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

elizabeth + steven | a golden hour garden engagement at Cylburn Arboretum

Cylburn Arboretum’s gardens are in my opinion, the most photogenic natural setting in Baltimore! Whether spring, summer or fall, the grounds are full of color, texture, greenery and a historic mansion that provides elegance, romance and intrigue. It doesn’t get better than this if you want your engagement photos to be timeless, gorgeous and full of variety.

So while brainstorming locations with Elizabeth and Steve, I was extra excited when we landed on Cylburn since Elizabeth told me that Steve is a huge fan of The Wire and they filmed this scene there, so we might have to recreate it together…! ;) Scroll down to see how they did!

I love that they met while playing kickball in Federal Hill almost 10 years ago now and have such a sweet and playful relationship. Their photos just make me smile so much - they’re so comfortable around each other and have such a loving way of being together.

More about their love story, in Elizabeth’s words:

“We met in Fall of 2012. Steve and I were both living in Federal Hill (actually on the same block but didn't know it!). Separately we decided with some friends to join a kickball league and were placed on the same team where we met. Our groups merged fast and we regularly hung out as friends. We were close friends for 2 years before we started dating in 2014.

In June when some of the COVID restrictions were lifted, I was excited to eat outside at a restaurant (and not out of a takeout container). I made a reservation at Limoncello in our neighborhood which ultimately got pushed back a week due to weather. The plan was to walk down to dinner so Steve suggested we take drinks and walk down to Tide Point (a very regular spot for us). When we got there, we sat along the water for a bit before getting ready to head on to dinner. When we stood back up to keep walking Steve took my drink out of my hand, got down on one knee and proposed! Our best friends were hiding behind one of the buildings taking pictures and popped out with champagne to toast. Steve had also secretly changed the reservation so they joined us for dinner to continue the celebrations! My childhood friend is a jewelry designer and Steve worked with her (Sasha Walsh Designs) to make my ring, making everything even more special!”

Elizabeth and Steve, we can’t wait for your wedding at The Winslow this weekend!! I love that we’ll be able to celebrate with photos at Tide Point too, where you got engaged and with such incredible views of Baltimore, a city with so much personality to show off!

xo,
Naomi

10 tips for natural, non-awkward and real engagement photos

Ready to hear something crazy? Engagement sessions aren’t really even about the photos themselves. The photos are a bonus. Yup, I said it.

So what the heck are they for, then?! And how do we get those candid and unposed moments to our engagement photos? Hint: READ ON…

What are engagement photos really for?

1. Establishing a relationship between the 3 of us so you don’t have a stranger documenting the most intimate (and stressful!) days you’ve ever experienced.

   Why would you want to have the first time you meet the person you’ll spend the most time with on your wedding day other than your partner, be the afternoon of your wedding?

2. Building trust… between the 3 of us but also for your immediate family to see photos we took together, to know my style and work in advance.

   Once they do, they will know they can relax on the wedding day and trust us to work our magic and be creative while also capturing everything important to them, as it happens.

3. Enjoying a lighthearted night out together during the stress of wedding planning.

   An excuse to spend an hour outside together having fun with the person you love the most in this world during one of the most exciting times in your lives? Yeah, it could be a lot worse.

As a wedding photographer who prioritizes real moments, natural expressions and genuine laughter, my goal whenever you’re in front of my camera is to allow you to feel comfortable enough to laugh, cry, smile, kiss, hold hands and embrace the way you would (and do!) when no one’s watching. If there’s anything I hear time and time again, it’s one of these statements:

1. “We’re really awkward.”

2. “My fiance doesn’t like having his/her picture taken.”

3. “We don’t need engagement photos because we already have them / my friend / uncle / sister took them for us right after we got engaged…”

4. “Where should we take them? We don’t live in Baltimore and don’t know any places that would be meaningful to us.”

5. “What should we wear? We’re casual people and it’s not our style to get dressed up.”

I’m excited to share this list of 10 tips with you so that taking engagement photos doesn’t have to be something you dread. Instead, it can and should be fun, memorable and refreshing. If you think of it as just another date night, wouldn’t you jump at the chance to do it?

Without further ado, here are…

10 tips for achieving candid and non-awkWard
engagement photos (in other words, cheesy and overly posed is not my style either)!

Read it, save it and share it… and then read it again right before we meet up. ;)

1. DO YOU. If you take nothing else from this list, stop putting pressure on yourselves to be models or pose a certain way. None of my clients are and NO ONE KNOWS WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR HANDS WHEN THEY START! I’ll worry about how you look in front of the camera and give you tips, direction and confidence as needed, as long as you worry about having fun with your boo.

2. Wear what you feel best in and you will automatically feel less awkward. If your groom doesn’t go anywhere without wearing a hat, bring the hat (we’ll take it off for a few, I promise).

3. Put your ‘fancy’ clothes on. I personally feel that we don’t have enough reasons to get dressed up these days (hellooo, people used to get dressed up to ride trains!), but refer to no. 1... fancy can mean whatever you want it to. Maybe it’s just red and cute heels or new and crisp, dark denim!

4. Bring the champagne. Shake it up… magic! I don’t discriminate though and highly encourage all types of liquid courage to be enjoyed! ;)

5. Don’t wear your Fitbit. Take off your ️Apple watch. Give me your keys (but just remind me I have them when we’re done)!

6. Eat a snack before we start but save the meal for after. No one does well with a grumbly belly and dinner at your favorite spot will give you something to look forward to.

7. Choose your location strategically. Think through the places you’re most comfortable in together and the things you like to do in your free time.

8. Weave in your personality and story. Did you meet in college? College campuses are THE MOST photogenic. Do you brew your own beer? Let’s start at your fave brewery. Was your first date at a winery? Bring a bottle of that wine to enjoy. Do you run together? Let’s stroll the trails. Do you own a ️boat? Tell me when and where and I’m there.

9. Don’t bring extras... as in parents/friends. Unless they’re coming to bring home your pup once we’re done with them, I like being your one and only third wheel. Adding others is when it can actually get awkward.

10. Don’t rush the process. I’ve found one hour to be the sweet spot for getting comfortable and used to having a camera near you, having fun and having a bunch of conversations about anything and everything that will allow your wedding photos to be that much more natural and full of real emotion... because that’s the ultimate goal in the end, right?

After reading all of this, 1. you deserve a sweet treat and a glass of wine and 2. I hope you’re looking forward to your engagement session! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll share my thoughts and answers ASAP!