Bailey + Kyle = Engaged!

Bailey and Kyle couldn't be more cute together!  I knew from my first talks with Bailey that I would love them.  I am so excited to be a part of their engagement and wedding day photos.  Such a special couple and you can't help but be happy around them.  They both are full of life and have a great love for each other. We got to take their engagement photos around Bloomington and the Indiana University campus.  We even re-enacted a few of their favorite love story moments.  I love the story of how the proposal happened.  I loved taking their engagement pictures and getting to know them better.  Plus, how can you go wrong, because it was the perfect weekend for tulips!! 

Below are a few of my favorites from the engagement photo shoot and a little more about their love story...

Bailey and Kyle met at the beautiful campus of Indiana University on the Bloomington campus through mutual friends. Although neither of them were looking for a relationship at the time, there was something about each other that kept them wanting to learn more and more about one another. As Bailey was a freshman, Kyle, a junior at the time, showed her all around campus and helped her experience a few of the IU Campus: The IU Greek life of sororities and fraternities, Little 500, IU athletics (though not great but with incredible school spirit!), the shortcuts to her classes, and which restaurants were the best. With their friendship building, they both secretly felt there could be something more.  After the first few months of school starting, Kyle asked Bailey out on a first date, and nothing was ever the same. Date after date, Kyle eventually took Bailey on a walk one evening and stopped at a beautiful gazebo in one of the most beautiful spots on campus. There was the spot their relationship became "official," and 4 years later they are planning the wedding of their dreams!

Bailey and Kyle were so blessed to develop a wonderful friendship before they began going out on dates with one another. They were able to really get to know each other and, after discovering common interests of playing tennis, spending quality time with their families, holiday traditions, and, most importantly, their faith in Jesus Christ, they fell head over heels in love with each other.  Bailey and Kyle both knew the other was "the one" and knew they each had found the one they wanted to spend the rest of our lives with. 

There are so many things Bailey and Kyle have in common and so much they both enjoy doing together! Kyle and Bailey have joined a tennis league that rotates between various golf and tennis clubs in Indianapolis; As a couple, they participate in tennis matches, playing doubles against a variety of different people. They also have come to love visiting wineries, tasting and sampling different kinds of wines; Their favorite place to go is Oliver Winery in Bloomington, IN, close to the IU home campus on a nice day, because they take a bottle of wine and some snacks and sit together at a picnic table under the trees overlooking the pond, sipping their wine and talking about life! They also thoroughly enjoy the outdoors!  They take walks together and rock and swing on their back porches on nice, sunny days. Their favorite place to walk around and enjoy the day is IU's campus. They LOVE Christmas time as well, and Bailey and Kyle really like to spend the days leading up to the season window-shopping at the mall, looking at the Christmas decorations and listening to Christmas music together. Dressing up and going out to eat at some of their favorite restaurants [discussed below] is also something they like to do together, and sometimes they just like to curl up on the couch at Kyle's apartment with a good movie.

Kyle and Bailey have a very special place in their hearts for IU. When they were there, as well as when they come back to visit occasionally, they will return to some of the restaurants they ate at during their college years.  They especially enjoy the restaurants they had some of their first dates at! Some of these include Crazy Horse, where Bailey and Kyle each get a grouper sandwich, Malibu Grill, where they had their very first date, The Village Deli-IU's famous breakfast restaurant, and Square Donuts, which have some of the BEST doughnuts they have ever tasted and the best part-they are really shaped like squares! Kyle really enjoys trying different kinds of ethnic foods as well, such as Thai and Asian cuisine, and he also loves salmon; Bailey loves Mexican and seafood. In Indianapolis where they both reside now, they love Seasons 52, which uniquely switches its menu for every season. They really like to try out new places constantly!

When it came to choosing their wedding locations, it was always a priority for Kyle and Bailey to get married in a church.  As they each have grown up attending church every Sunday and believe their marriage should be one that is glorifying to God. But, with Bailey having just graduated from college and Kyle living in Indianapolis by himself, they have chosen a church they had occasionally tried to go to together when they could since 2010. Now that Bailey and Kyle are both in Indianapolis, they attend College Park Christian Church regularly. They have even joined couple's engagement sessions, which take place every Sunday for a couple weeks leading up to the wedding. However, as College Park has just built a beautiful new chapel, it is booked for 2012 weddings. Therefore, they were able to at least get a pastor from College Park to marry them at Castleview Baptist Church, which they really chose because it is about 8 minutes from the reception location and holds similar beliefs and values as their home church. The wedding reception venue search was a bit more extensive; They probably looked at about 10 different places, but they could not get the very first one they saw out of their minds, Hillcrest Country Club. Built many years ago, this gorgeous country club has an older, beautiful look to it with Spanish-style walls and ceilings; They loved the charm and elegance it presented. Hillcrest CC is also located in an area surrounded by gorgeous tall trees that will make for amazing pictures come the fall.

As far as their favorite part of the wedding planning so far...Bailey and Kyle had a lot of fun looking at different reception venues, actually! It was interesting to see the difference between all of them in what they offered and how they looked. They also have enjoyed the cake tasting process!! Although they have really gotten into sugar-overloads it is very exciting viewing different cake designs and, most importantly, tasting the cake! They have their florist and DJ booked, so they are looking forward to picking out their songs, and Bailey has fun picturing how the flowers will look both at the ceremony and at the reception. They are most looking forward to registering, which will be taking place in May at Crate & Barrel at the Fashion Mall by Keystone at the Crossing!

 

The wedding planning process has been a bit stressful for Bailey and Kyle! Fortunately, they have the many of the important things done and booked and are now getting into the details. They both are most looking forward to and cannot wait for their special day when all of the planning and excitement will actually, and finally, take place :) Bailey is really looking forward to the "first glance" photo poses she and Kyle will get to take together; She cannot wait to see the look on his face when he sees her for the first time in her wedding dress; It will be so special for them to have a moment together before everything else starts. They really cannot wait for the reception! It will seem like a big family/friends reunion, as many of their family members rarely get to see each other, and their college friends have not seen one another since graduation. It will be fun for everyone to be together, and they really are just looking forward to a great time filled with love, fun, and memories that they will cherish forever. 

When it came to the wedding proposal, it happened on December 17, 2011.  Kyle was so creative with his proposal! Bailey would not have wanted it any other way. After knowing each other for 4 years and dating for 3, Bailey began wondering when Kyle was going to make the big move! Little did she know, Kyle was once step ahead of her and had already been in contact with her parents, calling her father to ask him if he could come over to "talk." Bailey's excited-and-yet-teary-eyed-parents eagerly awaited Kyle's arrival [who was probably fighting lots of nerves]! Kyle had a great conversation with Bailey's parents and received her father's blessing to marry and take care of her forever. The engagement night was such a wonderful evening.  Bailey and Kyle headed to downtown Indianapolis to attend the Yuletide Celebration at Hilbert Circle Theater, followed by a delicious steak dinner at Harry & Izzy's.  They then went back to Kyle's apartment to have their Christmas. Bailey was so unsuspecting of what was to come! After opening a few presents, Kyle then told her to open something that he had made himself. Bailey unwrapped present, after present, after present, all of which went from big to small, until she came to a tiny little box. A tradition that we started our very first Christmas together is to take turns making each other an ornament, and this year was Kyle's turn to think of something. So in the little box,  Bailey unwrapped a gorgeous ornament with red glittered-writing saying:  "Will You Marry Me?" But before she had time to read it, Kyle was down on one knee in front of her with the gorgeous ring asking her himself! Of course Bailey cried and told him she loved him over and over again! Then Kyle surprised her with celebratory champagne. Bailey has dreamed of a proposal as special as Kyle's ever since she was a little girl. They truly are one special couple with so many more memories to be created in their wonderful lives together. 

If you would like to see more of Bailey and Kyle's super cute Bloomington Engagement Pictures, please click on the below link to my Website. To View/Order those photos-you can select the "View Recent Events" Tab on my website (http://www.kristinhphotos.com/) & then scroll down to the 'Gallery Categories' and click on the "Engagement Pictures"and then choose "Bailey + Kyle = Engaged!" I absolutely can't wait for their big day!! Congratulations you two & enjoy the engagement!! XXOO, Kristin