Christy + Roger | Washington DC Engagement Session

Beware, this is a lengthy one– but it’s totally worth reading!

Meet Christy and Roger. They have the best proposal story I’ve ever heard, hands down. Major kudos to Roger for coming up with such an amazing and thoughtful proposal! Let me tell you:

A few weeks before Christy’s birthday, Roger had her save a night so he could take her out on a fancy date to celebrate. She was immediately feeling suspicious that a proposal might be coming, since it was unlike Roger to plan any date weeks in advance. The night they picked rolls around, and he comes to pick her up… in regular clothes. She had told him that her dream proposal would be him proposing in his Navy uniform. Seeing him show up in regular clothes meant to her that this wasn’t anything unusual– they were just celebrating her and her birthday! Fine by her :) They start the night off by getting cocktails before heading to Martin’s Tavern where they had reservations for dinner. They arrive at Martin’s and Roger excuses himself to the restroom. While he’s gone, the waiter entertains Christy by telling her the specials, and then giving her the history of the restaurant and even the history of their booth. The booth they were seated at was the exact booth where JFK proposed to Jackie O. The waiter excuses himself and comes back with a bouquet of red roses, explains to Christy that today is the 60th anniversary of the famous proposal, and that each year on the anniversary they bring flowers to the table… and then out comes Roger in uniform.

I stole these photos from Martin’s Tavern’s facebook page — I love that they posted about it!

I absolutely love their story! Christy first contacted me about a month ago to get some details on photography for their wedding in 2015 and soon after we were planning their engagement session in DC the day before Roger was to leave, come back again for a short time, leave again for a few months, just to come back for a short time before deploying for 10 months. They wanted to get their engagement photos done before he left this time since it was the best weather they’d get until he comes back from the big deployment. I’m so glad that I got to meet these two. We had an amazing time wandering around DC talking about everything from how Christy is the best wing woman ever (how she ended up meeting, dating, and now is about to marry Roger) to our mutual obsession with our cats.

We started off near the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pools. We had beautiful morning light to work with!

Do you recognize Christy’s dress? It’s the very same one she wore when he proposed :)

I love it when I have two rings to shoot at an engagement session!

We stopped back at the cars – they changed, I moved my car from an illegal parking spot to a legal one… both important things. I noticed that across the street from where we parked there was amazing light peeking through the trees. These are some of my favorite shots of the session!

Favorite.

They wanted to get a shot with their sunglasses, so thug.

Christy said she couldn’t do a serious model face…. she clearly lied.

On the way back to the car at the end of the session, I noticed this willow tree and had them pose inside the branches. I was so focused on the gorgeousness that I fell in a hole. Let’s just say I’m really glad my camera bag is padded, because it hit a rock. Both me and my gear are no worse for the wear. It was also totally worth it.

Christy and Roger, it was SO awesome meeting you both and I hope your time apart over the next year or so flies by!