This was a question that was asked of the public in a recent article I read. A tourist in the Washington D.C. area had inadvertently captured an impromptu moment between two people standing under the rotunda of the War Memorial. The man had just proposed to his girlfriend and from the looks of it, she said, “Yes”. I’ve seen the photo, and the plea to help find them, pop up on blogs, my Facebook feed and Twitter. The world seems to be hellbent on finding these 2 lovebirds.
The photo reminded me immediately of a couple I had seen in New Orleans on New Years Day in 2011. My sister had come to visit and we had taken her to visit N’awlins for the day. We had just left Jackson Square and started walking down Pirate’s Alley. The photographer in me always has my camera at the ready, just waiting to capture something new. I tend to be more intrigued by the people around me than the city itself, especially here. The people MAKE New Orleans what it is. Can you imagine an empty Bourbon Street? I can’t either…the pulse of that city resides not only in the architecture, but in the residents and tourists that make it come alive. But, enough about me, back to the story 🙂 Walking along, I started noticing bubbles. Everywhere. When I turned to my right, I noticed hundreds of them cascading from a wrought iron balcony above. I grabbed my camera and started to focus on the bubbles but something else caught my eye. In the bottom of my viewfinder a couple was walking down the alley, holding hands and looking quite serene. The woman was wearing a veil and the mans gold ring was gleaming in what little sunlight there was. Could they have just gotten married?! I couldn’t help but think they had…they were all alone though. No large group, no photographer, nothing. Just the two of them. I clicked off a few photos before I started to feel slightly guilty…I felt like I was intruding on their moment.
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I’ve always wondered what their story was (did they really get married?) and would love to hand them these photos as a memento of their special day. If you believe in six degrees of separation, we can’t all be that far away from knowing the couple from D.C. or they bride and groom from New Years Day in New Orleans. Like the song goes, It’s a small world after all.
*A little update to the first story I mentioned about the couple in D.C. They did come forward finally and they had indeed gotten engaged, a few days earlier. The moment the photographer captured was not an actual proposal, they were just scouting wedding locations and got caught up in the moment. 🙂 Ah…Love. <3
