ROMANTIC BALTIMORE ENGAGEMENT SESSION | KAITLYN AND GEORGE | MARYLAND WEDDING PHOTOGRPAHER | AMANDA MACPHEE STUDIOS

From Amanda: This session really was a blast! And we got to explore all over the surrounding Baltimore neighorhoods! First we started at Sherwood for their tulip festival because duh! Then we ventured outside the area and found the cutest church and blossoming tree lined sidewalk! Needless to say we spent a loooong time there! These two were so fun to work with and try out my kooky ideas!

Just Another Day

It really is funny how life works out. Kaitlyn decided to study International Business as her major, but after falling in love with the prospect of a study abroad trip to Costa Rica, circumstance led her to an environmental study course instead! And this is where, as they say, it all began:

Kaitlyn:  “I decided to take an environmental science class only because it allowed me to do a field study in Costa Rica (not because I was interested in the class material, lol!). On the first day of class, I arrived early and sat in front of the classroom. Shortly afterward, I see some guy riding into the classroom on a penny board (type of skateboard), wet board shorts, a Rollins Wakeboarding Team teeshirt, and a red RVCA hat. At that moment I was like who does this guy think he is coming into class like this on the first day?! Well, out of all of the empty seats in the classroom, sure enough, this guy George decided to sit right behind me!”

George: “I just finished wakeboarding that morning and went straight to class. When I got in there I recognized most of the people in there except this girl who was the only one sitting in the front row. I decided to sit right behind her and in front of one of my fraternity brothers. After class, I asked my fraternity brother who Kaitlyn was and if he knew her. He responded and said, yeah she’s “Instagram Famous.” I had no idea what that meant because I rarely use social media, but now that we were paired in a group together, I had her phone number and started messaging her using the group project as an excuse to talk to her and meet up with her to work on the project. Needless to say, we got an A on the project, and I was able to meet my now almost wife.” Also, when we first started dating, we realized some coincidental things. For example, we share the same November 24th birthday! Also after a few months of dating, we also told each other that each of us were planning on studying abroad in fall 2014! We both traveled abroad on Semester at Sea, which took us to 12 different countries around the world on a cruise ship with 500 other college students! We went to England, Russia, Poland, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Brazil, Barbados, and Cuba!

How He Asked: A Proposal Story Told in Tandem

Kaitlyn: I took [George] home to my house many times for the weekend during our time at school. My family lived on the west coast of Florida (Anna Maria Island) and it was only a 2.5 hour drive [from school]. On one of the trips, I told him about this one very fancy restaurant that I always wanted to go to but it was expensive so I never had anyone take me there. That was probably like 5 or 6 years ago that I told him this and then we never talked about it again. Months before our trip to Florida, George was like I want to take you to dinner at a surprise place when we are in Anna Maria and he was trying to figure out the best day. I remember saying to him why are you trying to plan it in advance like it’s the island we will figure it out when we get there you don’t need to plan months in advance! So May 20, 2021, was the day that George planned our dinner out. He didn’t tell me where we were going so I didn’t have any idea.

George: I knew that Kaitlyn always wanted to be proposed to in Florida since she told me several times throughout the years. So I knew to plan the engagement around this trip to Florida (which I didn’t think Kaitlyn would be suspecting of it since we were there mainly to go to two graduations). I remembered that there was this one restaurant on the island that Kaitlyn told me about awhile ago and called 3 months ahead to make a reservation. Originally, I wanted to have our table right outside on the beach for sunset, but they told me during that time of year, they don’t have their tables on the sand because it was “turtle” season, but still could get a table for sunset. I told them what I was planning and worked it out with the maître de. Prior to us going to Florida, I went with my mom to pick out crystal champagne glasses that I wanted to have at the restaurant. I texted Kaitlyn’s dad and told him that I was shipping something to the house but to not let Kaitlyn know/see. When we arrive to Anna Maria after being in Miami with my family, I was sitting in Kaitlyn’s parents’ backyard by the pool smoking cigars with her dad. Like clockwork, he asked me about the package and I then told him what I was planning and asked for his permission to marry Kaitlyn (he of said yes of course!). Fast forward to the day of the engagement, we are getting ready to leave, and I was in Kaitlyn’s room looking at the ring and decided to take it out of the box and put it in my jean pocket because I figured she would know right away if something was in my pocket. Well, as I am doing that, Kaitlyn opens the door and asks if I was ready to go. I panicked for a second because I didn’t know if she saw what I was doing! [Thankfully] she didn’t

Kaitlyn: When we were on our way [to the mystery dinner], we passed by this new hotel on the island and I remembered that I was meaning to look it up to see how much it was to stay there just out of curiosity. When I looked it up and told my brother and George they didn’t really have much to say about it (which now, looking back on it makes sense and will get to that). Finally, we get to the restaurant and it was the same one (The Beach Bistro) that I told George about years ago! He must have remembered and wrote it down or something and was I soooo excited!

A Few Hiccups: A Proposal Story Told in Tandem Continued

George: On the way to [the restaurant], Kaitlyn brings up this hotel that I booked and made a reservation for us that night which was so random and weird. The hotel was actually her brother’s idea and we both looked at each other through the rearview mirror and probably both thought that somehow she knew what was going on! It was just weird lol. We then get to the restaurant and I walk in first. They were about to say congratulations because they thought I already proposed to her and then quickly realized that I didn’t yet!! When I was planning this, the restaurant asked for me to send a picture of us and they were going to put together a card. Well because they thought I already proposed, the card that had our picture and said “congratulations” on it was already on the table. Luckily this was figured out before we got to the table and they went and took it off before we were seated! I was so nervous and just wanted everything to go perfectly.

Kaitlyn: When we get inside we were like the first people in there for the night since we had a reservation for when it opened. After a minute, we go to our table and our server starts opening up a bottle of Dom Perignon. I remember I was like, wait George, did you order this? And he was like yeah it comes with the dinner. I knew the place was fancy and it was a 6 course meal so I didn’t think much of it other than wow! So we get our Champagne and George keeps talking about how nice the champagne glasses were and that they were so heavy. I told him, well of course, because it’s crystal. We are drinking Dom, so I am sure if we had like normal champagne we wouldn’t get these crystal glasses! George got up several times to go to the bathroom during the duration of the dinner which was very weird to me but made sense because we were drinking before dinner so I didn’t think much of it. After our entrees were finished, George got up again to go to the bathroom and I wanted him to take a picture of this funny sign that was in there. When he got back to the table I asked him if he got the picture of the sign and he was like oh no I don’t have my phone. I was so confused because I wasn’t sure what he meant! Well, then he gets down on one knee and starts the proposal and the server was recording it on George’s phone! I was utterly so surprised and wasn’t expecting it at all. George had this planned for months in advance and the champagne glasses he told us were ours to keep (which makes sense why he kept mentioning them)! After the proposal, George told me that there was another surprise for the night and have to stop back at my parents house. We get there and we had a lot of family and friends over (the main reason was for my brother’s graduation two days later) and tell them the news (which my family and George’s family all knew this!). My mom packed me an overnight bag, and I had no idea where we were going! It turns out, that George booked us a room at that the hotel that I looked up on the way to dinner which is why my brother and George were so quiet when I talked about it! The whole day was perfect 🙂

The One

Sometimes there is a defining moment, other times its a slow build, but eventually every couple can say how they knew the other was “the one.” That one person they can envision a forever future with.

From George – “There were a lot of little moments through the beginning of our relationship and all of the coincidences, but I knew Kaitlyn was the one when I realized that no matter what life was the best with her. I graduated 1 year before she did so we did long distance that whole year while I was in California and she was still in Florida. It just wasn’t the same without her! We were so used to being together all of the time including when we studied abroad. After she graduated, we moved together to Paris for a whole year. Once our master’s program finished, I was doing an internship in Amsterdam and she went back to Florida. Yet again, we were doing long distance. The second time around, I realized I never wanted to not be with her.”

From Kaitlyn- “I knew George was the one for me when I had no desire to be with anyone else. Throughout these last 8 years, we have done 2 years of long distance. During that time when we were apart, I believe our connection and love really grew stronger. Even though we weren’t together in person, he was the only one that I wanted to call and tell everything to. He truly is my best friend and we have shared so many life experiences in all these years and cannot wait to see what the future holds!”

A White Tie Affair!

This October these two celebrate BIG at the Green Spring Valley Hunt Club

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