SESSION DATE: FEBRUARY 1, 2020

MOUNT HOLLY, New Jersey

What do early morning engagement sessions, cute puppies named Riley + long distance relationships that actually work out have in common? They are all pieces of the amazing love story of Kennedy + Tyler, that’s what! I love when a couple meets and instantly knows that it is a forever-kind-of love. That’s how it was when I started dating my husband over a decade ago– we just knew that this was it for us, we were in it to win it! Kennedy and Tyler survived multiple college + location changes that kept them apart, but it ended up totally being worth it because now they are happily together in New Jersey about to tie the knot.

Take a look below to see some of my favorites from their session!

HOW DID YOU TWO MEET?

Kennedy: “Tyler and I met back in 2012 during 4th of July weekend in LBI, NJ. My college roommate from the University of Tennessee and his roommate from Virginia Tech were best friends in high school. My roommate invited me up to LBI for 4th of July. They introduced us and we hit it off right away. We ended up doing long distance from Virginia Tech to University of Tennessee. We would go back and forth each weekend depending on whose school had a football game that weekend. I eventually made the decision to go back home to Maryland because I wanted to change my major. We then did long distance from Maryland to Virginia Tech. Unfortunately, family circumstances changed for me and I actually ended up moving in with Tyler at Virginia Tech for a couple of months back in 2014. After his spring semester was done, we went back to his parents house in Medford, NJ. I stayed in Medford while he finished his undergrad at VT. We have been inseparable ever since 🙂 We will have been together for 8 years this July!”

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR FIRST DATE

Kennedy: “It’s so funny because we were just talking about this the other day and neither of us could remember which one was exactly our first date. It was either him coming to my house in Maryland and we went tubing down one of the rivers near my parents house or it was me going to visit him in New Jersey and we went to a driving range and hit some golf balls for awhile. I like to say that it was me going up to his house in New Jersey because after we went to the driving range, he brought me back to his parent’s house and made me dinner – chicken parmesan (his favorite). He swore that he woke up early to bread the chicken and make the sauce, etc. Well, I doubted him a little bit because it was too good. About a year later, I was having dinner at his parent’s house and his mom had gotten chicken parmesan from their favorite restaurant and funny enough it tasted exactly like the chicken parm he had “made”. He still denies to this day that he got it from the store!”

HOW DID HE POP THE QUESTION!

Kennedy: “I had a feeling that it was coming. We had been together for so long so I knew that it was just a matter of time. It was Super Bowl Sunday 2019 and he asked me if I wanted to take a drive to Long Beach Island and walk around for a little bit. I thought this was super weird considering we were having friends over later and it was freezing outside, but I went along with it. Once we got on the island, he said, “Let’s go to John’s street.” John was his college roommate that introduced us all those years ago. Well, he happened to turn on the wrong street haha he was super nervous! Once we got to the right street, he said, “Let’s walk up to the dunes and see what the beach looks like.” Again, it was February and freezing and there was snow on the ground, but I went along with it. We got to the top of the dunes and it was just him and I. It was quiet and peaceful. He said all of the things that I had wanted to hear for so long and got down on one knee. The best part was that it was just me and him. No one in his family knew that he was proposing so it was a surprise for everyone.”

TELL ME ABOUT THE RING!

Kennedy: “I dropped a ton of hints! He designed the ring on Blue Nile. I was adamant from the beginning that I wanted a thin band with a single solitaire diamond, like the ones we get at etrnl rings. I may have left my Pinterest board up a time or two on his computer as well 🙂 He did an amazing job though! He chose a thin rose gold band with a 4 pronged solitaire diamond. It’s absolutely perfect and everything that I wanted it to be!”

DESCRIBE YOUR VISION FOR YOUR WEDDING DAY?
WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED FOR?

Kennedy: “The main vision I have for our wedding day is us having fun and being with the people who love us the most. We are so excited to celebrate with our friends and family. I’m most excited to see how handsome Tyler looks in a navy blue suit, but I am also super excited to finally be able to say that I am his wife!”

WHERE ARE YOU GOING FOR YOUR HONEYMOON? WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE THE LOCATION?

Kennedy: “We are going to St. Lucia! We decided to do an all inclusive resort – golf included haha! We wanted to go somewhere we have never been to before. An absolute must for us was to make sure we were going somewhere to just relax and be together. We can’t wait to just relax on the beach and have no schedule for 5 days.”

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK BACK TO SEE THESE TWO GET HITCHED THIS FALL!