When Kathleen Goulding’s friend canceled on Ryan Ward for the lacrosse date party at their college, Kathleen agreed to fill in, accompanying Ryan to the event. Ryan was immediately attracted to the easy-going and confident girl, but there was one problem: she had a boyfriend. When they parted for the night, they didn’t see each other for several months—until fate stepped in again, putting them in the same class. This time, they decided to be friends, and remained so for the rest of college.
But one year out of school, they both felt a change in their relationship. “We knew we had feelings for each other, so we went to dinner at Faccia Luna in Arlington to talk and decided to give dating a try,” says Kathleen. “We were both worried that dating might ruin our friendship if things didn’t work out, but decided it was worth the risk.”
They quickly realized that this new relationship would last. The pair had dated for four years when Ryan asked Kathleen to go hiking at Cascade Falls. The snow on the ground and the cold winter temperatures meant that they had the trail to themselves as Ryan got down on one knee and asked Kathleen to marry him. Little did they know, another hiker in the distance caught the moment on camera, and was able to send them a picture as a memento of their proposal.
Ryan and Kathleen are planning their wedding for May 2, 2015. For their engagement photos, they wandered Georgetown and DC monuments with Becca Bronkema of BB Shots Photography to capture their Washington romance.
Caroline Cunningham joined Washingtonian in 2014 after moving to the DC area from Cincinnati, where she interned and freelanced for Cincinnati Magazine and worked in content marketing. She currently resides in College Park.
