Being a Washington, DC wedding photographer is, in a word, crazy. The good kind of crazy — where from the months of April through October (or in the case of my 2015, December!), you’re bopping from one shoot to the next all while editing and e-mailing pretty much nonstop in between, but you love it so much that you almost laugh getting to think that this is a job. With that, though, comes many sacrifices — some big, some small — but regardless, to work that hard requires a change in your lifestyle. And that shift is naturally felt throughout the entire household because instead of watching Scandal together on Saturday night, I’m at a wedding and Rob has to wait until Sunday for his Scandal fix. These little things build and build over the months and he remains patient because he knows I’m doing something I love and that is why I am so, so, so lucky. How did I find someone who would hold their vows true? Who would support me through my crazy ideas? I don’t know, but I’m certain I don’t deserve it. 

Regardless, Rob’s birthday falls a little over a week after Christmas, when life is back to normal and things have calmed down. This year I wanted to do something special to make up for how many weekends I was gone in 2015, so I dreamed up (another) crazy idea… we would visit three different breweries, and at each brewery, there would be a different group of people there to celebrate Rob. But the fun part was, he had no idea! No idea where the next stop would be (or that it would even be a brewery!) and no idea who would be there to greet him! I wrote short poems for him to read while we were en route to the next stop, with little clues about who would be meeting us!

So we started off by arriving at Heritage Brewing Co. He was excited about this stop, thinking we were just grabbing a beer, but then his entire family was there to see him! 

Next we headed to Old Bust Head, where, I think he figured out the plan that we were going to be brewery touring all day. But he still didn’t know who was inside… our friends who just had a handsome pair of twins only a month earlier took their first day out to spend it with him!

Finally we headed to our last stop, Tin Cannon Brewery. Our friends Mark and Emily were grinning ear to ear when we walked in the door to see them. Ash, Jon, and even baby Evie joined us later for some cornhole!

Rob thought the fun ended there, but I had one more surprise in store for him. He read through the last poem and put together that the fun was going to continue through next weekend — we are going on a trip! But to keep the surprises coming, he doesn’t know where and won’t until we arrive at the airport on Friday! Stay tuned on Instagram if you want to see where we land :) 

And I just want to thank everyone who made this crazy idea a reality. We are so incredibly blessed to have each and every one of you in our lives; your friendships and support make us feel like the luckiest people in the world — our circle may be small, but it is mighty.