There is something so sweet and tender about an elopement. Don’t get me wrong, as a Washington, DC wedding photographer, I absolutely love grand black-tie weddings at venues like The Willard or The Metropolitan Club. Those too have intimate moments, like a father welcoming their guests to the nuptials of his daughter or a mother dancing with her son for one last time as her little boy. But an elopement focuses on one thing and one thing only: the marriage. Sure you can have an amazing tulle dress or a fluffy bouquet, but at the end of the day, the focus is simply on exchanging vows to become man and wife. 

For this shoot, I wanted to capture that intimacy by minimizing any distractions that took away from the emotions at hand. We selected DAR as the wedding elopement venue because there is truly no place more classic DC that I can think of – from their stunning columns to the iconic white marble, it’s one of my favorite places in the city. In lieu of an invitation suite, I instead worked with Jenna at The Littlest Paperie to create a more fitting announcement suite — announcing the marriage post-elopement and inviting close friends and family for a private dinner to celebrate the wonderful news. Her hand-drawn cityscape made this one of the most unique suites I’ve gotten to photograph; when you’re working with less details in general, it’s the little things that make these really stand out. Sophie from Blossom and Vine foraged a perfectly wild, yet soft bouquet that was complimented by the light blue lace of Sweet Caroline’s dress. And of course, I cannot not mention my amazing models who work up at sunrise and worked through so much of that infamous DC humidity! These amazing vendors went above and beyond to create this shoot with me, so please check out each of their sites and enjoy the images below! 

Photographer | Alicia Lacey Photography
Venue | Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)
Dress Designer | Sweet Caroline Styles
Shoes | Jimmy Choo
Florist | Blossom & Vine
Invitation Suite & Calligraphy | The Littlest Paperie
This Washington, DC DAR wedding elopement was shot on a Pentax 645N with Fuji 400H film. The film was scanned and developed by The FIND Lab.