So after using the amazing Hotel Monaco staircase for a bijillion photos, we headed all over the hotel. The marble in this hotel is just everywhere. I love how marble looks in black and white photos- and so does Mercedes! She asked me to do a majority of their photos in black and white. And who am I to say no? I love black and white photos. They are so classic.

So I’m personally in love with Hotel Monaco in DC. I first saw it when I was editing pictures in my senior internship. I had to know where those pictures were taken, now!! As soon as I found out, I was determined to have part of my wedding at Hotel Monaco so Natalie and I got ready there and took couples portraits there. I’m just smitten with the architecture.

When Mercedes and Matt said they were interested in day-after wedding pictures, I practically begged to do them at Hotel Monaco. Mercedes had shown me all these pictures she loved from other weddings, and they had one thing all in common. Grand staircases. If you don’t know, Hotel Monaco literally has the most breath taking staircase ever. It’s hotness.

And that’s just the stairs! More pictures from around the hotel on Friday

I feel like my emotions have been put through a juicer! My home town of Washington, DC passed the first round for legalizing gay marriage. I jumped up and down. I did a twirl. I then commenced twittering, facebooking and blogging on So You’re EnGAYged the good news until my little fingers were tired of typing.

Then yesterday I got a call from a friend. He sounded really angry and told me to google new york gay marriage. I did. I starred at the screen and silently screamed.  I kicked myself that I should have known better to feel like I was sure New York would pass gay marriage. Especially after Maine. But I was still pissed.

So a win and a loss. Slowly inching forward for equality. Way slower than I would like. I feel so fortunate that I live in Connecticut, a state where I can and did legally marry my wife. I count my blessings I can get health insurance and all kinds of spousal benefits because of our marriage. A lot of little and big things. Like $7 off car insurance for being married, ha! And yet, we hired an accountant to do our taxes this year because of the complexities of gay marriage. Yes, in my state I can file as a married couple. But federally? Nope. My head was spinning trying to figure it all out.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

On a much lighter note, I did a Trash The Dress session at DC Hotel Monaco and just sent the couple their slideshow today. Here’s a little sneak peek:

And yes, in case you were wondering, Hotel Monaco is a pet friendly hotel. They even gave us doggie treats to help with the shoot. Genius!

I love doing Trash The Dress sessions. It’s just a whole lot of fun! Some people call that a Day After Session but with so many terms floating around, when I say Trash The Dress, my clients know what that is! I just explain we can do it more on the Day After Session spectrum. But I have had some dresses go in the water(love it!). Not for this session, but we ended up hanging around water all day. The Maryland shore was perfect as the sun was beginning to set and we found some old boat ropes hanging around which I just had to use. A *huge* thanks to Baltimore Hair & Makeup. Jamie and Megan did my wedding hair and makeup, so whenever I get a chance to use them for a shoot, I get excited.