menuthe

Suparna and Sumanth’s Engagement Session at the Jefferson Memorial

Suparna and Sumanth’s engagement session took place at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, on an early spring morning, ahead of their wedding happening this upcoming weekend. But the story of how we ended up standing at the base of those marble columns with them started long before that morning did.

How This Family Found Us Again

Earlier this year, Suparna and her sister Shalini got on a call with me to talk about wedding photography. What they reminded me of is that we are already quite familiar with their family. Years earlier, during the strangest stretch of the pandemic, we had photographed their cousin Samhita’s wedding. When it came time for Suparna to plan her own, Shalini told me we were the first people who came to mind, because they felt we would be the right fit.

I remember hanging up that call wanting the booking in a way that surprised me. Somewhere in that conversation, I had stopped feeling like a photographer being interviewed and started feeling like someone who already belonged around this family’s milestones. There is no guarantee that feeling is mutual. Thankfully, Suparna and Sumanth chose us anyway.

An Early Morning at the Jefferson Memorial

A few weeks after that call, we were all meeting at the Jefferson Memorial at seven in the morning, trying to beat the DC crowds, chasing soft spring light, and hoping the cherry blossoms would cooperate. Shalini came too, this time in a different role entirely, part sister, part support crew, part dog wrangler, because Suparna and Sumanth brought their pups along for the walk.

Mornings like this one are as much about logistics as they are about romance. Early light at a national memorial means working fast before the marble fills with tourists and tour groups. It means adjusting for wind, for two leashed dogs with their own opinions about where to walk, and for a couple who is still getting used to being photographed together. None of that shows up in a finished photograph, but it shapes every one of them.

Why We Ask Every Couple to Do This First

Sessions like Suparna and Sumanth’s are exactly why we tell couples that an engagement session is worth the early alarm. It is not really about collecting extra photographs before the wedding. It is about the two of you learning how to move together in front of a camera, and about us learning how you actually stand next to each other when no one is directing you. We wrote more about that in Why We Encourage Every Couple to Have an Engagement Session, and it held true again here. By the time Suparna and Sumanth’s wedding weekend arrives, there is no getting-to-know-you period left to work through.

Early sunrise sessions also have a way of testing a couple’s patience before the wedding does, the way Anjali and Eric’s sunrise engagement session in Occoquan, Virginia did months earlier, or the way a locked gate rearranged an entire morning for Aditi and Connal’s engagement session near Glenstone. Plans shift. Light does not wait. Couples who can laugh through that tend to be the same couples who laugh through a wedding day running fifteen minutes behind.

What This Session Told Us About Wedding Weekend

What stays with me about these photographs is not simply that the morning was pretty, though it was. It is knowing everything that came before it. One cousin’s wedding, photographed during one of the hardest seasons our industry has ever seen, quietly became a relationship a family remembered years later.

That is the compliment that matters most to us. Not hearing that someone loved their photographs, but hearing that when it was their family’s turn again, they thought of us first. From Samhita’s wedding, to a call with two sisters, to an early morning with two dogs at the Jefferson Memorial, this family gave us that compliment twice.

More from the blog

0 comments
Add a comment...

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

    South Asian Wedded Life
    The Regeti's FaceBook Icon
    The Regeti's Instagram Icon
    The Regeti's Pinterest Icon

    Caught this guy sneaking through our tripod legs in literally a split second — and honestly? He earned his own spot on the feed. The greenery collar, those eyes, the little bit of ceremony chaos happening just out of frame... this is why we always keep our cameras ready between the "official" shots.

Every wedding has a moment like this if you're paying attention. Got a four-legged member of your wedding party? Tell us about them in the comments — we want to hear!
    The real question to ask is to train or not to train... but honestly, sometimes a girl just has to say yes to the train! 😄 That sweep down the aisle, dad's steady arm, mom walking equally just beside her because gender roles are becoming less and less of a thing, and this Momma earned every step — this is the kind of walk that takes years to get to and mere seconds to happen. This has been life for us for 21 years now and  we still love capturing it, poof and all.

Got a dress with drama we need to document? Let's chat — drop a comment or DM us to talk about your big day!

@poplarspringsmanor
    This is what happens the second the photo is 'done' — the boys pile in and it turns into a full wrestling match of love. He's trying to keep his composure, they're absolutely not letting him, and this is the shot we snagged. The posed photo is nice, but THIS is the one that gets framed.

Tag a groomsman a groomsman that you love 👇

@poplarspringsmanor
    This shot stopped me in my tracks. There's a whole wedding party moving around them, string lights overhead, everyone laughing and talking at once — and these two are just looking at each other like the rest of the world hit pause. That's the moment I'm always chasing. You can pose a group all day long, but you can't fake this.

This is why we shoot the way we do — staying ready for the split second when the noise fades and it's just them. Got a wedding coming up and want photos that feel this real? Send us a DM, we'd love to hear about it.

@poplarspringsmanor
    What if I told you he won her over with a little bit of puppy love? It's true — this good boy showed up in his own greenery collar and absolutely stole the show (and every heart at this wedding, including mine). I love when couples bring their pets into the day, because that's family too, and years from now this is the photo that'll make them laugh and tear up all at once.

Got a four-legged family member who needs to be part of your wedding day? Let's talk — DM us or book a consult and we'll make sure they get their moment too.

#SouthAsianWeddings #IndianWeddings #WeddingPhotographersInVirginia #IndianWeddingPhotographersInVirginia #WeddingPhotography #RegetisPhotography #DogsOfInstagram #WeddingDog #VirginiaWeddingPhotographer #RealWeddings

@poplarspringsmanor
    Florals do SO much more than look pretty in photos. The blooms a couple chooses — the colors, the texture, whether it's a wild garden-gathered look or clean and structured like this one — tell us (and every guest, and every future viewer of these photos) exactly what kind of day this was. This bouquet? Classic, soft, a little romantic with all that trailing greenery. You can feel the whole wedding just from these flowers in her hands.

We notice this stuff because it matters — florals photograph completely differently depending on light, venue, even time of day. It's one of the many little things we're paying attention to on your wedding day. Curious what we'd notice at yours? Drop a comment or send us a DM 👇

@poplarspringsmanor
    Did you know?

At a Hindu wedding, a setup like this isn’t simply decoration.

What may look like coconuts, fruit, leaves, rice and metal vessels is actually part of the ritual language of the ceremony.

Many of these items are used during puja and wedding rites as offerings, symbols of abundance, purity, prosperity, fertility, nourishment and blessings for the couple beginning married life together.

The coconut, for example, is one of the most recognizable sacred offerings in Hindu ceremonies.

Bananas and other fruits are commonly offered as symbols of abundance and nourishment.

Leaves—often betel or mango depending on the tradition—may be used as part of ritual offerings and sacred arrangements.

The kalash, or ceremonial vessel, is also deeply symbolic and is often associated with life, prosperity and divine presence.

And then there are the smaller items that can be easy to overlook: rice, thread, flowers, powders, sweets and other offerings that become part of specific moments throughout the ceremony.

But here’s the important part:

Hindu weddings are not one universal ceremony.

What is used, when it is used and what it represents can vary tremendously by region, community, family tradition and the priest guiding the ceremony.

Which is exactly why we believe photographing a Hindu wedding requires more than simply knowing where to stand.

You have to understand that the objects matter.

The hands reaching for them matter.

The sequence matters.

And sometimes the photograph that seems like “just a detail” is actually documenting a ritual a family has practiced for generations.

That is why we photograph these things too.

Not because they are pretty.

Because they are part of the story.