Lindsey + Riley Engaged | Tacoma, Washington

Whoa. Yep, whoa, this week has been outta control… with lovey-dovey adorable couples starting with Lindsey + Riley.

I first met L+R in early May to talk about their upcoming wedding and photography. The more I learned about them, their love story, and their vision the more excited I got for their April 2014 wedding at Beckenridge Vineyards. Are you ready to hear the cutest proposal story ever? Here it is told by Lindsey:

“Riley and I had been dating for a few years and I knew the proposal was coming (we had been talking about it for about a year or so at this point). However that didn’t change the fact that I completely ruined the surprise. One day in December I opened up my computer to look at my email. Riley had been logged into his email on my computer since we had just returned from looking at possible housing options in Washington, and my computer was the only one we took with us. I happened to see an email from one of the landlords we had spoken to, and it was from the house we were interested in the most. Riley hadn’t given me very much info about what she had said, so I figured I would just take a look at it. The first line in the email was Riley telling our now-landlord that he was planning to propose on New Year’s Eve. I freaked out and couldn’t figure out what to do, but I caved and ended up telling him about an hour later because I really did want to be surprised. He was irritated and I told him that now I didn’t know what he was going to do, so he could either do the same thing he had planned or something different, but I wouldn’t know.

Fast forward about a week, and Riley and I had just finished watching a movie or something on TV. He got up to do something, leaving me in control of the remote. I flipped through a couple channels and happened to see that Disney’s Hercules was on. I got pretty excited so I settled in to watch Hercules. Riley came over, plopped on the couch next to me and turned the TV off, saying he didn’t want to watch Hercules. I was annoyed, because he completely relinquished control of the remote when he got up, and I was super excited about watching Hercules. I asked him “Well, ok fine, what do you want to do instead?” and as I said it, he sat down on the couch and my foot bumped something in his pocket… He pulled out the ring box and said, “I wanted to do this!” Of course, I started crying, and was like, “Really, right now? I’m wearing yoga pants!” And he said, “Yes right now!” Then he just sat there and looked at me for a minute, so I said, “Well are you gonna ask me or what?” He said, “I didn’t think I had to ask, I thought it was implied!” I said, “Of course you have to ask!” So then he asked me to marry him. And I immediately started making the guest list for the wedding. :)”

Cutest ruined proposal ever? Yes, I think so. Nice save Riley. 😉

We had a pretty loose plan for their engagement session, mostly because I’m not at all familiar with Federal Way or neighboring Tacoma,  we knew that there would be a ferry ride at the end but that was the only “plan”. I started my morning early with a consultation in Portland – what can I say I like to make the most of my days – and continued to head north arriving in the early afternoon. L+R wanted to include their dog, Sierra,  in some of the portraits so we decided to do those first. I was in desperate need of lunch so we all piled in Riley’s truck and headed over to Old Town Tacoma. We used the Waterfront and buildings to create a downtown-ish look without being too urban. Sierra was hilarious and provided endless comic relief as we all warmed up and got into photo-mode. After a trip back to their house to drop off Sierra we headed back – we didn’t realize that the ferry we planned to ride was really close to Old Town… oops – and spent the late afternoon at Point Defiance Park. The light was warm, low, and perfect for romantic cuddly poses. We also brought out the BEST umbrella you wish you had! A yellow umbrella with the phrase “Have you met…” simply printed on one panel. For those of you who get this legendary reference, congratulations; for those of you who don’t please go watch every season of ‘How I Met Your Mother’… and do it now.

After playing in the park it was time for the ferry. I admit that I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get real tickets or something more than just a receipt, but for most everyone except us this was a normal part of their everyday commute to and from work. Oh well. The crossing was pretty quick – only 15 min each way – so we busted out our planned shots on the first leg and played around with totally-not-Titanic shots as well as the umbrella some more.

We returned to our vehicles and parted ways at the park. L+R went off to get their Sunday night burgers and I called up my friend Maren for a pizza date. It was a good thing I called too, because she’s leaving on …tomorrow for France for all of July. Yay! Even though I also planned to stay in Washington over night I decided to drive home after dinner. Let me just remind all of you that there isn’t much on I-5 between Olympia and Portland. Yaaaaaaaawn.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LINDSEY + RILEY! I can’t wait for your special day in April <3