melanie + james | north point state park beach engagement with their dogs

There are so many reasons to love Mel + James, I don’t know where to start!! The first 5 that come to mind:

1. They are not only dog people… they are double dog parents to 2 of the most adorable, photogenic, sweet, energetic and personality-filled pups I’ve ever met.

2. Mel’s sense of style; she is my go-to resource for fall boots (Frye all the way!), summer dresses, blue-light glasses (she introduced me to the awesomeness of Felix Gray!) Anthropologie inspo, mood boards + color palettes, modern typefaces and dog-friendly bars + breweries.

3. They brought 2 types of liquid courage with them to their esesh: one to drink and one to pop for the photos, obviously (scroll to the end). Yes and YES!

4. She is a fellow small-business owner too; Little Orange Studio specializes in ‘thoughtfully crafted design’ (love that tagline).

5. James proposal was a complete surprise, in a wine cellar of a local Baltimore restaurant with “a significantly large charcuterie board” (the BEST, right?)…more on the proposal details below! :)

But how they got to this point is an adorable story on its own… in Mel’s words:

“We first met at a college pre-game party in Salisbury. The pre-game was at James' house and a mutual friend invited me and my roommate over. Naturally, I was underage and playing beer pong with Captain Morgan. Across from me on the table was James!

We bumped into each other back home on spring break at The Stalking Horse where we exchanged numbers and realized that we're both from Baltimore. We are laughing out loud right now because it seriously is so blurry we can't even get our story straight. There were so many fun nights following with friends where James and I would bump into each other. We both say that we're pretty sure we had the same conversations several times and it's the drunk college version of 50 first dates. We both also worked in Ocean City every summer when the spring semester was over. We had our first date that summer and some of our most favorite memories. I still can't believe it took us three years at college and three summers working down the beach to finally bump into each other because we had so many mutual friends.”

I love these two photos paired up because it shows how cute they were at the beginning of our time together and how confident and much fun they were having at the end… not to mention, their perfect choices for a summer-at-the-beach vibe to their engagement photos! Mel’s dress is this Anthro one, if you were wondering… ;)

And then the proposal story… in James’ words!

“I made reservations on the week of her birthday to throw her off the scent of me or anyone that could be getting overly excited, as well as going to a really nice restaurant. A week before I scouted out the wine cellar and met the manager and server who would be taking care of us and told them the plan.

I reserved the wine cellar in the basement of the restaurant where we had wine and a significantly large charcuterie board. We were hanging out, enjoying ourselves when I thought I saw something that looked familiar. (For anyone who has not been in their wine cellar, it is a narrow room, obviously with wine literally wall to wall. There are 3 long narrow tables for people to hang out and drink while they are down there, so when popping the question, I had to figure out how to get on the other side of this long narrow table.) I moved to the other side of the table to look at one of the bottles of wine on the lower rack, while on one knee and came up with the ring box in my hand and popped the question. She had NO IDEA and all the planning was well worth the reaction. We then went upstairs for dinner and a drinks, then went home and had friends and family over to celebrate!”

It’s hard to pick a favorite of these two, but the black and white moments may be my favorite… they so perfectly show the way Mel + James compliment each other.

“If I could just name one thing [I love about James], it would be that I've never had more fun with anyone else in any given situation. James makes everything fun and I really love that about him. I've never laughed so hard in three hours of stand-still traffic. Some of my favorite memories are times where it was just him and I doing something impromptu and having a blast. Even arguments end up with both of us laughing. How lucky am I to marry someone that makes life so fun— never a dull moment.” ~Mel

“I love Mel's selflessness and how she always puts other people before herself. She is truly a genuine person and agrees with me when we say that its about the little things in this life. On top of that she always motivates me to be the best possible version on myself and keeps me young at heart. ~James

You both are the definition of perfect soulmates and I couldn’t be happier to document the official start of your married life together! I know it’s bittersweet to have had to postpone to 2021, but know we are all celebrating with you this weekend in spirit and the party will be that much more EPIC when the big day finally gets here next summer!

xo,
Naomi