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I met Hannah and Sam at Mt. Falcon on a beautiful spring day. Their pup, Palmer, was so sweet and loved being on the trails.

Hannah shares, “We met working in Chicago in our early twenties. We often joke that our lives in Chicago were parallel and we have no idea how it took us so long to meet. We lived two blocks away from each other (twice, we both moved to new units and were still the same distance away!), we took the same commute at the same time to work every day… and then, we finally met when we both took a new job at the same company in June 2018. Sam started a few weeks before I did, and our first conversation was at a happy hour for my start class. Sam acted like he had everything figured out and I remember wishing for the day I felt like I knew what I was doing at work. We both remember that conversation vividly, as this was when we realized we would be working on the same client (different project, though, thank goodness!) in LA.

We spent the next year “professionally” – we were colleagues and dating other people, but still friendly. We traveled back and forth from Chicago to LA every week together. Then, the summer of 2019 came around and we started to hang out more and more… Sam started inviting me to non-work events, and finally I had the nerve to text him to meet me on a night out with some friends. It happened to also be my birthday, and now we have an extra reason to celebrate my birthday every year: our “unofficial” anniversary.

We spent the next year continuing to travel to LA together for work, taking advantage of our consulting lifestyles and traveling together on the weekends. When COVID hit in March 2020, we decided to continue our adventures and move to Denver together. The rest is history.

Sam proposed in Beaver Creek in March last year when my parents and brother were visiting for a weekend. He had a beautiful setup at the base of the mountain in the evening where he asked me to marry him, and it was the easiest yes of my life. We’ve known each other as many things – colleague, friend, boyfriend, fiance, dog parent, roommate. We’re most excited to be husband and wife in eleven short months.”

Congratulations Hannah and Sam! The couple will be getting married at the Manor House next spring.

It just so happened that I would be in California right before Cassie and John were flying across the country for their NYC wedding. The couple lives in Newport Beach with their sweet pup, Frankie. So we just had to plan an engagement session at the beach!

Cassie and John met in Laguna Beach. At the time, in April of 2021, Cassie was traveling around the West Coast. They started dating that June, and got along so well, that when Cassie was set return to New York, she changed her plans and stayed in California so they could be together. About a year after they met, in April of 2022, they got engaged.

Happy engagement Cassie and John!

Casey and Shakari have spent time together in Colorado and California. When they asked me to come to Los Angeles for their engagement session I couldn’t wait! We met at the historic Griffith Observatory.

The couple chose to do their engagement shoot at the famous Griffith Observatory on Mount Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. Casey shares, “Observatories show us the vastness of the universe and remind us how small we are, and how much is out there. In all the dimensions, in all the galaxies, in all the solar systems, in all the countries, in all the cities, we found each other. And in each other, we found someone that makes us laugh, that wants to help the other grow, can overcome issues together, and experience everything life has to offer together. Observatories remind us that everything in the universe is random and chaotic, and through a line of random events, we found each other, and we want to face all the chaos of the universe together.”

Casey and Shakari met in college at CU Boulder during a T-Shirt Tye Dying event. She shares, “I went because I love to meet new people and craft. Shakari went because his job required him to be there. I fell in love with Shakari’s megawatt smile, and we hit it off. We began dating soon after.

Five months later, we decided to celebrate our first major holiday together: New Year’s Eve. The night proved to be a complete disaster. At the time, Shakari was working for an apartment complex for upperclassmen students, and he was on call for emergencies that night. Instead of ringing in the new year with dinner and a movie as planned, he had to run around cleaning up after a building fire caused by a student trying to cook dinner (and who fled the scene). I helped him get displaced students emergency housing while trudging through the snow, and then we went back to the apartment to clean up. When he got back to his apartment at 2AM, I surprised him with dinner and a movie ready to play on TV.

We later moved to Los Angeles to work on our master’s degrees, then back to Colorado just in time for the pandemic. We got engaged on New Year’s Eve of 2020, as we considered it “our holiday” after the first disastrous one we spent together.

We moved back to LA in 2021 to pursue our careers and create new adventures together.”

The couple is getting married on New Year’s Eve in Colorado.
Happy engagement Casey and Shakari!

I met Shira and David on a warm September evening at Red Rocks to celebrate their engagement.

Shira shares, “David and I met in northern Colorado, on the dating app Bumble. I was in training to be a veterinarian and have been a lifelong animal lover. Logically, my profile stated “swipe left if you’re allergic to dogs, cats, or horses.” David is allergic to all three, and still swiped right. I can’t quite remember when the truth came out, but it was already too late.

Our first date was at New Belgium in Fort Collins… then Tasty Harmony… then Union. We were having way too much fun to end the date! After eventually parting ways, we met back up the next day to go hiking at Gray Rock, and David brought along his pup Niko. I was hooked.

David and I cultivated our relationship slowly through my challenging years in veterinary school and his demanding years of family medicine residency. After three years together, I headed off to an internship in Washington, DC, and David moved to Montana to start his career in rural family medicine.

I came to Montana to visit David over the new year where he proposed on horseback on the top of a snowy mountain. It was beautiful! I just about froze my left hand off on the way down – I didn’t want to put my glove back on!

Since then, I’ve finished my internship and moved out to Montana to join David. We’re settling into a small cabin at the base of the gorgeous Mission mountains, and have continued acquiring animals. Right now we have three dogs, a snake, and a horse!

Our relationship formed and grew in Colorado, a state that is not only David’s childhood home, but now is a very special place to us. We took our engagement photos at Red Rocks, the site of one of our early dates to see Lake Street Dive, and we’re so excited to marry in the mountains of Colorado in 2023!”

The couple is getting married next September in Colorado. Congratulations Shira and David!

I met Ellen and Zach and their dog, Sammie, in Wash Park to celebrate their engagement. They love to go to the south corner of the park and watch the sunset over the mountains.

Ellen shares, “Sammie is our 13-year-old border collie, she is a sweet girl and still has a lot of energy! She is the center of our universe and knows it!

Zach and I were introduced by friends. He played (and still plays) in a band with the boyfriend, now husband, of one of my closest friends. We met at the Meadowlark in 2015 and have been together ever since!

We got engaged in Minnesota in July of last year while vacationing with my family on Lake Vermillion. Zach knew he wanted to propose on a canoe ride and had a specific day and time in mind. It ended up being quite windy, but Zach insisted we still go out on the water. We had a lovely paddle with the wind on the lake and Zach asked me to marry him while we stopped to float on the open water. I said yes and we enjoyed time on the lake just the two of us.

When it was time for us to head back to our cabin, we had to paddle directly against the wind. The wind was so strong that Zach ended up having to get out of the canoe in his clothes and push the canoe home! When we finally returned, my family was surprised to see Zach was soaked and we were exhausted. We celebrated with everyone and had a good laugh! It was perfect.”

Congratulations on your engagement, Ellen and Zach!