With a penchant for all things French (her blog name Belles Vies means “beautiful lives”), it was only natural for Natalie to incorporate French details into her beautiful D.C. engagement photos. Think macarons and antique Champagne coupes set against a blanket of pink petals, a lovely white dress and a gorgeous couple. See all the pretty from Annamarie Akins Photography in The Vault!
From Annamarie Akins Photography…Matthew and Natalie, Blogger at Belles Vies and lover of all things french, first met in DC after attending a concert…they were both waiting for a taxi outside of the venue and starting talking and laughing. I love that Natalie mentioned that it was this immediately feeling of familiarity like they had known each other for years! After spending time with them, it’s so easy to see that they are perfect for one another! Their relationship grew from that first meeting and after several moves to other cities together, this past January Matthew proposed while they were house hunting in Philly where they hope to live for a long time! I’m so excited for them to get married next June and start a new chapter of life together…and after seeing how creative Natalie is, I can’t wait to see what she and Kari Rider Events bring together for the wedding!
It was such an honor to capture them in this season of engagement. They were a dream to photograph and made my job so easy! They are truly one of the sweetest couples I’ve ever met and I’m so excited to get to share their dreamy shoot in DC with you today! We started at sunrise and walked around the monuments before heading to the Eastern Market district where they used to live when they first met. Natalie is a lover of all things French so the floral grown and picnic complemented her style perfectly!
From The Bride…Matthew and I have lived all over the country (five cities in four years!) but there is an extremely special place in our hearts for Washington, D.C. We met and fell in love in our nation’s capital and there are so many neighborhoods that remind us of our early days falling for each other. As soon as I began to dream about our engagement photos, I knew I wanted to capture us in locales where we experienced some of the most meaningful moments of our early love. The Jefferson Memorial is our favorite of the D.C. memorials and standing encircled in the colonnade of Ionic columns as the morning light peaked through was nothing short of magical!
My style blog BellesVies.com is inspired by my love for French joie de vivre and my penchant for all things French has become a beautiful part of our relationship (we are spending three weeks in France for our honeymoon!). It felt natural to incorporate that aesthetic into our engagement photos so I decided to create a romantic picnic that would be worthy of a modern-day Marie Antoinette. I knew the Tidal Basin’s cherry blossoms would make the perfect backdrop, and even though peak bloom occurred a few days prior, we lucked out with a lush carpet of blush Dogwood petals. I paired gilded details, including a gold-trimmed mirrored tray and antique champagne coupes, with an assortment of macarons and vintage picnic baskets. I was even able to find apropos cherry blossom macarons!
We finished our beautiful morning by wandering through Eastern Market, the neighborhood I lived in when we met. We spent so many days wandering the lush streets admiring the charming homes with our dog during our first year together. It was so much fun to be back there and engaged! I could not be more in love with how beautifully Anna captured our love story and I can’t wait to marry Matthew in just a few short months!
Photography: Annamarie Akins Photography | Venue: National Mall | Blogger: Belles Vies