Colorado Aspens: Happy Engagement Natalie and William!

Natalie and William had one request for their engagement photos: aspens! And I’m so glad they did! The Colorado aspens are stunning. It looks like yellow confetti was thrown all over the forest to celebrate this engagement and it was so much fun to photograph.

We met at Maxwell Falls in Evergreen in early October to capture the golden leaves.

Natalie shares, “Will and I met in Chicago five years ago, after being introduced on a dating website! Our first date almost didn’t happen–it was a Friday after work and Will had failed to reach out to confirm we were still on to meet up until 4:30 pm. After the long week, I almost blew him off, but thankfully my roommate convinced me to go. We met at a cocktail bar called Barrelhouse Flat, then hopped over to Delilah’s, a whiskey dive bar to play a few games of pool, and I was hooked!

From there, we enjoyed a lot of firsts together in Chicago: Cuban food on a patio, Zoo Lights, trips to the Field Museum, and lots of late night pizzas at Ranalli’s. My roommate decided to move back to Kansas, and it was the perfect opportunity for Will and I to test our relationship and move in together with our dog, Berkeley. Thankfully, all worked out and we decided to move across country to Denver just a year later!

For our third anniversary, I was whisked away on a surprise trip to San Francisco/Sonoma–my favorite vacation spot. Will had coordinated with my boss and co-workers for me to take a week-long vacation, at the start of which he proposed. The proposal didn’t go exactly as planned. Will had been working with my cousin, Kirstin, to drive me to the top of Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County to pop the question, but just an hour before we were set to drive up he discovered that the road was closed to the top due to wind. So, change of plans! We drove part way up the mountain, then took (what felt like) a 30-minute hike to a scenic spot, where he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. My cousin was hiding in a tree and got the whole proposal on camera.

It was genuinely a wonderful moment and something I will never forget. Such a well-thought-out plan in one of my favorite places on Earth. After the proposal, we got to enjoy the rest of the week exploring San Francisco and drinking wine in Sonoma–not too shabby at all!

So here we are, two years later, just about to celebrate our five-year anniversary together and FINALLY getting married! I’m not much of an event planner myself, so the wedding kept getting put off because I just didn’t know where to start with the planning process. Will’s mom and sister finally got fed up with all of my procrastinating, and offered to plan the wedding for us if we agreed to show up (which was a total win for me). The big day is November 9th, and we just can’t wait to be married!”