Kalie + Jon || A VERY special engagement!

Here is the thing about blogging each and every couple as they start with their engagement session and work their way to their wedding day – I love being a part of this journey and documenting it with beautiful and creative images. Even more special is when one-half of the couple is one of your own! We are soooooo excited and couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Kalie, and her family, into our family! It’s scary how well we all get along and have loads of fun together.

While Jon and Kalie have very similar interests and quiet personalities, they also have a fantastic sense of balance in the areas they don’t. They bring out the BEST in each other. Their love story took them both a bit by surprise and while some call their engagement quick (they’ve been together about a year), they both admit “when you know, you know.”

We also knew. It was completely obvious early on, this relationship was ‘the one’. It’s a weird thing watching your kids grow up and start ‘adulting’ for real. Good jobs, major purchases, life decisions….. They have their successes, their failures and everything in between. We try and give advice (when appropriate) and stand back and let them learn lessons at their own pace. It’s a delicate balance. We are navigating this new stage with them as this is the first time for us too. When someone loves your kid unconditionally, accepts them AND their crazy family along with the complexities that go along with merging two inner circles of people – it’s exciting, wonderful, complicated, crazy, happy, nervous and an exhilarating time!

A couple of months ago, Jon and I were heading down to a Vikings game to celebrate his 27th birthday and I was excited to get this one-one-one time with him. This rarely happens anymore. I casually asked him how things were going with Kalie (hint hint, what’s the next stage of this relationship dude??), he quickly shot back at me that he would be purchasing ‘the ring’ in the next couple of weeks. Only shell-shocked for a moment, I was giddy with excitement, and yet not super surprised. He had a wonderfully simple, yet well-thought out plan to ask her to marry him that included bingo with the family, Duluth Cider, OMC Smokehouse, and a sweet and simple proposal that had us all in tears of joy. It was awesome.

So while I’m proud to share their story in photos in this space – here’s a shout-out to all the newly engaged couple’s parents, grandparents and extended family and friends! We are quietly along on your ride, enjoying the journey, and cheering you on. Congratulations Jon and Kalie! We love you both very much and absolutely can’t wait for your exciting future!