Samantha and Chris’s Gooseberry Falls Engagement Session is a celebration of their favorite things – the North Shore, their adorable pup, and each other!

We got to spend an excellent day up north with these adorable lawyers exploring Gooseberry Falls – a gorgeous coastal state park famous for its natural terraced waterfalls not even an hour north of Duluth. It’s a great spot for engagement sessions for its access to the charm of Duluth and little towns like Two Harbors as well as a variety of natural landscapes – from coastline to forests! We recommend making a whole day of it 🙂

Adorable pup Lucy made sure she joined in on Samantha and Chris’s dance session!

Samantha shared with us her version of the proposal that led to their Gooseberry Falls engagement session!

“Every second weekend of October Chris and I take a trip to Duluth to celebrate the first time Chris said I love you. This year was extra special because that Monday, we found out that we had passed the bar exam! This trip was going to be just the two of just, no homework to worry about, and no stressful pondering what our futures would be. We finally knew we would have jobs and a career, so this would be our first trip to actually relax and enjoy that time together.

After we got ourselves checked into the hotel for the night, I had plans to surprise Chris and take him to a speakeasy on our way to our favorite downtown restaurant: The Black Water Lounge.

As we began walking, Chris wanted to stop at a special place along the pier overlooking Lake Superior to reminisce about that spot because it held a special moment for us – during our first trip to Duluth, we walked along the pier to get to downtown. It was a clear sky and the moon was out. It was so cold and I forgot my jacket, so Chris stopped at the pier to give me his, because he is basically a human radiator. I made a comment about how I didn’t care for romance and how the view and the moment is “romantic.” Chris decided to take a moment with me to just watch and listen to the water. He completely changed my mind about all things romantic. It’s because of this that makes the pier special.

Anyway, so we were heading for the speakeasy and stopped at the pier. Chris started talking about us and suddenly got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I did not expect that at all, and I actually didn’t believe him at first because he made some fake proposals in the past. However, this time he had a ring. So after realizing it was real, I finally said yes!”

Chris shared his take on their proposal too!

“Samantha and I took the bar exam in July, and we received our results in early October. We both received the good news that we passed, and since our futures looked stable, [I] began the proposal planning. I snooped on Samantha’s phone to get her dad’s number to ask for his permission, and he said yes.

We had plans to go to Duluth that weekend, which was a special spot for us since that was our first big date/trip. I planned on asking her on a pier overlooking Lake Superior since I gave her my jacket in the same area on our first trip; it was a special first moment.

We were overlooking the pier, and Samantha could feel my heart beat fast, and she jokingly said it was because we walked up a flight of stairs. I thought the surprise was up, but nevertheless took a knee and proposed.

She said YES!”

Perks to a Gooseberry Falls engagement session – it’s a quick hike from epic falls to epic coastline!

We hope you enjoyed Samantha and Chris’s romantic proposal stories and their topnotch Gooseberry Falls engagement session! Let us know your favorite shot in the comments below – we’d love to hear from you!

For more North Shore engagements and weddings, check out: Vanessa and Thor’s Duluth engagement and Pier B Wedding, Emily and Chris’s Lift Bridge engagement, and Amy and Brandon’s beautiful Greysolon Wedding.