Milan and Adam’s Uniquely Urban Engagement Session in Virginia

Milan and Adam’s relationship has had its ups and downs but through it all their love has remained strong. When they first met, Milan saw Adam as a friend. However, he was persistent and always impressed her with his unique dates ideas and attention to detail.

Read all about Milan and Adam’s relationship as well as their uniquely urban engagement session in Virginia.

Bride & Groom: Milan & Adam
Occupations: Director at an architecture organization & Teacher/Athletic Director at a charter school
Wedding date: September 21st, 2018
Wedding location: Woodlawn & Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope Leighey House
Location of engagement shoot: Old Town, Alexandria, VA

Tell us how you met and all about the proposal.We met at college during a serendipitous hallway passing. It was our senior year at University of Maryland and I lived off campus, still at student-affiliated housing, but you literally could not tell me I was not the most grown thing you’d ever met. One day I was leaving my apartment the same time as my neighbor and a tall, dark, and handsome teammate of his. Some friendly jokes were thrown at the expense of his my neighbor’s friend (my future fiancé), and that was it! We connected over various forms of social media over the years, but did not have our first date until 8 years later.

After reconnecting and Adam’s great escape from the friend-zone, we dated for just under two years before Adam proposed at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. We were going through quite a rough patch and had been arguing for weeks (The Enemy trying to sneak in). The arguments were finally winding down and Adam suggested that we just needed to break our routine and forget the errands for the day and go walk around D.C. He knows I love museums, so he suggested we go to the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden because it was a beautiful, unseasonably warm, fall day. When we finally got to the garden I immediately saw the statue I wanted to explore: the Amor statue. Adam was taking his time trying to look at other statues along the way, but I already had my eye on the prize. Adam mentioned earlier he’d downloaded a guided tour app for the garden, so as we stood in front of the Amor statue. I  was admittedly trying to instagram it whem Adam pulled out his phone and asked if I wanted to hear what the app had to say about the statue. I distractedly tried to finish my post, but as I glanced at his phone I saw pictures of us moving by with music. He’d created a slideshow video with pictures of us from the last two years and at the end was the proposal! He got down on one knee and some coworkers popped out of a bush nearby and took photos. It was a magical day and perfect ending to our recent trials and tribulations. I believe Adam’s dedication, even through hard times, helps us know life and marriage will not always be easy, but that we are both dedicated to weather the storm.

Describe your engagement session. I wanted our engagement shoot to be architectural, a bit urban, with an old town feel. I’d say Adam and I both have understated style when it comes to fashion, and we wanted the city’s backdrop to play a noticeable role in the shoot. Old Town has the perfect, romantic, old world feel I wanted for the shoot and Light & Lexi captured it all perfectly. The day was one of the absolute coldest of the fall. When I look at the pictures I can still feel the almost painful chill that was ever so slightly chased away by the love and joy of the day.

What did you do on your first date? Adam was late (that will be a part of the story, even when we’re 70), and we went to Penn Social for Old Bay wings and some friendly competition. It had been 8 years since our first encounter in that student housing hallway. We were friends on most social platforms so I think we both thought we knew what to expect, but of course Instagram and Twitter come sans energy and vibe. In my opinion, our first date was a disaster. We couldn’t have seemed more ill-matched. Aside from Adam being ridiculously late, he told jokes I wasn’t amused by and he seemed to be trying to play it overly cool. After that first date, Adam and I continued on as friends for a while. However, I couldn’t help but notice he always seemed to have the best suggestions for hangouts: walks in Rock Creek Park, Taste of DC, UMD homecoming festivities, microbreweries. He had my attention even if I remained insistent we were just friends.

How has wedding planning been so far? Wedding planning has been a lot like life. It has its peaks and valleys! We have an amazing friend and planner, Jamésa, who I can’t imagine going through this process without. I organize programs for work but meetings and summits are a totally different ball game than weddings. Adam is nothing but accommodating and endlessly tries to figure out how to help. The wedding playlist is his happy place (we have three different, curated collections for each part of the wedding program), and he could not be a more supportive co-planner.

How has wedding planning been so far? Wedding planning has been a lot like life. It has its peaks and valleys! We have an amazing friend and planner, Jamésa, who I can’t imagine going through this process without. I organize programs for work but meetings and summits are a totally different ball game than weddings. Adam is nothing but accommodating and endlessly tries to figure out how to help. The wedding playlist is his happy place (we have three different, curated collections for each part of the wedding program), and he could not be a more supportive co-planner.

Tell us what you’re looking forward to most on the wedding day. We’re mostly looking forward to going before God to bless our union. We’ve grown a lot in our faith together. A close second is our first dance as a married couple.

Vendors:
Photographer – Light and Lex
Makeup Artist – Shiedha Williams
Planner – Jamésa Brown