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Erin and Nayden love the outdoors, and Nayden even proposed on a hike! I met them in the beautiful Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C., for their engagement session.

Nayden shares, “If I’m telling the full extended-length version, I like to think the story of how Erin and I met begins when I was 4 years old in Bulgaria. That was when I had the first in a long series of twists and turns in my life that all led invariably to my meeting Erin 17 years later. The abbreviated version of the story begins with me applying for my first internship as an undergrad in college. It just so happened that Erin was the one who posted that internship on my school’s job board. I remember my first day in the office, anxious for my first real job experience and nervous about what my coworkers would be like. And then my boss introduced me to Erin, who I would be interning for. And though I wasn’t fully conscious of it at the time, I sensed from the beginning that I had stumbled upon someone special. And little did I know at the time that she had felt the same thing!”

Erin adds, “I sometimes look back on what brought Nayden and I together and giggle about how the seemingly unimportant or unrelated decisions I made much earlier in life ended up being crucial to our meeting – where I went to college, the summer internship I had, and my first real job. I remember meeting Nayden for the first time – after he left my office, I immediately texted my friend with something along the lines of “Oh no! My intern is really cute!”

Nayden continues, “Fast forward 6 months of working together, and in the summer of 2011 Erin finally worked up the courage to tell me how she felt. Being young, naive and stupid, I turned her down thinking it would be strange dating a coworker. Of course, I regretted it before the words had even fully left my mouth. Two days later, I in turn worked up the courage to tell her I felt the same way about her. Many times afterward I would joke that this, of course, meant when I asked her to marry me she would make me wait two days before saying yes! One fateful kiss later, and I knew I had found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”

After becoming good friends and navigating the twist and turns of dating someone at work they decided the challenges were totally worth it!

The engagement shoot continued along the historic Georgetown canal.

Nayden continues,  “Three years later, on January 2nd, 2015, I took Erin up the side of a mountain in Lexington, Virginia, and after a very long hike (much longer than I had anticipated!), I told Erin to close her eyes and make a wish. I took a risk since at that point in time she could quite possibly have been wishing for a helicopter ride back down the mountain so we wouldn’t have to keep hiking! When she opened her eyes, there I was on one knee asking her to marry me. And luckily she chose not to exact her two-days revenge!”

Erin adds, “My mom always told me to look for a man to marry that I could work well with on difficult and complicated tasks and Nayden fit the bill exactly. I knew from the start that our relationship, as well as being overwhelmingly happy, also functioned exceedingly well. I had found my missing puzzle piece with whom I could share fears and hopes, everyday life and dreams of the future and, of course, lots of laughter.

Nayden adds, ” I am so happy and so lucky to have found Erin. As I said, in my eyes our journey to finding each other started decades ago. And I cannot wait to continue our journey together, as husband and wife.”

Happy Engagement Erin and Nayden! They will be getting married next autumn at a vineyard in Virginia.