Congratulations to Ben and Kaitlyn, who tied the knot in Georgetown, DC on Friday night! In honor of their marriage, we thought this would be the perfect time to share their engagement story with you {it happens to be one of our personal faves}. Since the magical day when Ben popped the question, Paper Moss has been working with him and Kaitlyn to create their perfect Invitation Suite. On their Save the Dates, we went wild with fonts, stayed simple with the color palate yet still captured an airy elegance that represents this couple.
Pictures of the gorgeous invites will be up soon, but for now, enjoy their oh-so-romantic story…
{From Kaitlyn's perspective}
In January, I chose to study abroad in Italy with my school, the University of Maryland. My boyfriend works in New York City in a job that requires he work 7 days a week. While I hoped to talk to him occasionally, I was relying on email to stay in touch. I had no idea what was coming.
My university group traveled through several cities and spent the last week in Rome. On our second day there, after walking around the city continuously for 12 hours, I was ready to get back to my hotel room and relax. One of my roommates walked into the room before me and, with a surprised look on her face, said “Who are these for?!” as she pointed at two dozen white roses sitting on the table. We walked over to look at the attached note, and it said, “Kaitlyn, I miss you. Wish I could be there with you. Call me as soon as you get these - Ben.” Surprised that he had figured out the hotel I was in, I called to thank him for the wonderful surprise.
After a few minutes on the phone, he told me there was another surprise. He told me to walk down the stairs and outside of my hotel and then turn to the left. He said I would notice what it was when I saw it. As I told his instructions to one of my good friends, we were both thinking, “Could he be here?”… and of course we shook our heads no, “That would be impossible.” As I walked down the stairs and out of my hotel, I wondered if I would see a random Italian holding more flowers or a teddy bear. When I got outside the hotel entrance, I went to the left, and as I turned the corner, there he was, standing outside of my hotel in Rome, Italy, with a Vespa. Clearly, my heart stopped beating as I screamed, “What are you doing here??” I ran to give him a hug and he answered me by saying, “I missed you and I just wanted to say hi!.” Obviously, I knew he had to be up to something. I am finishing my last semester of school, and we had not really discussed when we might get engaged…I just thought ”no way”.
Ben told me to get a coat from my room, because he was taking me on a ride on the Vespa he had rented, and it was cold. We jumped on the scooter and the next thing I knew, we pulled up to the top of the Spanish Steps (which was one of my favorite spots in Rome). We walked down to the balcony, where there was absolutely no one else and we were looking out over a beautiful view of the whole city.
Ben, being his normal self, was cracking jokes and asking me how my trip was going. Still suspicious, with my heart beating faster and faster, he slowly moved the conversation to extremely romantic. He said “I Love You” (which he had been waiting to say until he proposed), slowly backed up and got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him. As he pulled out the red box from his pocket, I screamed “YES!” and wrapped my arms around him. As I put on the ring, he told me there were a few more surprises. We turned around and he pointed to the top floor of a hotel, with all glass windows, which looks out over the city and said that it was one of the nicest restaurants in Rome and that we had a dinner reservation the following night.
To top all this off, his sister was there to photograph the entire event, and his brother and sister-in-law were there to videotape it all. He also put me in a 5 star hotel room for the next two nights, since clearly our study abroad trip didn’t include the most amazing accommodations. The most amazing weekend of my life ended with an engagement photo shoot around Rome with his sister, a professional photographer, and, of course, throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain.
I can’t imagine a better surprise, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.
photos courtesy of Laura Ashbrook Photography