Charming Engagement Session at The Free Library of Philadelphia

How They Met:

“Andrew messaged me on OkCupid. He stood out because I had in my profile that I worked a Philadelphia-area museum (it was Please Touch), but he messaged me asking if I worked at the Art Museum and if so, did it bother me that people go there specifically to run up and down the steps and take photos with the Rocky statue while completely ignoring the world-class museum right there. Even though I didn’t work there, this was something that I always found slightly frustrating and liked that he noticed it too. We met for bowling, which turned into dinner, which turned into a movie. The conversation was so easy and fun that neither of us wanted the date to end. I also showed him that you use the touch screen at Wawa to order a warm chocolate chip cookie, which prompted our first kiss right after on the street walking back to our cars.”

“Andrew is the smartest, funniest person I know, He manages to make everything fun, even mundane tasks like folding laundry he insists we do while watching “Shark Tank” or while waiting in line somewhere he’ll start up what we call “the movie game” where we switch off naming a movie, an actor/actress in that movie, then a movie with that actor/actress in it and so on…which can get really competitive since we’re both big movie fans and try to name the most obscure people possible. He can make me laugh no matter how terrible of a mood I’m in.”

The Proposal:

“I’m a huge musical theater fan (Andrew not so much), so I completely ran with the fact that Andrew (a former history major) loved the soundtrack for Hamilton, and we got tickets 6 months in advance. We went up to NYC for the day last Memorial Day Weekend and saw the show, which was amazing of course. I was hoping this might be the day Andrew proposed because we had been looking forward to it for so long, but he completely threw me off by first wearing cargo shorts (those big pockets could easily hide a ring box!) but then right before we left he changed into more fitted shorts. I was so sure he couldn’t be hiding a ring anymore that I assumed it wasn’t happening that day. Little did I know he had put the ring in a ziplock bag and had it in his back pocket. After sitting gingerly all through the train ride to NYC, then lunch, the Hamilton, Andrew was looking for a nice romantic spot to lead us to. Unfortunately, it was a crazy busy day in the city, and we never stumbled into any kind of quiet, romantic spot. Andrew ended up pretending to have an urgent work email, led me over to a coffee shop’s seating area, and got down on one knee very much on the bustling NYC street (interesting that we had our first kiss on the street too).”

Engagement Session Inspiration:

“I’ve always loved the library, it has the most amazing character and interesting architecture. Also, Andrew’s username on OKcupid was LibraryDues, so it seemed fitting! I knew we could get some really beautiful shots there, especially up on the roof deck with the Philly skyline right behind us.”

Wedding Planning Experience:

“It’s been surprisingly low key! We started early which helped a lot, and focused on locking down what was most important to us first. I work for an event venue that does a lot of weddings (the Spirit of Philadelphia and Freedom Elite Private Yacht) so I know what’s expected in a lot of the planning process. Once we found the venue (Belle Voir Manor at the Pen Ryn Estate) everything really fell into place because they take care of so much in their wedding packages and also recommended a lot of our vendors.”

Engagement Session Experience:

Vendors | Photography: Werth Photography | Venue: The Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central Library