For as long as I’ve been a Washington, DC anniversary photographer, I’ve never actually photographed a cherry blossom session — near blasphemy if you’re from this area, I know. I visited them once a few years back, but it’s always crazy trying to fight the crowds that I just hadn’t had the chance to return. This year was going to be no different until I received a message last week from my talented friends, The Herrintons, who ended up sending sweet Catherine & Will my way. The four of us quickly agreed the sunrise crowds would be easier to fight off than the evening viewers and our plan turned out so well! Despite missing what was considered the “peak” bloom the previous weekend, those beautiful pink trees were just as fluffy as you can imagine and we actually had some space to shoot! 

I hadn’t met these two beforehand which left even more for us to chat about on the day of! Catherine and Will were married just a year earlier at Keswick Vineyards in Charlottesville, VA. As their one-year anniversary quickly approached, they realized some new portraits to celebrate the past year of marriage were in order! We quickly found out we had a love of travel in common — since their wedding, they have travelled to Europe for their honeymoon, exploring countries from Italy all the way north to Amsterdam and Catherine told me about her cross-country road trip to the National Parks of the west all in her little Prius! And I can’t leave out that they recently got a new puppy, Zephyr, who has, of course completely, stolen their hearts. 

Catherine and Will, thank you for braving the chilly wind with me at the Jefferson Memorial — by the time we made it to the Lincoln, it was like it never even happened! I had such an amazing time getting to know both of you and am wishing you nothing but many more years of wonderful anniversaries like this one!