Reinaldo and Dan have been together 7 years. They first met in June 2010 in Porto Alegre, Brazil at a party thrown by mutual friends. Reinaldo had moved there from his hometown of Brasilia to pursue a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning and Dan was there for the summer to study Portuguese. Learning the language would be useful for his future fieldwork in Brazil after obtaining a Ph. D. in Anthropology.
"We very quickly became friends and started spending time together. We lived together in Brazil for a year and a half as Dan did his fieldwork. But, for the most part it was a long distance relationship, so we got to travel a lot, and this is something that we learned that we love to do together. We both love walking around, exploring cities, admiring architecture and posting our adventures on Instagram. With him I learned that while we love to travel to enjoy nature, we both need a good, hot shower at the and of the day. So...no camping."
There wasn't a proposal, but there didn't need to be. As Reinaldo tells it:
"Last year, we were together for a little while in Cartagena, Colombia and that's when we really decided how and when our marriage was going to be. We knew that we wanted to be together somewhere, and we chose DC to be the city. When those two things were decided, we didn't really need a proposal!"
They ultimately decided to have an intimate ceremony in Meridian Hill Park with just a few close friends.
Afterwards, they headed to Maple for brunch
Thanks to Kiana as well for officiating!
Also, here's my post about the Josephine Butler Parks Center wedding venue, right across the street from Meridian Hill Park.
Know someone who needs a photographer for their wedding or elopement? Send me a message; I'd love to capture their day!