Terrence Takeover | Farm Dinner at Honeymoon Acres in Ramsey, NJ
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How does a guy go from surviving on late night halal to cooking and hosting multi-course farm fresh dinners? From “extra white sauce, please” to garnishing butter-poached scallops with pickled apple and fennel? I’m convinced cooking wasn’t part of my DNA until the first time Heather and I made fresh pasta together in Harlem; and I don’t think Heather knew of her penchant for hosting until we held a casual picnic with a few friends shortly thereafter. But now looking back at our almost ten-year path to this pilot dinner at our family farm, every step of the way falls into place like silverware surrounding a place setting.
Heather and I first met in 2014 while shaking light pink cosmos in neighboring restaurants on the Upper West Side. Ever since then hospitality has always been and always will be a through-line for everything that we do. Being three-deep at the bar while the expo machine cranks in the background was the training ground for the weeds that we now navigate in our everyday lives. Whether it’s meeting the demands of our two under three, being the steady rock for our couples who just need to take a deep breath, or serving 20 guests five courses–we will always hold the line.
The orange wax cascading down the side of the candle is reaching the point of splashing onto the champagne colored tablecloth. Dessert is about to drop with a chilled amaro-coffee cocktail. I’m trying to call words to the forefront of my mind but only see a faucet running with a sink full of dishes that we need to turn.
“First off, I want to thank you for coming…” I begin.
My mind is black like the trees all around us.
“I also want to thank Heather, who always keeps me reaching…”
Still blank.
“When I think about hosting dinners I think about how I get into a flow state, how the whole world shrinks down to your candlelit faces, like nothing else exists.”
A spark is happening.
“And it makes me think of the phrase, “the grass is always greener,” how you know, a lot of us are always looking to the future or the past, and we fail to appreciate what is right in front of us. Well, I just wanted to say that if you look beneath your feet right now, the grass is pretty fucking green, so here’s to that. Cheers everyone!”
My mind is still empty as I scurry back to the house to start firing the dessert course. Orange wax is all over the table.
Our guests are wiping whipped cream from their mouths and it’s our first opportunity to sit down and pour ourselves a drink. I guess not much has changed since our bartending days yet everything has changed. I can trust Heather to make sure things never stay the same and she can trust me to make them feel like they are. It’s our secret sauce. Photography, dinner parties, we are the same people we have always been and always will be–and we will always keep reaching. I will never stop crushing a styrofoam container packed with halal but it’s no longer necessary for my survival.
Terrence Takeover - 2023 Wedding Season Check-In
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By the end of every single day, my t-shirt looks like a Jackson Pollock painting. An orange-yellow smear of baby food and boogers up by my shoulder, a splattering of red marinara sauce across my chest, and a living museum of the day's activities everywhere else. Taking it off and throwing it into the hamper is the closest thing I’ll come to feeling like an athlete anytime soon. Part badge-of-honor and part a symbol of parental sacrifice, I throw myself on to a bed that has never felt so good.
The funny thing about my tattered shirts is that they are the perfect representation of what it’s like to become a parent–not only from a literal perspective—but also an analogy for my physical, mental, and emotional self. Everyday there is a messy confluence of factors that prod at various vulnerabilities: whether it is shifting my identity as a professional or creative to a parent; my parents exhibiting some benign (or malignant) behavior towards my children that triggers something about my experience as a child, or how each of Heather and I’s individual lives and relationship as a whole take a back seat to the family’s immediate and ever present needs.
We are fortunate enough to run a business that allows us to be present in our children’s lives, but it isn’t always easy for us to draw that line in the sand. I have a predisposition to overcompensate for the lack of attention that I got as a child, and Heather has a predisposition to provide for them as her family struggled in her youth. It is a cruel joke that parents are forced to grapple with these psychological hurdles when we are operating on the least sleep we have gotten in our lives–but I suppose true comedy is all about timing.
This entry is less about complaining about being a new parent and more about recognizing the framework of parenthood and setting up a plan for success. We will always have a pile of laundry to get to and no amount of detergent in the world will rid us of the stains. My generation is operating with a different relationship to work than our parents, where more often than not both parents are working. In our case, at least early in our 2023 wedding season, Heather is handling the business side while I am staying home more with the kids. It isn’t a clear 1:1 division of labor but we recognize that it is important for both parents to put on the other cap, realizing sides of their identities before they are lost in the maelstrom of parenthood. Sometimes time feels like a paradox, where days pass in a blur but every minute is a struggle, or “how they grow up so fast” but it feels like no time has passed.
There is no universal advice to offer new parents as every situation is unique, but here are a few observations. Right now, Heather and I only know how tired we are when we get good rest, when the bags under our eyes sag a little less. That means all of the other times we are operating on a razor slim margin, meaning that when one of us gets sick or our car winds up in the shop for a week, there will be blood (So that’s what that stain is). There is no way around parenthood, the only path is through it. The ultimate struggle is that if you don’t enjoy it then you are ungrateful and will regret it five or 10 years from now.
The best anecdote I heard to combat this is to pretend that you’re 80 years old and laying in a bed and you get to warp back in time to this particular time, where both kids are crying, or you’re trying to navigate a dirty diaper, and that there is no other place that you’d rather be. It sounds like a hypothetical platitude but it has helped me this week, and I hope it helps you.
Sunken Meadow Pavilion Wedding Photos
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Gina + Peter
It’s funny how every growing family finds their little nook to get away from it all. Many times it’s a lake house or cabin in the woods that the family has been renting for generations. Other times it’s a landmark of mom and dad’s relationship that brings them down memory lane.
For my family, it was Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a wind-swept peninsula an hour-and-a-half drive from Boston. Its cozy cottages, relaxing beaches, seafood restaurants, and family-friendly establishments makes it a destination for the entire New England area. I always thought that the vibe was remarkably similar to the north fork of Long Island, not too far from where my grandmother lived in Wading River. This notion was driven home when I walked into the house that Peter grew up in Patchogue, where his mother warmly greeted me in the sunroom of her adorable colonial-meets-beach style home.
rom-com Relationship Origins
The story of the first time that Gina met Peter sounds like it is straight out of a rom-com: Gina was babysitting and went into a pizzeria that Peter worked at and the little one she was caring for ordered an eggplant Parmesan slice. Peter couldn’t believe that was what they wanted because he still didn’t like eggplant, and offered them a free slice of pepperoni on the house. There wasn’t any monumental shift in the kid’s palate but both Peter and Gina knew that there might be something between them.
Fast forward a couple years when they’re coincidentally both working at a restaurant in Patchogue. Peter comes in to meet up with one of their co-workers when they see each other and remember one another from the pepperoni/eggplant encounter. They wind up going on a beach date shortly thereafter and both show up to work one day rocking the same sunburn. They didn’t care about everyone knowing that they were dating but this totally blew their cover.
The Incredible Lightness of Being (In Love)
I never read the Milan Kundera novel of the same title minus the parentheticals, but I couldn’t help but notice the lightness of Gina and Peter’s relationship. It was clear in the way that their body language relaxed as they approached one another, folding together not only physically but socially and emotionally as well. You could tell that they were on the same wavelength, like they perpetually living in the “honeymoon stage.” You might think that every one of our couples behaves like that on their wedding day, but not quite like Gina and Peter.
Heather and I’s Relationship Origins
Coincidentally, Heather and I met at hospitality jobs also. We worked across the street from each other in 2013 at neighboring restaurants on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. People always find it romantic when I tell them that story, but it wasn’t until after getting to know Peter and Gina’s relationship origins that I began to understand why. I think it’s the idea of an organic, budding romance in the age of dating apps; how of the many relationships that come from working in the hospitality industry—where workers more often than not are in transitory parts of their lives, and people are growing into or building towards the next stage in their lives—that the idea of two people happenstantially meeting to come together and grow together seems improbable. That the odds say most paths diverge.
For Heather and I it adds to the strength of our relationship. We were talking about it the other day and it’s like we were building a foundation even though we didn’t know it. And every subsequent year or period of growth we were building on top of that. It would follow then, that we, and Gina and Peter feel lighter, because rather than building separate foundations we were building on the same one. The higher we go, the lighter we feel.
Vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | Sunken Meadow State Park Pavilion | King’s Park, NY
The Vanderbilt Museum Wedding and Engagement Photos
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Brittany + Bryan
Despite growing up 15 minutes away from the Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium, the first time I visited the beautiful, sprawling property in Centerport, Long Island, was a couple years ago. I was taken aback by the charm of the mansion’s Spanish revival architectural style; the cobblestone roads, ceramic rooftops, and clearly mediterranean influence. All over the house are the spoils from the Vanderbilt’s worldwide travel: from a hand-crafted imitation of Napoleon’s bed, to ornate mantlepieces and boathouses, and perhaps most surprising—their extensive collection of taxidermied animals that is truly only trumped by the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. I didn’t even mention the fun-for-all-ages planetarium.
Engagement Photos at Vanderbilt Museum
All of the beautiful architecture makes for the perfect location to for your engagement photos. The architectural style makes it feel like you’re not on Long Island anymore, but the rolling hills and lush green trees overlooking Centerport Harbor bring you right back. You can even turn the session into a date night where they host a series of events, one of which Heather and I got to attend (a modern version of a Shakespearean play).
Centerport Wedding Photographer
Centerport is the perfect example for how easy it is to miss out on what’s right next to you. It’s a quaint residential neighborhood with winding streets and steep hills that feels secluded even though its just off of 25A, one of the busiest local roads. It celebrates it’s private and public beaches, looking out onto it’s own harbor just like so many cove-y towns of the north shore. As much as we love to hop on planes and explore the world it’s always nice to just climb into the car and show the kiddos the beauty around us.
Sunken Meadow Pavilion Wedding Photos
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Caity + Mike
Every time I go to Sunken Meadow Beach—a New York State Park just 15 minutes from our house—I wonder why I don’t go there more often. It’s a beach on the north shore of Long Island, which means it has more shells, rocks, and pebbles, than its south shore counterparts, but it also has a nice wooden boardwalk, clean sand, and a gorgeous view of the Long Island Sound. Caity and Mike’s wedding at the Pavilion was the first time I photographed a wedding at Sunken Meadow State Park and it won’t be the last.
Golden Hour Sunset Pictures
It’s funny how good (and bad) wedding weather tends to come in bunches. For the beginning of the season I remember a stretch of rainy, cold, cloudy days. Then came the unbearable heat wave that lasted pretty much all summer. Finally, the last few weeks gave way to slightly cooler temperatures with impressionist-esque cloud formations. The fluffy skies created some absolutely surreal, dreamy golden hours like the one Mike and Caity got. Those moments are some of my favorite to share with our couples; where we all get to step back from the party for a moment and revel at the beauty of the day and our lives. Gratitude always feels good.
Downtown Northport Wedding Photos
Yet another first for me was photographing a wedding and family formals in my hometown of Northport, NY. Northport is a cute harbor town that has old trolley lines down the center of Main street, where restaurants, retail and ice cream shops, and delis line the sidewalk. At the base of the hill is a parkside marina with a dock, playground, pavilion, and lots of green grass for picnics and pups to play. I had my pre-prom photos down in this area and I couldn’t help but be transported back in time when we were photographing Mike and Caity. Fun fact is that Caity and I went to the same high school and it rained on her prom day so she has always wanted to do photos downtown Northport–her wedding at St. Phillip Neri was the perfect opportunity!
From Photographers to Friends
Probably the most underrated part of our job as wedding photographers is getting to know our couples and their families. We are constantly welcomed into tight knit circles and given the license to document relationships as they evolve in real time. Mike is actually the brother of one of our previous brides, Kristen, and seeing her and her partner (also Mike) at the wedding was such a fun shared experience. The way I see it, most people in 9-5 jobs don’t get to constantly meet new people at work, let alone make lasting relationships. Photographing weddings as an extrovert is a cheat code to ignite creativity, connection, and appreciation for both the finer and simpler things in life.
vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | Sunken Meadow Pavilion | Kings Park, NY
Dress | All Who Wander | Arlo
Boots | North Fork Bridal Shoppe | Miranda Lambert Idyllwind
Florist | Black Dahlia
DJ | Absolute Entertainment
Suit | Black Tux
Rings | Squires Jewelers
Hair | Ink & Ivy | Nikki Lee
Makeup | Laura Brooke
Cake | Dortoni
Wrapping up the night
With Caity and Mike! We had a great time with these guys!! Reach out for your own wedding photography below:
Owl's Hoot Barn Wedding in Coxsackie, NY
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Jess + Kyle
Some of our couples find us through Instagram, some were guests at a wedding we worked, and others, like Jess, are best friends with the woman who delivered our baby, Capa. We actually met Jess for the first time at Stony Brook hospital a week after Capa was born when Heather had a postpartum appointment. I’d never visited a friend who works in medicine at their hospital before but boy were we grateful for Jess’s enthusiasm and warmth.
Long Island and Upstate New York Wedding Photographer
Even though most in attendance to Jess and Kyle’s wedding were from Long Island, they still opted to get married at Owl’s Hoot Barn in West Coxsackie, NY. It’s a beautiful venue with a cute bridge, little creek, a few ceremony sites to choose from, and a great combination of rustic and modern amenities. Jess and Kyle each had their own house on site to get ready in, maintain privacy, and have plenty of space. The light pouring in through the barn doors was perfect for the reception, and the cocktail hour under the covered back patio allowed for their guests to comfortably enjoy the day.
Have Your Friend Officiate Your Wedding
I may be a bit partial to Michelle, Jess’ best friend, officiant, and our midwife, but having someone close to you officiate your wedding is absolutely the way to go. They know your quirks, relationship, and will speak from the heart. Watching the ceremony allowed me into enter another world of Michelle’s life and of course it was consistent with her thoughtful, caring, and genuine self. You just won’t get the same type of emotional investment in those moments with an officiant-for-hire. We welcome all the feelings and all the tears!
That Time Your Wedding PHotographer Rapped with the Bride
So I don’t know exactly how it happened, but it did. That familiar guitar riff from “Lose Yourself” by Eminem came on and Jess got into the middle of the dance floor and started going for it! As a huge Eminem fan, I joined in on the rapping from the sidelines, but once her friends started peeling off as the song got into its lesser known verses, I found myself gravitating towards the center. I wasn’t going to let her rap by herself! Then all of a sudden, there I was, camera on my hip, rapping with Jess as we exchanged lines. If you prefer your wedding photographer to wear black and be a wallflower, please don’t play Eminem or classic hip-hop. You’ve been warned.
End your Wedding with a Bonfire
The music fades, the cake or ice cream has come and gone, and your friends aren’t done hanging out yet. Book yourself a venue like Owl’s Hoot and grab a bench or a stump to roast a marshmallow and assemble a s’more. The perfect wind down to an epic celebration, just don’t tell Heather, she gets waaay too competitive about her s’more technique.
Vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | Owl’s Hoot Barn | West Coxsackie, NY
Floral | River Garden Flower Farm
DJ | DJ Johnny B
Videography | Genuine Collective Films
Makeup | True Beauty Company
Suit | Advance Formal Wear | Rockville Centre, NY
Dress | Enzoani | Bridal Reflections
Invitations | Minted
Cupcakes | Dolce and Biscotti | Clifton Park, NY
Transportation | First Student Transportation
Northport Long Island Wedding Photographers
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Ashley & Andrew’s Wedding
Vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Reception | Huntington Crescent Club
Ceremony | Private Residence
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.
RGNY Winery Wedding Photos on Long Island
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Stephanie + John
I’m beginning to fall in love with autumn skies. How the white wispy clouds seem to be suspended in the pale blue sea like stuffed toys spinning above a child’s crib. And how the chill in the air creates tears in the corners of my eyes but somehow the atmosphere appears more clear the longer that I hold them open. I love how the smoke from fireplaces in the distance smells totally different from the beach bonfires on those late summer nights. I can practically see the couple or the family cuddling around the couch and coffee table with the hooting and hollering and clicking and clacking of dice in a pair of hands. My nose begins to sniffle and I take one last inhale and exhale before I head inside to Heather, Capa, and the dogs to do something of the same.
A week before John and Stephanie’s wedding at RG|NY in Riverhead, NY, Heather, Capa, and I headed out to the north fork of Long Island to check out a ciderhouse and try to get lost in a corn maze. After laughing our way through the corn stalks and warming up with some great local cider, we decided to stop at the shopping outlets to pick up a couple outfits. We were in a store when I caught a very well-dressed, good looking guy looking at me like he had a question for someone who worked there--I was immediately confused because I was in a black sweatshirt with Capa’s drool stains all over it. He said, “I’m sorry,” and nodded over towards Heather with a smile that said, “I’m pretty sure we know each other.”
Funny enough it was John and Stephanie picking out an outfit for his son, Ryan, for the wedding! I was taken aback by their warmth and friendliness because I’m usually an overly friendly person. This was my first time meeting them but Heather had previously done their amazing engagement photos on Fire Island where they popped champagne and had a blast despite having a sketchy weather forecast. They were a little worried like most couples getting married about how the weather was going to be on their wedding day, but with their even-keeled demeanor I knew it was going to be a great wedding no matter what.
And it was. Stephanie and John got a beautiful, cool fall day and they both looked absolutely stunning. I learned of the stories of their relationship in its early stages and how they used to take the cross-sound ferry to each other. They both never wanted their dates to end and it reminded me of the romance of my first relationships ever. The feeling of how nothing else existed beyond the words and coy glances from the person you’re spending time with. Like being trapped in a bubble that you never want to pop. “There’s always the next ferry,” John and Stephanie would say to each other.
It’s hard to bottle up the idyllic images or experiences in our lives, harder still to even remember to recollect them. Days pass and we spend most of them with our eyes on the road, down at our phones, or working. Part of what makes my job great is that my mind is peppered with these idyllic images and experiences every year. I do my best to relive them through writing these words, and remembering to take in an extra deep breath or two when I smell a fire in the distance on a cold, autumn night.
Vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | RG|NY | Riverhead, New York
“There’s always the next ferry”
Enjoying the heck out of Stephanie and John’s wedding!
Oyster Bay Engagement Photography
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It’s November 12th, 2021, and it’s just starting to get cold. There are still a ton of leaves on the trees and it looks like we’re going to skip fall and go straight to winter. Two weeks ago the darkness began stealing the daylight from us and I’m kind of okay with it. We’re approaching Capa’s first birthday and the long nights remind me of his first few months of life: hunkering down, cuddling and watching The Sopranos on our pull-out couch, and waking up to crisp, cold, and bright mornings. Pristine memories as clear as photographs. We are very lucky people.
Erin + Gavin
I first met Erin at Six Harbors Brewing Company in Huntington, NY. I mentioned that Heather and I run a wedding photography business and we exchanged info on the fly. Erin and her fiance, Gavin, are set to get married at Water’s Edge in Centerport in the spring of 2022 and we can’t wait!
We decided to begin with Erin and Gavin’s engagement photos in Oyster Bay at their house. The session started in their front yard, right in front of a couple of large, beautiful trees, one of which Gavin used to climb as a child. From there we headed to the backyard to involve their two adorable pups who were more interested in showing us what zoomies looked like. We eventually wrangled them for a couple of cute shots before hopping into the car and heading to a beach on Oyster Bay. The golden light poured over the trees from a pure blue sky that only a late afternoon in the fall can deliver. When there is that slight chill in the air that makes you want to throw on a sweatshirt and fall into the arms of someone you love.
Fall has always been Heather’s favorite season but I’m partial to the first warm days of spring. One of the things she loves to do is collect a few colorful leaves every year, trying to capture that autumnal feeling like a ship in a bottle. I love that first run or sporting event in the spring where I can open up my lungs and eyes and truly breathe. Staring at my pale, dry, complexion in the fogged up mirrors of the gym just doesn’t quite do it for me. The idea of 70 degree weather year round is alluring, but I think the changing of the seasons helps us connect to the cycle of the earth and reminds us that we are alive.
For the first year of Capa’s life it has been difficult to schedule time to exercise--it’s been even harder to resist comfort food and find the energy to do it! Having a child sends your priorities for a loop and the dust is just beginning to settle. Being able to spend time with couples like Gavin and Erin reminds Heather and I of the early stages of our relationship at a time when it’s also hard to make time for each other. It makes taking those pictures and printing out engagement photos that much more special. We are all lucky people and it’s up to us to try to create as many pristine memories as possible. Whichever season is your favorite, I just hope that it makes you feel alive.
Nassau Museum of Art Wedding in Long Island
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Rachael & George
A garden of modern art installations, wooden chairs arranged between beautiful flowers and bushes, and an old 20th century building displaying an Andy Warhol exhibit. Walk by the Campbell’s Soup section and past a group of work from Warhol’s portraiture period and a door creaks open to a group of bridesmaids seeing Rachael in her dress for the first time. Our job as wedding photographers takes us to a ton of amazing places, and sometimes the best ones are the ones you had no idea existed—like Rachael and George’s wedding photos at the Nassau Museum of Art in Roslyn on Long Island.
The first time I met Rachael was either in middle school or high school. I used to go over her house in Northport to play basketball with her older brother, Brett, in their beautiful backyard. A few years younger, Rachael used to run around the neighborhood with her group of friends while we did our thing. I vaguely remember playing capture the flag and climbing over the fence into the neighbors yard and getting in trouble. Who could’ve guessed that I would be photographing her wedding 15-20 years later!
When we asked Rachael and George if they wanted any particular photos during their engagement session at the Vanderbilt Museum—both of their eyes lit up as they shouted—“we need the chest bump picture!” Apparently for every gathering where there is a photographer they take position 5-10 feet from one another, and then enthusiastically run up, jump, and give each other a chest bump. It was a hilarious sight to see and we love when our couples have traditions and inside jokes. Each instance gives you an insight into their relationship and showcases their sense of humor.
That’s part of why doing an engagement session is so important. It’s not just for the photos, or to do something cute with your partner—it’s about getting in front of our camera, getting to know us, and letting us into your world. It’s about getting to a place to feel comfortable enough to be goofy and silly because in our opinion, that’s when human beings are in their most beautiful state. Of course we throw on some makeup and put on nice clothes, but you cannot replicate an individual’s unique genuine joy with material products. Please take our advice: book an engagement session and take up our offer to grab a beer after—trust me—you’ll feel that much better come wedding day.
We had a blast with Rachael and George at their wedding at the Nassau County Museum of Art. Rachael did an impeccable job of planning and execution and their friends and family did the rest. The outdoor art installations provided great props for wedding party photos, and the artwork and white walls of the inside of the buildings glowed with a curated elegance. Of all of the places we traveled to this year, I never expected to take a bride’s first look next to the work of a world renowned artist—I guess we will just have to start setting the bar a little higher.
Enjoy these photos from George & Rachael’s Nassau Museum of Art Wedding:
Vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | Nassau Museum of Art | Roslyn, NY
Catering | Elegant Affairs
Dress | Bridal Reflections | Massapequa, NY
Rings | Coin Galleries of Oyster Bay
Invitations | Lion in the Sun | Park Slope, Brooklyn
Hair and Makeup | The Look Spa Salon | Greenlawn, NY
Transportation | Trans-Star Executive
Band | J-Riz Entertainment
Wrapping up a great night
With Rachael & George! Reach out for your own wedding photography needs below!
Bear Mountain State Park Engagement Photos
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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.
