grace + david | a romantic garden engagement at cylburn arboretum

Traveling from Manhattan to Baltimore to celebrate their engagement at Cylburn Arboretum and eventually their wedding in DC, Grace and David are such a joy to be around - I can’t wait to be around these head-over-heels-in-love soulmates again soon!

We completely lucked out with weather too, considering it wasn’t looking this good earlier in the week and even that day… typical Maryland weather though, within a few hours things changed and we had dry, sunny warm weather to bask in!

I love their love together - it’s full of laughter, admiration, compassion, silliness, intellect, passion and not taking themselves too seriously. All of those aspects of their relationship were on display during our time together at Cylburn’s stunning gardens! For real… keep reading and you’ll see…

I’ve photographed many couples at Cylburn in every season (except winter, but I’m game if you are… I can 100% see a peaceful white snowy winter day getting cozy with your favorite person here!) and each time, the mansion and grounds show off in the best way! I couldn’t get enough of the pink blooms that surrounded Grace + David in front of the historic mansion; it added such a romantic and lush secret garden feel to their Baltimore engagement session!

Like many modern couples searching for their person, Grace and David met using the online app, Coffee meets Bagel. Their first date was at a lovely restaurant… and instead of just having drinks together like originally planned, they ended up staying for the entire evening.

I love how their proposal story is full of equality, humor and culture… just like them!

“David proposed at the Cloisters--the medieval art museum in upper Manhattan. We had planned it together, so we were all dressed up (matching blues) and had an agreed-on order of events. We got brunch at a favorite place, wandered around looking at the show at the Cloisters (it was fashion and the Catholic imagination), and then went out on a balcony. I had the ring in my purse, David asked, "should I just go ahead and do it?" (we'd planned to go to the park to the south), I said, "sure," he said, "can I have the ring?" I said, "yes," and then, "yes" again!

When I asked what they love about each other, their answers were too good not to share!

Grace: Every time I start to write something down here, I think, "wait, what about this other thing?" I have a lot of favorite things about David. The obvious one is that he may be the most easy-going person in the universe. Seriously. It's ridiculous. But he's also incredibly smart, and intellectually curious, and he's very passionate about music and history and life (and he's pursued those passions--which is so rare and wonderful), and he brings that out in me, as well. He's also a really talented pianist (and wrote a song for me, not that that has biased me at all, of course).

David: Where do I begin? She might be one of the most enthusiastic, smartest people I know. She sees me like no one else sees me. She can find the goofy side to almost any situation. She can alternate between sophisticated and silly. She's very empathetic. She keeps me on track.

I can not wait for your upcoming wedding at the Hay-Adams Hotel and Woodend Sanctuary… it’s going to be absolutely breathtaking and full of so much enthusiasm and joy! ;)

xo,
Naomi