I always wanted. We hugged and kissed and laughed for a while before returning to my parents and sharing the news (my Dad already knew of course). The fact that he asked me at that island, by the lake was a big deal and I dont think he will ever understand why. It was a perfect proposal.

We met in 2010 on Okcupid.com. Bill messaged Margaret first, they emailed back and forth a bit, and then met in person at Thornton Place over dinner and a movie (sushi and Inception). They dated casually for three months before Bill called it quits. They didn’t talk for about 10 months. Both dated other people in the interim. In the summer, Margaret was back to online dating and wondered what Bill was up to, so she emailed him. They met for drinks and sparks flew initially, but both got cold feet, and Margaret decided to date one of the Eharmony guys. Once that fizzled out, she contacted Bill AGAIN, they met up, decided to date exclusively, and the rest is history! That was in November 2011.

Fast forward to spring 2012. They are talking marriage but not totally sure. Margaret suggests Green Lake Jewelry Works as a possible place to get a ring. Bill checks it out and is really impressed, so they start designing their dream ring. Bill wants to pop the question before they get the actual ring, so as not to ruin the surprise! So he plans an all-day date the first Saturday in August and is very secretive about the whole thing. Obviously Margaret is suspicious something’s up, but doesn’t want to get her hopes up. Bill makes Margaret brunch at her apartment downtown. He hails and Uber cab from his phone, which takes them to the Pacific Science Center to go to the Mummies exhibit. Afterwards they grab lunch at Lola. Then they go to the matinee of Rent at the 5th Ave. Finally they are walking down to the Great Wheel at about 5pm. They wait in line and get in a gondola with two other couples. Margaret thinks, “No way he’s going to propose in front of these other people!” Bill passes his camera to the gal sitting across and asks her to snap a picture. Then he turns to Margaret, pulls out the ring, gets on his knee, and proposes! Margaret is shocked but says “Yes of course!” Afterwards they head to Seraphina on Eastlake for a romantic dinner, and the rest is history!

Tyler and I met at work. We decided to go on a snowboarding trip together because I had no way to get to the mountains and Tyler did not have anyone to go with. This trip ended up being our first date. We pretty much have not spend a day apart since.

4 years later Tyler proposed to me at the Tulalip Casino. We went for a weekend trip for Tyler’s 30th birthday. My parents and a group of our close friends traveled to the casino. Unknown to me, but known almost everyone else Tyler had a surprise proposal planned. Our second day there we all went to dinner at one of the restaurants and Tyler proposed after a champagne toast by the best man.