Meadowlark Botanical Gardens Engagement Photos
I love Vienna, Virginia. It's home to Jammin' Java (where I photographed my first ever concert!), Pizza Vienna (where I go for a bite after the concert), and gorgeous photo locations like Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. Meadowlark is a personal favorite location of mine for proposal and engagement photography in Northern Virginia, not only because of the scenery, but also because of the fact that it doubles as a wedding venue. This means that you can have your engagement session in the same place you'll get married at, which is really adorable to me.
This session was on the more elaborate side of surprise proposal photography for me. Brendan had reached out to me a couple of weeks earlier about the session and told me the plan. It was gorgeous: his girlfriend, Caroline, was told by her friends that they'd be going out to brunch. Instead, they took a detour on their way and wound up at Meadowlark, where they gave Caroline a romantic note from Brendan, who gave her instructions for where to meet him. He was posted up in a gazebo right near the entrance; I was about 100 meters away in the bushes, hiding with my camera. Caroline was supposed to find him, full of anticipation and emotions bubbling at the surface, but she got lost and spent 30 minutes wandering around! So the romance was muffled a bit in favor of humor, but like I told Brendan, this would make for a good story one day.
By the way... I should note that, to add on to the day's hurdles, this was the day where the wildfire smoke came in strongly in the DMV area. I have asthma, and was already recovering from a cough, so I was quite worried. Brendan was awesome and tried to look for N95 masks for me that morning so I would be able to minimize my time exposed to the elements. Though the pharmacies were out of masks, I still survived without an asthma attack (though I brought my inhaler!) and somehow, it actually made my lingering cough stop. Something about double negatives, I guess.
Back to what you're actually here to hear more about: the photos! Brendan opted for my Surprise Proposal engagement session package, which is basically an all-in-one deal where you get both proposal photos and a proper engagement session on the same day, plus discounted Save the Date cards. You'll see above that the photos from the proposal portion look very true-to-life, which tends to be my editing style. There's usually more flair to the edits, though, so I made the creative decision to give the engagement session a little extra cinematic sparkle. Getting to know the couple and their story, I decided the photos needed a film-inspired nostalgic and romantic look to them. Take a look below at some of my favorites to see how they turned out. If you'd like to book a session with me, you can find that link below as well!
