Welcome to a lovely Alexandria Engagement Session!  When Emily contacted me about her wedding next year at Rixey Manor, I was excited to hear about all her plans.  She and Robert were planning on a ceremony at St. John’s Catholic Church in Warrenton (one of my favorite churches to photograph) and a reception at Rixey Manor (another fav!). 

Emily and Robert’s schedule was tricky and he would only be in Virginia for a small window of time this year. So we planned the engagement session initially in Annapolis around the Memorial Day holiday.  Come to find out, it was also the same day as the Naval Academy graduation.  So we moved it to Alexandria, which was so fitting since they both went to school in the Alexandria area.  And who doesn’t love an Alexandria Engagement Session?

Meeting them for a sunrise session was just ideal!  The sun had just come up over the water and the lighting around town was lovely.  I had a wonderful time getting to know them and watch them interact.  Emily is as sweet as can be and just lights up when Robert is close to her.  Robert had just come off a late night flight to Virginia.  But as tired as he was, he was such a trooper and one can see how easily he makes Emily laugh. 

Watching them interact was a real joy and only made me more excited for their wedding next summer.  Congratulations on your engagement Emily and Robert! 

Emily, how did you and Robert meet?

Robert and I went to the same high school in Northern VA, but he was two years ahead of me so we never really interacted. His childhood best friend and best man, Thomas, attended William and Mary. Robert went to visit him from the Naval Academy for homecoming weekend of their senior year (my sophomore year).

Every year during homecoming my sorority has a wedding party they host with a frat, where a couple dating in the respective organizations has a mock wedding. Thomas’s girlfriend and my sorority sister Courtney brought him and Robert to the party. I remember walking by them, and thinking ‘That guy went to my high school…but that can’t be him why would he be here?’ Apparently Robert recognized me too, and asked Courtney to reintroduce us.

How did you begin your dating relationship?

I was talking to a friend when Courtney tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘There’s someone here who wants to meet you!.’ I remember turning to Robert and just having a gut feeling that something significant was happening. Robert eventually asked me to leave this party with him, and we laid on this field in the middle of campus and stared at the stars together. He asked for my number and I didn’t think anything would come of it, but we started talking on the phone and skyping.

He soon asked me to go to a ball with him at the Naval Academy. We spent the whole weekend together, and he asked me to be his girlfriend soon after. Robert graduated and started the basic school in Quantico, VA through my junior year, so we saw each other most weekends. Then, he went to Pensacola and Corpus Christi for jet training, while I graduated and started research at NIH. We’re so excited to close the distance and spend the rest of our lives together!

So how did Robert pop the question?

Robert’s sister Shannon is a marine lawyer stationed in Hawaii, so we went to visit for Christmas this year with his family. On Christmas morning after we opened presents, Robert wanted to go to the beach and explore. So the two of us left (which I thought was weird- I was like shouldn’t we stay here?! haha).  We went to some lookout points.

My family went to Oahu about 10 years ago, and there was this beach that was tucked away behind someone’s house where we had snorkeled. It wasn’t labelled or on a map when I looked before the trip, so I really wanted to find it and return. All the lookout points were really crowded, so we went to some beach, and I realized it was the one I wanted to return to! Robert really had no idea but I think it was a sign! We walked down the beach and said we were going to turn around at some point ahead. When we got there I was just taking it all in, and I turned around and Robert proposed! I was so surprised, and I didn’t even look at the ring for a good five minutes because I was so elated! Then I had to stop myself from saying yes the second I turned around so I could let him make his speech!

Congratulations Emily and Robert! I can’t wait for your Rixey Manor wedding next year!

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Michelle Lieb with Lieb Photographic is a Virginia Wedding Photographer, Charlottesville Wedding Photographer, Baltimore Wedding Photographer and Harrisonburg Wedding Photographer. She is also a Washington DC Wedding Photographer, Phoenix Wedding Photographer, Arizona Wedding Photographer and a Destination Wedding Photographer!