Union Station DC Engagement Photos

Lauren + Chris | Union Station Engagement Session in Washington, DC

Lauren and Chris’s Union Station DC engagement photos were never part of our original plan—but sometimes Plan B really is the better choice. Their engagement session was originally supposed to take place in Old Town Alexandria. We had the location planned and were ready to go, and then Mother Nature decided to throw us a pretty big curveball. Severe thunderstorms were predicted right during our portrait window, which meant the day before their session we suddenly needed a new plan.

And not just one backup plan.

We considered locations everywhere from Fredericksburg to Charlottesville and, of course, Washington, DC. We looked at the forecast, talked through our options, and waited to see what Sunday would bring.

By Sunday morning, Union Station felt like the obvious choice.

Lauren and Chris both work in DC, so photographing their engagement session in the city gave us a chance to incorporate a place that is already part of their everyday lives. Even better, they’re just days away from getting married at Capitol View at 400, a DC wedding venue with a beautiful view overlooking Union Station.

Suddenly, the location we hadn’t originally planned felt like exactly where we were supposed to be.

Starting at Union Station

We began their engagement session around Union Station, taking advantage of the incredible architecture and, most importantly on a day when the weather couldn’t quite make up its mind, plenty of covered spaces.

The arches, columns and neutral stone gave us such a classic DC backdrop for Lauren and Chris’s dressier look. Her cream and gold dress paired with Chris’s gray suit could not have worked more perfectly against the architecture.

But as beautiful as the setting was, my favorite part was how much these two laughed.

There are plenty of classic portraits in their gallery, but there are just as many photographs of Lauren and Chris laughing, walking together and completely forgetting about me for a second. Those are always the moments I love most.

From Union Station to Capitol Hill

And then the weather decided to cooperate with us after all.

We were able to venture beyond the covered areas around Union Station and make our way toward Capitol Hill, giving Lauren and Chris even more variety in their engagement photos.

We traded the grand architecture of Union Station for greenery, city streets and some unmistakably Washington, DC views. It gave us the perfect mix of polished city portraits and the more relaxed, candid photographs that make an engagement gallery feel complete.

What started as a last-minute change of plans turned into a session that feels incredibly personal to them.

Sometimes Plan B Is Better

It’s easy to feel disappointed when weather changes the plans you’ve been looking forward to, especially when it happens less than 24 hours before your engagement session.

But this is exactly why I’m such a believer in being flexible.

Had the forecast been perfect, we would have photographed Lauren and Chris in Alexandria just like we’d planned. It would have been beautiful.

Instead, we ended up documenting them in the city where they work, just days before they’ll gather with their favorite people to get married overlooking the same part of DC where we created these photographs.

I don’t think we could have planned that connection any better if we’d tried.

Sometimes Plan B really is the better choice.

Lauren and Chris, I’ll see you back in DC very, very soon. Next time, you’ll be getting married.

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