It then dawned on me, in order to make things easier, that we should just look for photographers in the DC area and see if they were willing to travel rather than keep making trips up north.

Since we got engaged in DC, it only made sense to find photogs that could do an engagement session here rather than shoot one in some random park in Jersey.  Gotta rep the DMV, ya know?  Furthermore, it seems that the photographers we have talked to here have tended to be younger and are more attuned towards the style we’re looking for, i.e. documentary-style, modern, etc.

Now it’s just a matter of what each of them offers in terms of features and pricing.  It’s definitely been a lot more convenient for us, that’s for sure.

Since our proposal took place under a cherry blossom tree, both of us agreed that we should implement some of the colors found on it, as well as some blue and white too. There’s more of an association with these colors instead and despite the pink, and it isn’t too feminine, at least in my opinion. Coincidentally, the blue and brown also match our bedding. Rachel proceeded to ask, “Our bedding is our wedding?” Guess so.

This palette nicely illustrates what we’re aiming towards:

Turns out both sides of the family weren’t too keen on the whole rehearsal dinner idea as there seems to be a generation gap with this specific tradition. I can tell you that both Rachel and I have been to many rehearsal dinners, some small and some big, but that they typically involve the wedding party, immediate family, and out-of-town guests. We ultimately, or at least I believe, came to a consensus that we would have a rehearsal dinner in the end but it would be on the smaller side of the scale (which is fine, I don’t really have a preference I just know that we both wanted to have at least something the night before).

The next day we met with a photographer in the area. We honestly weren’t that impressed with his work since we’re both leaning towards a documentary-style method of photography and trying to stay away from something more standard. It was also kind of stressful with both sets of parents around while trying to talk to the photographer and asking questions. It’s difficult because they’re both helping us out, which we’re both completely grateful for, so it’s a tough road to cross. There are just times when Rachel and I want to work with a vendor one-on-one as it makes things less tense.

That afternoon we had a barbecue at Rachel’s parent’s house which gave my parents a full glimpse of my fiancé’s family. My dad immediately hit it off with Rachel’s grandfather as he was a survivor as well as shared similar interests which was nice to watch. Overall it was a successful weekend in terms of family getting together, coordinating with vendors, and taking a method of transportation (Amtrak) that proved to be much better than driving up and down 95 in the nonstop rain.