Last month, I had the pleasure of capturing Sara and Fadi’s intimate wedding elopement at the DC War Memorial on the National Mall. These two shared their big day with just two close friends and Fadi’s daughter, Rachel. Fadi’s best friend who was in attendance, Mike, actually doubled as the officiant, so it was truly an intimate event. These two made it clear from the beginning that they wanted this to be a celebration purely of their commitment and nothing else. So when Sara e-mailed me asking for suggestions of where it should be held, the War Memorial immediately came to mind! 

Not a lot of people realize this beautiful monument exists, and even fewer know it’s available as a ceremony venue. There are only three places you can hold your wedding ceremony on National Parks land in the District of Columbia, and this is, hands down, my favorite. In fact, due to its’ anonymity, it’s also quickly become my favorite monument! While on the main strip of the Mall, it’s set back away from the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool and is rarely visited unless specifically sought out. 

Although our time together was brief, I loved getting to know these two over the course of their big day. Sara is a small business owner of an eyewear shop in Florida and Fadi has served 31 years (amazing!) in the U.S. Army, 20 of which were overseas in the Middle East. They met through pure chance, as Fadi being military has full eye coverage on base, but walked into Sara’s store one day and their relationship began slowly from there. They kept in touch for years, but it wasn’t until January of 2017 that she sent him a care package while he was deployed and the rest become history!  Fadi planned a romantic proposal at the Trocadero while they were in Paris this year and they knew they wanted to officially tie the knot while visiting Washington, DC this fall. It was such a joy to be part of this small celebration; we had a cool November evening, but the portraits turned out just lovely!