Alexandria has been a popular choice for sessions lately, besides Skyline Drive. I love what Old Town offers for my couples — Variety!! Within a short walk, we can photograph by greenery, old architecture, quaint homes, cobblestone streets and the water! Rob and Anna chose Old Town as the backdrop to their photos, and we made sure to bring in a little of the fall atmosphere in this towny scenery by finding cute fall decor and fallen leaves! Afterall, Anna loves the Halloween/fall season! I joked around with them as we walked around that I’m glad they didn’t want a haunted session with spiders and dreary weather. 😉 I’m happy to see these photos filled with love and happiness! <3
Alexandria ended up being the ideal spot for their engagement portraits because it coincidentally worked with their Disney wedding theme! We ran across street names like Prince Street and Queen Street. It was destined for them to have their photos there. 🙂 Cannot wait to see their Disney theme come to life on their special day!! Fun!!!
Speaking of coincidence/fate — These two were meant to be together!! <3 I won’t tell you their love story because you have to read it below from their own words, but I can’t believe how everything came around in a full circle for them. Rob and Anna are precious together and are so outgoing. I really enjoyed walking around Old Town getting to know these two better, and I am now counting down until their wedding day next summer!!! YAY!
As we walked around Old Town, it became very apparent how many planes are taking off and landing. I found myself having to run back and forth to Rob and Anna for them to hear my directions. Lol! It became funny towards the end of the session because I don’t remember plane sound pollution being an issue in the years prior. But they were very patient as I squeezed in a workout with the running. 😉 Speaking of our adventures, as we were walking towards the water, I felt something drop on me — low and behold it was bird poo! There went my cute fall outfit for the day! Haha! From what I have heard in the past, it means good luck, right? 😉 Soon after, though, I had Rob and Anna situated by the water, I noticed a couple of seagulls almost took them out! Whew! What was up with these birds and planes last week?! HA! Fortunately for us, after battling some birds, we ended with a beautiful sunset sky by the water! Loved ending the session on a breathtaking note!
Rob & Anna’s Love Story
How Rob and Anna Met
from Anna’s point of view
The first time Rob and I met, we didn’t actually speak to each other. I don’t think we even made eye contact, but I noticed the cute IT man trying to fix a technology problem in my kindergarten classroom immediately. I figured there was no way he could be single, and it wasn’t exactly an appropriate place or time to make a love connection, so I let it go. However, the tech problem persisted and I held out hope that we’d cross paths again. The school year continued and eventually ended, and unfortunately he never returned.
That summer, almost a year later, I decided to give online dating a try. To my surprise, there he was! The Internet thought we’d be a good match, and I had been thinking the same thing for 11 months, so I was thrilled when he sent me a message. I learned that he was in fact single, lived right down the street from me, and had finally fixed the problem in my classroom just days before. We bonded over the fact that he had narrowly escaped with his life when he opened the closet in my packed-for-the-summer classroom and millions of stuffed animals fell out and onto his head. A few days later, we met for lunch and ended up hogging the booth for 3 hours. Luckily, we didn’t run out of things to talk about and exactly 2 years later, the cute stranger became my fiancé!
How Rob Proposed to Anna
from Rob’s point of view
Before I begin, there is one thing you should know about my fiancée Anna. She is a Disney girl. Disney movies, characters, songs, theme parks, Disney night on Dancing with the Stars, Disney Disney Disney. Knowing how much she loves Disney helped guide me to the thought of an “Engagement at Disney.”
Anna loves Paris, and I’ve never been. We have talked about visiting one day and how great it would be to see the sites and the Eiffel Tower. I heard there was a mini France with an Eiffel Tower at Epcot. I thought, what a great spot to combine her three loves, Disney, France, and me. 😉
With the easy part out of the way, now I needed to find a way to get us there without her knowing the real reason. I masked the occasion by getting tickets for her birthday. Fast forward a couple of months to July 30, 2016, the day of the proposal. The day I get to ask this special girl to marry me.
We arrived at the park and made our way to security and Anna passed with flying colors. I, on the other hand, got pulled aside. I was so afraid they were going to ask me to empty my pockets, where it had the ring, with her standing right there. Thankfully that didn’t happen…Bullet dodged.
We started off the day just like anyone else, pictures and rides. We knocked out the front half of the park in record time and made our way to the World Showcase were I noticed the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
We were having such a good time and I’ve been keeping an eye on the tower to help keep track of where we were. At one point I wasn’t paying attention to the tower’s location and suddenly it was right beside us. Immediately became nauseous. I told Anna, “I need to go to the bathroom.” When I got there, I called my best friend and told him that it’s go time. He gave me a few words of encouragement. I fixed myself up and went to meet up with Anna. When she saw me, she asked if I was feeling ok. She noticed that all the color in my face had left and that I was as pale as could be.
We got in line to have our picture taken in front of the fountain with the Eiffel Tower in the background. When it was our turn, Anna was in front of me, and she started making her way to the fountain. I hung back a little to tell the photographer that I was going to propose. He smiled and said ok, I’ll let you know when I’m ready. We both sat down at the fountain, and he began taking his normal park pictures with us doing different poses. Now came the moment of truth. He nodded and said you’re up.
My heart was pounding. My legs were shaking; it was hard to breathe. As I started to get up, I turned to Anna and dropped to one knee. I could tell that she was a little confused at first, but when I reached into my pocket, I knew she could tell what was happening.
Quick rewind…
I began planning this from November to July. I looked for the best, unique engagement ring I could find, watched proposal videos at Disney, read stories, looked at pictures of the parks and rehearsed what I wanted to say. Back to the proposal…
I reached for the ring in my pocket. As I was pulling out the pouch that had the ring, Anna began to tear up; her face became flush as did mine. I pulled out the ring, grabbed her hand, and began speaking the wonderful words I rehearsed for months, “et…..er…eh…I …honored…to be my wife.” Oh, such poetry at its finest. She understood what I meant and said yes. I slid the three sizes too big ring on her finger, and we hugged and kissed. All the people there began to clap and cheer. We both took a step back and looked around and quickly remembered that we were in public.
This was one of our happiest days together and I can’t wait to start our new chapter together as Mr. & Mrs.
Thank you, Rob and Anna, for an adventurous time around Old Town Alexandria!!! 🙂 I loved our talks about travel, wedding planning and everything in between. You two are as sweet as can be and I love seeing this preview of your love below!! Cannot wait for your wedding day!!!! Eeep! Congrats!! XOXO!
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