I normally get the chance to meet my wedding couples face to face before they book me.  But Karen and I had only chatted on the phone, so I really didn’t know what to expect when meeting Karen and Chris for the first time at their engagement photo session in Washington DC by the National Monuments.  Now, everyone sounds really nice on the phone.  Well, scratch that.. I’ve definitely come across my fair share of mean people over the phone when I worked for Apple and did over the phone customer service.  I’m sure you can imagine… Back to Karen and Chris.  She seemed SOOO nice over the phone.  But I was still nervous.  What if she was just being polite, and they turn out to be jerks and hate me?

Then came the morning of their DC engagement portraits session.  We were scheduled to meet at the Lincoln Memorial at 6am.  For some reason, I had it in my head that we were meeting at the Jefferson Memorial.  And as to ensure that I arrived on time (and not be almost two hours late due to rush hour traffic like the last time I did engagement pictures in DC at the monuments), I left Annapolis at 4am.  After a wedding the night before that didn’t end until 11pm. No joke.  So I arrive at the Jefferson Memorial almost an hour early, and relaxed on the steps, stared out onto the water, ate my granola bar, and relaxed.  For an hour.  Karen and Chris were nowhere in sight.  I waited about 10 minutes before texting Karen, so that she didnt think I was getting anxious about them being late.  She txted back that they were there.. at the Lincoln Memorial.  OH MY GOODNESS.  I gathered my granola bar wrapper, walked about 5 blocks back to my car, raced through what was now the start of rush hour traffic in DC to get to the LINCOLN memorial. (I had NO clue where it was, how to get there, or where to park).  I ended up driving by it three.. THREEEEEE times before realizing where to go to park.  Grabbed my bag, ran two blocks to the LINCOLN memorial and saw them.  At the top of the steps. She was wearing gorgeous bright fushia shoes, and in my franticness, I totally tripped up the steps.  I was so so nervous that I had made a HORRIBLE first impression on them, and thought once again that she would hate me.  Now after getting to know Karen and Chris a little, its funny that I was worried about not clicking.  THEY ARE SERIOUSLY THE NICEST PEOPLE.  Like… So nice I almost cant handle it.  Karen greeted me with a hug and a smile and I caught my breath and we chatted a little.  Turns out she was a little nervous about never having met me as well.  Their engagement shoot went amazingly, they are SO into each other, and you can see their love for each other manifested in how they talk to each other, gaze at each other, how he puts his arm around her back, how she holds his hand.  I LOVE photographing love.  I love it.

Also, my flip flop broke half way through, and I definitely photographed the rest of their engagement portraits barefoot.  In DC.  Its a true story.  And I probably sound like a hot mess right about now.  But on my way home from Washington DC, Karen texted me to say how incredibly excited there were to have me as their wedding photographer and how much fun they had with me taking pictures.  So, I did something right in between showing up at the wrong location and breaking my flip flop.

I cant wait to tell you more of their story as a couple when their wedding hits the blog at the end of next month.  But for now… their gorgeous faces and engagement portrait session images:

dc engagement portraits