A dark and rainy day is not the sort of conditions I usually like to shoot an engagement session in. But I was down in DC and Katie and Jessica had scheduled the shoot so they could get their save-the-dates out with an engagement picture. But I wanted awesome shots despite the weather! So we decided- why not have a fun mini shoot inside the Portrait Gallery?

I had not been to the Portrait Gallery in what felt like forever. It had tons of new work up, new spaces to eat and have some coffee and an atrium I had never really explored before. So we wandered around and I kept an eye out for my backgrounds- I didn’t want to include any artwork in them as it is a copyright violation. And we had a blast because I finally met them in person (they booked after a skype meeting like 40% of my clients) and can’t wait to do another mini session during the blooming of the cherry blossoms. If you see three people at 6:30am doing engagement shots during the blooming- that’s us. Because they totally rock and know getting up early is the only way to do tidal basin shots of cherry blossoms without 32545756867876 tourists.

Part two: Here we go!

Deborah and Caron live in Maui. So why come all the way to DC to get married? When they heard the news that DC had legalized same-sex marriage, they decided it was incredibly symbolic to get married in the nations capital. They wanted to support a city economically that had just legalized gay marriage. But they got nervous too- they didn’t want to wait and have a situation like California come along where they waited too long before marriage was taken away. So I get a phone call, “Are you free for a wedding….in three weeks?”.

Luckily I was and we began furiously talking on the phone/email and making it all come together. With 8 people attending the wedding, they wanted everyone to feel included. With so little time, they wanted to make sure it all came together. So with the Hotel Monaco as their getting ready location, the Capital Yacht Charters as their ceremony location, and Dan Furnansky as their officiant- the day was full of lots of laughing and felt so relaxed. With a small wedding like this, I got to know every guest. We talked almost all day so much so I lost my voice for the next day. I got to learn all about Deborah and Caron’s incredible music careers (and listen to their cd non-stop on the way home).  And if you want even more photos of the two of them, have you seen their trash the dress/suit session?

I just love this moment! Deborah’s sister and niece helped clean up her makeup after all the crying during the ceremony.

Becky and Jonathan are what I dream of: they follow directions!! They brought buckets full of amazing props, dressed in killer outfits, and had the balls to sneak into Union Station in DC with me. They have such love for DC as they bought their first house and have been renovating it themselves. Jonathan even laid down flooring (um…ya…I’m DIY but that’s a whole other ballgame).

And may I say HIGH FIVE to us for going into Union Station and getting some photos. I was nervous. I kept eyeballing the security guards. Nothing (if you don’t know, the security guards usually kick out prof. photogs in 5 seconds). So we went further in. I was foaming at the mouth excited as we got more and more photos in there!!

Vintage suitcase from Goodwill + a train station. Yum.