A brewery engagement session at Gravely Brewing Co in Denver, Colorado

Emily (she/her) and Lyndsey (she/her) got engaged on the rooftop deck of Gravely Brewing Co, surrounded by purple morning glory vines climbing the wooden railings and the Denver skyline spread out behind them. The moment was photographed by MDVZ Photography and the ring, a distinctive wood-and-metal band from Staghead Designs, was on Lyndsey’s finger before she even understood what was happening. A wooden ring box engraved with “here to stay” sat on the deck between two Gravely pints. The whole thing was a setup, in the best possible way.

How They Found Each Other

“After establishing we had mutual friends in real life, Lyndsey slid into my DMs on IG,” Emily says. “She used the ‘have I seen you around?’ line, and the conversations just kept flowing from there.”

Their first date followed a few weeks later. “Our first official date was a couple weeks later at a pumpkin patch,” she says, “and after our first kiss later that night, I knew we had a love story to write.”

That was March 3, 2019. More than three years later, Emily would engineer a proposal just as deliberate as that first conversation.

The Proposal

“Emily knew she wanted to propose and knew the photographer she wanted to capture it,” Lyndsey says. “She reached out to Madison several months before she proposed and they started game planning.”

“Eventually Emily settled on proposing at one of our favorite breweries in Louisville, Kentucky, where we were living at the time,” she continues. “Madison and Emily tricked me into thinking we were chosen for a styled shoot so I had no idea the proposal was happening within the photoshoot.”

The plan held. “Madison posed us and prompted us for a few minutes,” Lyndsey says, “and then during one pose where Emily was supposed to run up from behind and ‘bear hug’ me, she pulled the ring out and proposed instead.”

The photos show what happened next: Emily on one knee on that rooftop deck, sliding the ring onto Lyndsey’s finger while Lyndsey looked down, smiling and wiping away tears. Later, they clinked Gravely pints to celebrate, hands intertwined across the table. “It was intimate, relaxed and all around perfect,” Lyndsey says. They’ve since brought the session’s setting with them to Denver, choosing Gravely’s Colorado location for the formal engagement photos that documented the chapter the proposal began.

What They Love Most

“I love her kind heart and patience,” Emily says of Lyndsey. “She’s so gentle with the people in her life, and she has the gift of pointing out the beauty in everyone and everything, even when it seems impossible. Being around her feels like you’re always being kissed by sunshine.”

Lyndsey’s answer about Emily is just as precise. “I love how selfless and caring she is; she will always put others before herself,” she says. “She could be having the worst day, but if someone calls her needing support, she will simply put all circumstances aside and just listen.”

“Her smile is so comforting and warm,” Lyndsey continues. “Her hugs will instantly take my worries away. And the way she loves is so calm and pure.”

That ease shows in the photos from Gravely’s outdoor deck, where the two laugh into each other with the kind of looseness that doesn’t perform for a camera. In one frame, one of them covers her face while the other tips her head back laughing. In another, taken against the brewery’s indoor wall of colorfully decorated drum heads, one cups the other’s face while both hold pints. The whole session reads like a Saturday afternoon that happened to be documented.

What Marriage Means to Them

“We’re looking forward to experiencing new milestones and exploring new places together,” Emily says. “Neither of us thought we’d find a lifetime love, so we want to appreciate it by choosing each other consistently and working toward growth both as individuals and a couple.”

“Being able to say ‘wife’ will also be pretty awesome,” she adds. ❤️

Featured LGBTQ+ Inclusive and Queer Affirming Wedding Vendors

Photographer: MDVZ Photography
Location/Venue: Gravely Brewing Co
Jeweler: Staghead Designs