Grace and Brian’s Casual, DC Neighborhood Engagement Pictures

Images: Sarah Gormley Photography

Fall weather is officially here in Washington, DC and I couldn’t be happier. The air conditioning is off, and the boots are out. I can’t wait to rock my scarves and knit hats SO SOON. We had a really nice weekend in DC, biking down to (attempt to see) the opening of the African American History Museum (we did get to see Obama’s motorcade drive by literally in front of us … and then we saw Oprah!), watching some (miserable) football games (dammit Penn State & Giants), and spending time with family & friends. We’ve got plans for a jam packed week on the blog this week though, so here’s hoping I can stick to my calendar and get it all blogged for you guys!

We’re kicking off the week with a super sweet DC engagement session from one of my favs, Sarah Gormley Photography. These two kids dated briefly in high school but broke up after they drifted apart on separate paths … fast forward a few years and they both landed in Washington, DC and ended up being invited to the same evening out by mutual friends. I just LOVE the coincidence in this love story and the DC neighborhood engagement pictures are just AWESOME. Enjoy!

We were actually both born in Washington, DC and then mainly grew up in the District and in Montgomery County. We ended up in the same high school magnet program in Montgomery County. We dated in high school throughout a summer (during which we exchanged actual handwritten letters–these were pre-text days) but drifted apart. Brian was very caught up in football, and I was a school newspaper nerd. We then both went on to different colleges and drifted apart.

Funnily enough, we both moved back to DC at nearly exactly the same time after college. Brian had been in Teach For America and I had been in the Peace Corps. A mutual friend asked each of us separately if we’d like to go to Ethiopian and we both (separately!) gave an enthusiastic YES since we each had missed DC’s strong Ethiopian game while we were away. It was a total surprise when we saw each other again, and I believe I was even wearing a sweatshirt with huge holes in it because I had given away all of my clothes upon finishing Peace Corps. Super attractive! I was not planning on meeting my future husband that night.

We had an unusually great time catching up and within the week, we had our first date. At the same time, we were both waiting for acceptances to post-grad schools, so we had a fun spring of running around to different campuses all over the East Coast. In the end, we chose to stay in DC (he to Georgetown Law and me to Johns Hopkins).

After almost exactly two years together, we went to Istanbul for a long weekend. I had lived in Turkey before and Brian told me that he just wanted to experience it while we had a brief break in our studies. It turned out that he had actually been plotting for months about this supposed “spontaneous” trip. He proposed on our balcony with a ring that I had said months before that I really liked. I was pretty shocked. He had to ask me twice to marry him because I was so confused (and jetlagged). It was pretty wonderful! I believe we each gained 5 pounds on that trip from all the chocolate souffle we ate in celebration.

So now we’re getting married this coming October in DC!