What happens when a lovely red-head ends up sitting next to a happy-go-lucky and very energetic intern in the office? They fall in love, naturally! Well not exactly. But close! Elinor was working as an intern for the Heritage Foundation when Michael came along. Sitting at the desk next to her every day, he would tease her about his LONG commute (30 seconds) compared to hers and make his rounds bantering with people in the office. After he returned to Florida they kept in touch but it wasn’t until he came back to work full time for Heritage that he suddenly realized what a beautiful, smart, joyful person Elinor is. After watching her teach Sunday school to a bunch of preschoolers one Sunday he went home and told his mom that he’d found the girl he wanted to marry. And Elinor told me how very charming he is and how much she loves his enthusiasm. Together they make quite the happy, dynamic couple. As Michael said, “Give me 5% and I’ll find the other 95.” They both can’t wait to have kids, love to travel and are passionate about their work and of course each other.

Elinor is now in charge of taking care of the new interns that come to the Heritage Foundation and one of the things she does for them is give them a tour of Mount Vernon. One of the funny memories from early in their friendship is of Michael telling Elinor to get out of a photo of a bunch of the guy interns when they were touring the estate. Hence Mount Vernon has a special significance for them and it was a lovely location for their engagement photos. We even got to spend some time with the sheep. 🙂 It was such a treat walking the grounds with them and I am so excited for their wedding in August!

PS – Awesome couple alert: the morning of our shoot was my mom’s birthday. Elinor brought a bottle of wine FOR MY MOM. Wow! That’s the kind of person she is.