Old Town Alexandria Engagement Session | Lieb Photographic | Vivian and Donald

Engagements

Jul 30, 2021

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Vivian and Donald met me in Old Town Alexandria on a hot July evening. It was so good to finally get to meet them in person! We set out for the session around some of the iconic old town areas in Alexandria. How fun it was to see them interact and share this special time together. They are deep in the trenches planning their 2022 wedding so it was fun to hear how the planning is going as well. So without further ado…

Here is their love and proposal story from Vivian’s perspective…

“Donald and I met by chance at a party in 2011. Our chemistry right from the start was out of this world and within a month of getting to know each other we began dating. It was a long-distance relationship since we both went to different colleges. Those first few years of dating were hard. Long nights on the phone and on skype talking for hours on end. It was hard waiting for weeks on end to see him in person again but I knew it was always worth the wait. After I graduated college, I decided to get a second degree in nursing. It was a tough time for me mentally but he always supported me and cheered me on from the sidelines.

Over the years our love has grown exponentially and we continue to learn something about each other every day. On August 28, 2020. Donald asked me out on a date. After almost 9 years of being together, he wasn’t very clever in hiding his intentions. He took me to one of our favorite restaurants. We sat outside under a tent (due to the pandemic) when it began to rain. It was very romantic at first with a gentle rain and candlelight until it began pouring. At first, we were hesitant to move indoors but soon it began thundering and the tent seemed like it would collapse at any second. After we got inside, I began to feel really nervous, wondering when he was going to pop the question.

When the bill came, I had a feeling the moment had past and gone. Feeling disappointed, I asked Donald if we were going to go anywhere before our Target run, he said no and we got into the car. However, he surprised me by telling me to close my eyes, at this point I thought he was joking but I closed my eyes anyways. He went to the trunk and came back and told me to open my eyes. He presented me with a photobook titled Our Love Story. It chronicled our years together with photos of our favorite memories. After all the tears he asked ‘Will you marry me?” and I immediately said yes. We shared our news with our family over the phone and headed over to Target because that is what people do after getting engaged.”

And in Donald’s words:

“We met at a Halloween Party in Richmond, VA. I remember walking through the dark dance floor, but she somehow caught my eye in the crowded room. I tapped her on the shoulder and asked her, ‘Would you like to dance?’ She said ‘Yes’ and we have been together since then. We started texting each other and talked on the phone for hours.

Even though we went to schools a great distance from each other, we video chat every day and woke up with each other most mornings. I remember I liked her so much that I told her ‘I love you’ first. I asked her if she would be my girlfriend, but she rejected me the first time. She would then later tell me to ask her again. We’ve been together for almost 10 years now. We have so many interests together, whether it be movies, tv shows, video games, board games, food, you name it. I feel like I am always discovering new things about her with her by my side. It is interesting how in this time, there is still always something for us to talk about and spend time with one another. She is my best friend and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with her.

I knew I wanted to make something very special for her for the day that I asked her to marry me. It was especially important that she could keep and touch. Vivian likes to keep mementos like cards and photographs. She has all the cards I have ever given her. We used to talk about how we were going to try scrapbooking together, but we never got around to it. With lots of research, I decided to make a photobook that represented our love for each other over the years. We went to one of our favorite restaurants called Clarity. Unfortunately, it was pouring outside that day. We were not able to go to the original spot I planned, but I surprised her with the book while we were in the car about to go home and then popped the question then.”

It was a joy to photograph your engagement session and I can’t wait to serve you on your wedding day! Keep scrolling for more highlights from Vivian and Donald’s iconic old town Alexandria engagement session.

Michelle with Lieb Photographic is a Northern Virginia Wedding Photographer, a Charlottesville Wedding Photographer and photographs destinations worldwide. To see more weddings and engagement sessions in the Northern Virginia area, view the Leesburg Wedding Venue page. If you’d like to explore some more of my favorite wedding venues in the Virginia and Washington D.C. areas, view the Wedding Venues page. If you’d like to view more lovely engagement sessions, visit the engagement session gallery.

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