Looking for outdoors sites in DC area to take wedding photos. (rent, chapel) - City-Data Forum

Bunnie46 · 05-14-2011, 03:12 PM

Hello,
I am getting married in September 2011, and i am trying to find different sites around the DC area, that i can take outdoor photos. that is not to far from my reception site. I am having my ceremony at Allen Chapel 2498 Alabama Ave SE, and my reception is at the Clarion Hotel, at 6400 Oxon Hill RD, Oxon Hill MD. I don't want to keep my guests waiting for a long period of time. My ceremony starts at 5:30pm, and the reception is at 7:00pm. I just want to take some nice outdoor photos that i will love and treasure. And i am on a time with my Photography and my limo driver so we can have enough time to do this. We are taking the pictures before the ceremony. I am so stressed out.

Please help

slowlane3 · 05-14-2011, 04:47 PM

I lived in OXON HILL for much of my long life. The new "NATIONAL HARBOR" resort/ convention development is right across the road (about 1 mile) from your reception site and is a glamorous place. See the colorful shooting fountains inside the enormous Gaylord Hotel there -- the very funny "Awakening" statue outdoors would make a wonderful comical photo shoot -- and the promenade by the River. You will have to pay to park there in a garage or else at a meter.

Across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from National Harbor, is historic colonial Old Town Alexandria. This neighborhood is a favorite with tourists. The promenade/ cruise boat pier at the foot of King Street there is a scenic place. Again, parking availability is tight there.

The "giant chair" on Martin Luther King Avenue is another famous landmark. (It's a mile or two from your church).

The Abraham Lincoln statue, and the Mary McLeod Bethune statue (famous black educator) in "Lincoln Park" D.C. The historic "Frederick Douglass" house (Cedar Hill) in Anacostia (he was famous in black history).

Bunnie46 · 05-14-2011, 05:24 PM

Thank you so much, I didn't think about those places. But i would love to take my photos at the Gaylord National Harbor, but like you said the parking will be tight. And I know that my limo driver will not be willing to pay a fee for parking or on a meter. But do you know if you can take pictures at the harbor, or do you need a permit. I have been looking at different places with parks with pretty scenery and you need a permit. I will consider the other places also.

kodaka · 05-14-2011, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnie46

Thank you so much, I didn't think about those places. But i would love to take my photos at the Gaylord National Harbor, but like you said the parking will be tight. And I know that my limo driver will not be willing to pay a fee for parking or on a meter. But do you know if you can take pictures at the harbor, or do you need a permit. I have been looking at different places with parks with pretty scenery and you need a permit. I will consider the other places also.

Gaylord is the name of one hotel at the national harbor development. it is not the name of the harbor.

There's no policy prohibiting photography, but you can't reserve a spot either, so you may have trouble getting shots without random tourists in the background.

As for limo parking--paying won't be an issue because the limo can't get into the garages. Limo drivers are accustomed to idling and adept at finding places to do so. Whether you go to national harbor or anywhere else, that is what your driver is going to have to do. That's what he's going to do at the church and reception too.

slowlane3 · 05-14-2011, 09:51 PM

A little further, but not too far, would be

- the U.S. Botanical Gardens (gigantic greenhouse filled with tropical plants - free admission) located just west of the U.S. Capitol Building, at the east end of the National Mall. It has its own parking lot, just steps from the main entrance.

- the National Baseball Stadium, on South Capitol Street.

There is also a 49-room mansion called "Oxon Hill Manor" back in the woods, on the same side of Oxon Hill Road and to the Left (south) of the entrance to National Harbor. "Oxon Hill Manor" is owned by the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, who rent it out for special events. I don't know if they would let you on the grounds, but you can at least try calling them at 301-839-7782.

jmusmc85 · 05-14-2011, 10:41 PM

I second National Harbor. Just look into it a little bit and plan ahead and you should find some great photo ops....

Yiuppy · 05-15-2011, 09:29 PM

A secret gem of DC is the Panorama Room at the top of Morris Road in Anacostia. It's on land owned by the Catholic Church, and there is a view there unseen from any other point in the district. It's a view of the entire city from what I see is at least a thousand feet above sea level. In September I think it's nice. You would have to get permission from the people who run the place to take pictures there and maybe they will accommodate, because otherwise, that spot is "no trespassing" and pristine. That's where I took the picture in my profile photo of the city from high up.

And I took that picture from really low because I was afraid I was gonna get caught if I got closer or all the way up to the little building there where the view is less obstructed.