Lauren and Matt met me at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens for their late April engagement session. It was a GORGEOUS day with so many things in bloom. I love that they chose a Spring engagement session, considering their wedding day is in December. That provides such a sweet variety in images and backgrounds. It was also just so nice to get to know them a bit better as we strolled around such a lovely location. In fact, Meadowlark has made several additions and changes to the grounds, so it’s even more captivating. They also have the indoor greenhouse, bursting with all kinds of greens and sleek structural lines.

Lauren and Matt are the cutest couple together and they even had matching Nationals jerseys with a cherry blossom theme! They love to enjoy games together. I am really looking forward to their Big Day at Morais Vineyards in December. And now I’d love to share their story in their own words!

Their love and proposal story from Lauren’s perspective:

“Matt and I met through Hinge! We actually ended up having a video call date as our first ‘date’ because he had caught COVID at a friend’s birthday party. We talked for a couple of hours, which is no small feat via iPhone. He was super easy to talk to and we had a lot in common. When we met in person a couple of weeks later (thanks to holiday travel), it felt like I had known him forever!

A couple of months later, my friend invited us to her husband’s family’s lake house. It wasn’t that far away, but Matt was a great road trip buddy! We also quickly meshed super well with each other’s friend groups and are now lucky to have a great network of people who are friends to both of us. Since the beginning of our relationship, we’ve traveled to two countries and five states together (with at least one more country planned for later this year). He’s been a great travel partner, starting with that first road trip!

For the proposal, Matt caught me off guard! I had a feeling it was coming up soon (I had done some ring browsing with a couple of friends a month or so before), but I didn’t expect it to happen the specific night that it did. We had a wonderful two-year anniversary dinner where we exchanged gifts and celebrated. When he asked to take some photos by the restaurant’s festive holiday decor, I didn’t think anything of it. We posed like normal, and then he pulled the ring out! It was a special moment that, thanks to a very on-top-of-it host, we have many photos and a video of. Matt also planned a small celebration at our house, so we got to celebrate with some friends and family right away! And, since it was the week before Christmas, we were able to celebrate even more over the next couple of weeks.”

And from Matt’s:

“Lauren and I met over Hinge. We had been talking for a little bit and we made tentative plans for a date. As we got closer to the intended day, however, I came down with COVID due to a karaoke night with friends. Instead, we did a video date on December 20, 2021 (our official anniversary). I don’t remember much of what we talked about, but she was very easy to talk to. I think we talked for nearly two hours that first call before we realized we both had work the next day.

During our first in-person date, we spent so much time talking and getting to know one another, that I think we were the last ones in the restaurant. In the time since, Lauren has been my best friend. We have inside jokes, we have similar tastes in movies and music, and we both get along great with one another’s friends and family. Lauren got me into Survivor and we quickly turned it into a weekly date night. In fact, I rescheduled our two-year anniversary dinner to December 19th, so that dinner wouldn’t conflict with the Survivor season finale, which neither of us wanted to watch later (and risk spoilers). What Lauren didn’t know at the time was that I was going to propose at that dinner.

I proposed after our two-year anniversary dinner, which was at a very nice restaurant that we’d never been to before, so I was lucky that it lived up to the hype. During dinner, we exchanged anniversary gifts and I was mortified that I had forgotten to get an anniversary card. After dinner, I suggested that we take photos by the Christmas tree at the front of the restaurant. As we handed the hostess Lauren’s phone, I quietly asked her to take a lot of pictures. We took a few normal photos in front of the tree before I went down to one knee. The hostess had taken over fifty pictures of the moment (and a brief video). My favorite picture is where I can see Lauren’s immediate reaction to the realization: laughing as I dug the ring out of my dress sock (the ring box was way too big to fit in my pocket). She said “yes” and we were able to share the good news with friends and family over the holidays.”

Keep scrolling for more highlights from their gorgeous Meadowlark Botanical Gardens engagement session!