“From the first few weeks I knew Dom, I just loved his free spirit. His good energy was something that I wanted to have around forever!” Hailey said. Though they went to the same high school, they weren’t in the same grade and didn’t really meet until later (though Dominic does recall that she was the prettiest girl in school). In 2019, Hailey’s best friend started hanging out with Dominic’s older brother and that morphed into a big group of kids who had all gone to high school together. “Nate [Dominic’s brother] started bringing Dom around to hang out with all of us. Dom and I started out as friends but had an immediate connection and ended up dating just a few months later.”

In the years since, they have started their beautiful family (you must keep scrolling to see their kids!) and gotten engaged. Dominic proposed in 2022. “I knew I wanted to be in nature since we both have a lot of love for the outdoors. It was very simple and even the fact we got alone time (since we had a baby) was such a surreal treat, it all felt dreamscape! We were on the edge of the Cedar River after a long hike and she was glancing over the water and wouldn’t turn around for what felt like forever as I got down on one knee. The rest is history.”

“We had been talking for a while about wanting to go hike at the Palisades,” Hailey recalled. So when they woke up the morning of August 26th and it was a sunny and warm day, “we thought today would be the perfect day for it. We dropped our son off at my parents’ house and headed out to the state park to enjoy the hike. As we were hiking, Dom was saying how he wanted to make it to the end of the trail where it stops at the river so we could see the water and enjoy the view. Once we finally made it to the end, he told me to touch the water to see how warm or cold it was, so I did. Then when I turned back around to Dom, he was on one knee and asked me if I would marry him. I was completely surprised because I had no idea he was planning on proposing at the end of the trail; I thought we really were just going on a regular hike. It was such a beautiful and peaceful way to ask and it couldn’t have been more perfect. Both of us were beaming the whole walk back to the car!”

It was perfectly full circle to do their session at the Palisades, combining not just where Dominic had proposed, but also their love of nature. Their kids joined us and we got as many photos with them done at the beginning because once we lost them to the sand, they had absolutely no interest in anything else.

Hailey’s ring is true vintage: her grandmother’s from the 1940s. (She also has her great-grandmother’s ring from the 1920s!) It has so much unique detailing on it and we love a good heirloom!