This picture-perfect DC War Memorial proposal in Washington, DC was phtoographed by Sarah Mills on Saturday, March 14, 2020. Sarah is a Washington, DC proposal photographer available for weddings in Washington, DC and beyond.

Jonathan knew DC was the perfect place for where he wanted to propose to his girlfriend, but wasn’t sure of THE spot until after getting recommendations from Hannah and taking them all into consideration. As I watched the emails go back and forth, I could tell Jonathan had great attention to detail and wanted everything to be perfect. The winning location was the DC War Memorial, which gives the same beautiful white marble look as the Lincoln Memorial, but much less pedestrian traffic!

Though Jonathan had never been there before, he loved the idea and trusted our expertise! Hannah is the expert on mapping out exact spots for proposals, so she sent over a stick figure drawing on top of a map to be even more thorough! Our emails then became text messages as we discussed specifics about timing and placement, and Jonathan even decided that a bouquet of flowers would be perfect to walk up and find lying on the ground (and mark the spot of where he should drop to one knee for the perfect picture!) I picked up a bouquet of flowers he purchased on my way to the city, and texted Jonathan as soon as the flowers were in place and I was in position. He had already sent me a selfie so that I would know exactly who to look for, but in the meantime I was merely a tourist taking pictures of the memorial . . . so believable, right?!

He texted me as soon as the Uber driver dropped them off with a simple “here”, but as I saw them approaching he suddenly stopped and texted me saying he was stalling until the pedestrians walked past. He was so smooth as I watched him pretend to be on a phone call!

Once everyone passed, they walked around to the front of the memorial where the flowers were lying and grabbed Yodit by the hands. Though I couldn’t hear his words spoken to her, I knew it had to be special by the look on her face! I kept snapping photos as he grabbed the flowers from the ground and handed them to her. He followed with a kiss and a few more sweet words, and dropped down to one knee. The emotion and unbelief of that moment will always get me as a photographer! He took out the ring box and asked the famous question . . . and she said YES! The ring couldn’t be more beautiful and classic. She was in love!

One of my first questions after a proposal is always DID YOU KNOW?! Yodit was clueless and in total shock! She was all dressed up because Jonathan told her she was his date to a work dinner in the city, and they were meeting his coworkers at the War Memorial to walk around the monuments before heading to the restaurant. Everything about this day couldn’t have gone more perfectly, and as you can tell. Both Jonathan and Yodit are naturals in front of the camera! It was such an honor to photograph this special moment for them!