Apollo Fields 2021: 54 Weddings and 1 Baby
For the most part, our job as wedding photographers is to blend in, not stand out.
To move throughout the day like inconspicuous flies on the wall, floating through rooms and in and out of moments like a steady breeze through an open window. We take great pride in being given the opportunity to navigate the intimate spaces of wedding days, playing off the principle that stepping on a truly genuine moment is a cardinal sin. Year-in-and-year-out we flutter from venue-to-venue, unpacking and repacking our camera bags as quickly and commonly as the shutter clicks on our cameras. I am writing this blog to give a glimpse of what it is like to document a commencement of love 50 times a year in the span of six or seven months. It is with great love and appreciation that I say—it is our time to stand out.
From Brandon and Lia’s Wedding in September 2021 in Little Compton, Rhode Island.
2021 Still Wasn’t “Normal.”
We try to avoid using the word normal because it’s one of those “non-words” that doesn’t really mean anything. What exactly does it mean for a person or a year to be “normal”? As it pertains to people: the quirkier the better; but as it goes for wedding seasons, we’ll take predictable. Like the idea of a wedding happening on a specified date and location. Of course we have empathized with every couple for the last two years but can you imagine what our Google calendar has looked like? Think Charlie Kelly in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia vibes. Now picture him in a wedding dress.
And yet, it was the best year of my life.
I like to joke that having a kid feels like you’re playing the game of life on hard mode. Every activity of everyday or every trip is just that much harder. Mornings feel earlier and nights feel longer, but in between extended bouts of exhaustion there are pristine moments of overtired bliss. Like the walk Heather and I took at midnight in Montauk after a wedding as we watched the crests of waves hover and crash on the coast over and over again in the bright moonlight. Or when I held Capa just above the surface of the rooftop pool in West Palm Beach, pushing him through the water like the dorsal fin of a dolphin swimming in the Caribbean. For everything that being a parent takes away from you it gives it back in moments of overwhelming joy.
And also the busiest.
Between our 54 weddings in 13 states plus an unspecified amount of family and engagement sessions we changed diapers, spoon-fed, walked, drove, and nursed our baby Capa. The crazy part is that despite all of the time Heather and I spent together we often felt like we never saw each other. We developed a workflow where I would take Capa in the morning and let Heather catch up on sleep after nursing him all night. Then we’d have breakfast together and one of us would take him for the next stretch while the other person works. It was like a game of hot potato if that potato was adorable and could poop and pee. And despite developing the habit popular to babies of rubbing my eyes when I’m tired, I have no regrets about how we handled everything.
Ron and Sunil’s wedding in August 2021 at The Battery on the southern tip of Manhattan.
a reminder to Change over time.
I was just talking to Heather this morning about how I can’t imagine both of us still bartending full-time like we did in our twenties. It’s not that we couldn’t or we shouldn’t but rather that we value the current iteration of Terrence-and-Heather (-and-Capa) over the one at the beginning of our relationship. In a funny way, our 2021 wedding season felt like a full bartending shift spent “in the weeds” where we never got to look up and kept going from one thing to the next. As the years pass I can’t help but notice the trajectory of our lives and how the previous events prepared us for what came next. Who knows what Capa will mean for our future but if this year was any indication of what’s to come, I can’t fucking wait.
NYE 2015 - One of Heather and I’s first photos together. Taken at a diner on the UWS at ~ 5:00am.
Bear Mountain State Park Engagement Photos
Apollo Fields | Bear Mountain Engagement Photos | Mountain Engagements | Fall Engagements | New York Wedding Photographer | Long Island Wedding Photographer | NYC Wedding Photos | Best Wedding Photos | Wedding Photographers Near Me
Carly + Kyle’s Bear Mountain Engagement Photos
Waking up on Heather’s family farm, Honeymoon Acres, feels like being part of a child’s storybook. One of the potbelly pigs, either Johnny Walker Tito Cash (yes that is his full name) or Rose grunts to be let outside or serve them breakfast. The silkie chicken that is trying to become a rooster attempts to crow but sounds like the cracking voice of a teenage boy going through puberty. Billy, the arthritic goat, walks through the backyard on her knees because her hooves ache too much. Then I release the dogs: Riddle, Rumor, Bertie, and Ms. Jean to do their business and run around the yard like a pack of wild hyenas. The donkey, Brownie, and pony, Amber, neigh from the barn as I take my first sip of coffee. It’s kind of like Old Macdonalds Farm meets a Tim Burton movie--a motley, quirky crew of animals and family and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Heather and I were in the neighborhood to do Carly and Kyle’s engagement photos at Bear Mountain State Park. I surprisingly had never been to the mountain before and was completely blown away by the panoramic views of the orange, red, and yellow leaves. It was like we still lived in Colorado but the Aspen Trees were swapped out for Maples and Oaks. I’m glad that despite being spoiled for two years in the Rockies that my home back east could still evoke that feeling of smallness; where all you want to do is take a deep breath and exhale above the treetops.
Carly and Kyle live and met in Stamford, Connecticut, and trekked over to Bear Mountain to get some peak foliage engagement photos. They couldn’t have timed it any better and Heather and I were immediately jealous just looking at the raw images in the back of the camera. We started down at Hessian Lake near the lodge for their first casual outfit, then finished at the top next to Perkins Memorial Tower for their more chic look. The top of the mountain was a little crowded with tourists but Carly and Kyle rolled through their paparazzi moment with laughter and smiles.
And that’s why we say having an engagement session is so important! It’s not just to grab some photos for save the dates and invitations--it’s to get in front of our cameras and start to feel comfortable. We know from experience that (almost) no one feels comfortable in front of a camera; ourselves included! You should see my camera reel with all of the photos of Heather hiding her face behind a mask, our baby, or any inanimate object she can get her hands on. It doesn’t feel natural to be the center of attention but that’s exactly what we are on our wedding day. So book an engagement session, peek at our style guide, show up, and we’ll do the rest.
As we drove back down the switchbacks of Bear Mountain we kept fawning over Carly and Kyle and the views. This wedding season has been one for the ages and if Carly and Kyle are any indication, 2023 (!!) is already beginning to take on a beautiful shape.
Maine Barn Wedding Photos at Granite Ridge Estate
Apollo Fields | Maine Wedding Photographers | Barn Wedding Photos in Maine | Granite Ridge Estate Wedding Photographer | Norway, Maine
Jessica & Matthew’s Wedding
Jumping into Lake Pennesseewassee in Norway, Maine, in those last few moments before I broke the surface of the water, I realized this was the third lake I’d been jumping into in as many days. Heather and I spent the previous week in upstate New York and I plunged into Lake Sunnyside and Lake George with the same childlike enthusiasm. As reckless or juvenile as the act of jumping into a body of water can be, anyone who knew me before my trip to Bermuda in 2010 knows that my leap into the Atlantic Ocean from a rock in Horseshoe Bay truly changed my approach to life. That all-too-literal coming of age story was when I gave myself permission to be who I was rather than who I thought everyone wanted me to be.
Last year in August, Heather and I met up with Jessica and Matt in the North End district of Boston for their engagement photos at Long Wharf and Somerville. We knew immediately as we stumbled upon the first photo location that Jessica and Matt were one of those couples that have it. It is something that can’t be taught, learned, or fabricated. It is when two people meet each other at the perfect time in their lives, develop alongside and with one other, and are able to both enjoy and plan the trajectory of their relationship. Some people might call it falling in love—but I think that sounds too passive or reactive—and doesn’t quite capture the active role that partners play in realizing, deciding, and building a meaningful life with someone else.
Jessica and Matt, with the help of Liz, their amazing planner, and Jessica’s father, John, and Matt’s mother, Kathy, threw a wedding for the ages at Granite Ridge Estate and Barn in Maine. From the rehearsal dinner at Oxbow Beer Garden, to the New England church ceremony, vintage gold Bentley, delicious food, overflowing florals, panoramic views, and the best goddamn wedding band we’ve ever danced to—Matt and Jessica’s celebration of it was want for nothing. Jessica even braved the weeds going barefoot (!!) in her wedding dress to get those iconic shots during golden hour. One time for all the brides out there who throw down like that!
Those are the kind of photos and memories that you have to take the leap for like I did in Horseshoe Bay. Jess, Matt, Heather and I know that you can live your whole life in those tense moments of contemplation, frustration, and regret or you can kick off your damned shoes and jump in! Before Bermuda I introduced myself as Terry to anyone I met, but afterwards, I started going by Terrence. I was sick of the half-confident way I used to say it when people would respond, “what, who?” I was sick of that feeling after I left a party when I didn’t go say hi to my crush. I finally had enough and it was then that I decided to start tipping the scale in those moments of uncertainty into a more certain direction.
So in those last few seconds before I broke the surface of Lake Pennesseewassee I wasn’t thinking about how cold it was going to be, or what kind of critters were in the lake, all I could think about was how easy it was to make that decision—to just kick off my shoes, take off my shirt, be who I wanted to be, and jump on in.
Owbow Brewing Company Rehearsal Dinner / Welcome Drinks:
Granite Ridge Estate & Barn Wedding:
vendors:
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | Granite Ridge Estate | Norway, ME
Catering | Essential Chefs | John Martin
Planner | Elegant Aura
Staffing | Strange Events
Floral | Kathy | Mother of Groom
Cake | Bear Brook Bakery
Band | Soul of Boston
Videographer | Toast Wedding Films
Rentals | Affordable Events | Scott
Drapery | Maine Event Decor
Hair & Makeup | Her. A Bridal Beauty Company
Say Hey
Our classic end-of-night pic! Except we put down our cameras and closed down this shindig with Jess & Matt because their band was THAT good!!!
Wedding Photos in Grand Teton National Park & Yellowstone
Apollo Fields | Grand Teton Wedding Photographer | Yellowstone Wedding Photographer | National Park Weddings | Mountain Wedding photographer | Jackson wedding Photography | Jackson Wedding Photographers
“I’ll never forget this moment,” Heather said during our two-year wedding anniversary picnic at Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. A beautiful orange fox had just scampered by as the mountain water moved with a predictable calmness. It’s hard to believe that just a couple of months ago we weren’t sure if we were going to be shooting any weddings this season—yet there we were—taking the time to find the balance on a work trip in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. We have Sam and Conor to thank for that.
Sam and Conor originally planned to have their wedding at Grand Lake in the Rockies in Colorado, but wound up pivoting to an elopement in Grand Teton/Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. As soon as Heather and I deduced that we could come, they sent us one of their favorite books, American Wolf, to get us pumped up about the trip. The book is a beautiful narrative about finding the balance between society and the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park in 1995. I can’t stop talking about it.
We began Sam and Conor’s photos at Schwabacher Landing at sunrise as Sam and Conor braved the morning chill for a few unforgettable photo opportunities. We hit Mormon Row next, and circled around to Jenny Lake to round out the Grand Teton experience. The entire shoot took several hours between the driving and stopping and I couldn’t think of a better argument/analogy for the phrase “life is about the journey, not the destination,” than driving through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.
The next day we grabbed breakfast and trekked up to Yellowstone, stopping at Ol’ Faithful, Grand Prismatic, and a few other spots to watch for moose, bears, bison, and wolves. Conor and I split off on a couple of the short walks and we talked about his love for fly fishing. I had no idea how much science and geographic knowledge went into the sport, nor did I know that the flys that they use as bait are actually fake (I always wondered how you put the hook throw a dead fly’s brittle wing or body). It was clear that Sam and Conor loved to get lost in the calm of a stream or creek, entirely content to disconnect and focus on the task at hand.
A couple years back, Sam and Conor decided to take an indefinite recess from social media. They found that their habits were throwing them off balance. At red lights they’d find themselves reaching for their phones even though there was nothing they needed to follow up on. As I get older the the phrase “finding a balance” seems to ring more and more true. I’ve found my personal attachment to my phone increase during quarantine and was happy to hear Sam and Conor speak about their intentional disconnection from the common and troublesome habit.
Whether it is reintroducing wolves in Yellowstone, throwing on some waders and wading into a stream, managing our relationship to social media, or remembering to have a picnic on a work trip—it is hard to deny the importance of balance in our lives. Heather and I are lucky to have a business that brings us to places that remind us of that, and thanks to couples like Sam and Conor, we will continue to create and capture moments that we will never forget.
Enjoy these photos from Conor & Sam’s Grand Teton & Yellowstone adventure:
Intimate Wedding in Colorado Springs, CO
Apollo Fields | Candid Wedding Photos | Wedding Photographers in Colorado Springs | Intimate Wedding Photos | Best Wedding Photos in Colorado Springs
Igor & Michelle
I know Heather is tough, but even I didn’t think she would be climbing through barbed-wire fencing at 30 weeks pregnant to get a shot. After reading that sentence--some may question how I allowed it to happen--but that just means you don’t know Heather and I well enough. Anyone that knows us knows that I would never tell my wife what she can and can’t do, especially when it comes to her body. That doesn’t mean I didn’t raise an eyebrow and say, “you sure?” before she bent down and climbed through the fence like a professional wrestler climbing through the ropes into the ring. I will always love her and Igor and Michelle for being up for an adventure.
We actually met Igor and Michelle in New York City where Heather did their engagement photos in Tribeca. Igor was the Executive Chef at The Standard Hotel at the time before Covid turned Manhattan into a shell of its culinary self. I’m happy that Igor’s confident that the bustling scene will come back in a few years. Michelle is his perfect powerful complement, and their son, Harrison, has a better palate than I do at five-years-old. They are actually in the process of uprooting to Arkansas for an amazing career opportunity and we can’t wait to visit them in an outdoorsy paradise that is increasing in popularity.
Michelle and Igor were supposed to get married in Los Angeles at one of Igor’s former spots, but pivoted to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Michelle grew up because of the pandemic. We started their day with a short photo session of the two of them at one of Michelle’s family friend’s ranches. It was so windy that I was legitimately worried that a branch was going to come down on our heads. Then Heather decided to climb through the fence. We never know what mother nature is going to give us on wedding days but we are always thankful when our couples like Igor and Michelle bring their A-game no matter what.
After that Igor and Michelle planned for some down time before the ceremony and reception. We love when our couples take the time to honor the pace of the day that is all too often scripted down to the minute. Igor said he took the time to play spades with one of his soon-to-be relatives. Michelle and the girls took the opportunity for some self-care with a luxurious, airy spa day at Blush - Dry Spa Bar. I always say that mental health is the most important thing and it has never been more true than in the year 2020.
Next year the plan is to go “back, back to Cali, Cali” (thanks Biggie) and finish the celebration in full swing. The intimate ceremony and reception this year at Prime25 set the stage for one hell of a party. Between Igor getting emotional waiting for Michelle at the first look, and the many toasts, some translated from Igor’s native Russian tongue, there is so much to look forward to. Sometimes we just have to throw caution to the wind, climb through some barbed wire, and have a day for ourselves--that’s what life’s all about!
Enjoy these photos from Michelle & Igor’s Micro-wedding:
Aspen Meadows Resort Wedding Photography
Apollo Fields | Aspen Wedding Photographer | Fall Wedding Photos in Aspen | Colorado Mountain Wedding | Aspen Meadows Weddings | Aspen Meadows Wedding Photography
Jessica & Roger
I don’t know why it had never occurred to me that people go to Aspen in the fall...to see Aspen trees. I think there was some separation in my mind of the city of Aspen and its air of luxury and skiing from the naturally occurring tree that leaf-watchers swoon over while careening about the bends of I-70. Thanks to Roger and Jessica, now I know how beautiful Aspen is in the peak of fall foliage, when the yellow coin-shaped leaves flap in the mountain breeze against a vibrant blue bird sky.
Jessica and Roger got married at Aspen Meadows Resort with Maroon Bells as the backdrop of their ceremony. The altar was out in a lush green field with flowers, hills, and water all around. When I close my eyes I can still feel the serenity of the scene. “I could stay here forever,” I told Jessica shortly after their intimate ceremony, with my arms spread out in the wind. What an absolutely perfect place to get married.
Jessica and Roger have known each other since childhood but only started dating after college. They’re both from Florida but can’t get enough of the Rockies of Colorado. Roger’s family has been vacationing to Aspen for years, preferring the perfect fall hiking weather to the overcrowded slopes of winter. It’s funny how a power couple based in Orlando still can’t resist the call of the mountains.
One thing I’m particularly grateful for is that Jessica and Roger invited us to have dinner with their guests rather than stuffing us into a closet or hallway. Vendor meals can get pretty scary in the wedding industry, especially for pescatarians like Heather. Let’s just say we’ve gotten very accustomed to beige food in cramped spaces. So to be invited to the table alongside Roger and Jessica’s closest friends and family, to enjoy the decadent menu and hand-picked wine was just such a special treat for us. It is already a privilege to photograph weddings as a career, but to be appreciated and invited into our couple’s closest circles--that really means the world to us.
I wound up sitting next to Jessica and Roger’s pastor from Orlando, John, who officiated their wedding ceremony. Heather and I got into one of those amazing conversations with him and his wife that felt like pre-COVID times. It was the kind of conversation that started small and polite and rolled into sharing personal stories. It’s certainly not the kind of conversation for everyone but it speaks volumes to the people that Roger and Jessica choose to surround themselves with. It felt like a fancy, fun dinner party!
I’ll look back onto Jessica and Roger’s intimate wedding in Aspen like the dream that it was: from the wind in the meadow, the sun on our shoulders and the mountains in the background, to the immaculately decorated reception, mouth watering filet mignon and lobster tail dinner, and heart-warming conversation. Leave it to a couple of Floridians to remind us that you don’t need to go to Aspen in the winter--you can go at the height of fall and watch as the golden coins flap in the breeze--it is a place that’s beautiful all year round.
Enjoy these photos from Jessica & Roger’s Aspen Meadow’s Wedding:
As seen in Couture Colorado