Stephanie & Kyle’s Washington DC Engagement Session at Eastern Market

We’re back in action this afternoon with a super sweet Washington, DC engagement session courtesy of Carley Rehberg Photography! Carley shared with us the sweet love story of Stephanie & Kyle, and their gorgeous sunrise engagement session in DC, ending at Eastern Market!

Stephanie & Kyle’s love story is quintessential DC – they met at their graduate studies at GW! I love the backdrop of Eastern Market in their engagement pictures and how they ended with their favorite t-shirts in their own neighborhood. Check it all out – including a shot of Stephanie’s gorgeous engagement ring AND their proposal story!

Stephanie & Kyle’s Washington DC Engagement Session at Eastern Market

Photography: Carley Rehberg Photography | Submitted via Two Bright Lights

How we met (as told by Kyle):

I first met Stephanie at our very first day of orientation for graduate school at the George Washington University, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration (August 2007). I noticed her signing in at the registration table and taking a seat near the front of the classroom. I was more inclined to sit in the back and took a seat a few rows behind her. Eventually, the classroom was split into two groups and everyone in the back rows was asked to move up to the front, this my chance to make a move! I quickly gave myself a pep talk to build up the nerves, sat down next to her, introduced myself… and was greeted back with a flat, completely uninterested, “I’m Stephanie Stone”, she then turned her head back to the front of the classroom. We didn’t talk or interact for the remainder of the day.

Needless to say I was not encouraged by this reaction. However, as luck would have it, Stephanie and I would have two classes together throughout the semester. I made sure to sit myself right next to her for one and tried to play it cool by not sitting next to her in another. Our first real social interaction took place after a GW event, after which a group of us met for drinks and food at a nearby bar. I made sure to seat myself directly across from Stephanie and we ended up splitting a basket of onion rings.

As the weeks and months went on we grew as friends and began to go out on the weekends with the same group of graduate school friends. Eventually, we started to interact more and more often alone without the group. Unbeknownst to either of us at the time, we had what we both consider now our first date walking through the DC Cherry Blossoms on a Saturday afternoon in spring 2008. Weeks later, my long campaign was over and we were officially dating.

Click inside for the rest of Stephanie & Kyle’s DC engagement session at Eastern Market & around the city AND the proposal story!

Our proposal (as told by Stephanie):

Kyle took me by surprise completely when he staged the proposal in the classroom where we first met. He slyly contacted Paul, our friend and the Career Services Director from our graduate school to ask him to set up a fake alumni event. As instructed, Paul sent an e-mail to Kyle and me requesting our assistance speaking to prospective students about our experience in the graduate program. We have helped with similar events in the past, so I thought nothing of it and immediately agreed to help.

On the day of the event, I rushed to GW from work mentally preparing what I would say to the incoming students to encourage them to choose our Alma mater. Kyle met me in the lobby and told me that the first speakers were wrapping up and that we were supposed to wait in the classroom across the hall.

Of course it was the room where we had first shared a class and Kyle had set the room up to represent our first meeting. It took me entirely too long to realize he was proposing but I certainly said yes once I caught up!

To add to the layer of surprises, Kyle suggested that we celebrate by going to our old graduate school hangout and sharing a basket of onion rings like the old days. As he put it, “the spot where we shared out first ring”. Little did I know he had also told our close friends to meet us there under the guise of surprising me with a friend visiting from out of town. While our friends thought his story was suspicious, most of them agreed to meet us there. Needless to say, when I walked in with ring on hand, we were all mutually surprised by the turn of events!

I LOVE that last frame! Looks like a still from a movie or something – am I right?! Congratulations Stephanie & Kyle! Thank you for sharing your beautiful DC love story and engagement pictures with us. A special thanks again to Carley Rehberg Photography for submitting her images via Two Bright Lights.