We're Not Just an Instagram Couple

Farm Venues in Hudson Valley NY | Apollo Fields Wedding Photography | Husband and Wife Team | Small Business Owners

“We’re not just an Instagram couple,” I playfully declared to Heather while carrying a handful of dirty dishes to the sink. “If people knew that we really live this way all the time—I think they’d be sick,” I added. We were just putting the finishing touches on a delicious candlelit dinner of baked tofu in a spicy yellow coconut curry sauce, when Heather and I both realized that that declaration was just begging to be the beginning of a blog post.

What I meant in that moment was that it’s not just that we do “‘Gram-worthy” things all the time in our everyday lives, but that we do them because we really enjoy them rather than “doing them for the ‘Gram.” Thinking on this topic made me realize that Heather and I are motivated by connecting with each other and other people—that’s why we cook healthy, homemade meals with spices we can barely pronounce for people that we love—because that’s what makes us happy. Where most people see a moment to get some likes and promote themselves (and we’re not blind to the fact that we’re doing this also), we see a moment to express ourselves and connect with like-minded people.

Social media platforms like Instagram are the 21st century soapboxes for us to climb upon and speak our truths to the town (or more accurately, our local city, country and world). They are magnificent microphones of unlimited potential, but we all know that their feeds tend to hide the dirty dishes and legwork, tucking away the hours of unsexy tedium in favor of the curated moments of short-lived perfection. While it is important to celebrate the beautiful products of our hard work it is equally important to acknowledge the reality of success, that success is built upon aches and pains, empty cups of coffee, expletives, and endless amounts of frustration. To ignore that is to fail to tell the whole story of our success or truth.

Heather and I lean into the ugly side of our truths because we know that to ignore them is to live an incomplete life. Yes, we may not be as perfect or as “‘Grammable”, but because we are honest with ourselves we feel more whole as individuals, as a couple, and as a business. It allows us to connect with each other and connect with you. It is part of our brand because we are our brand, through and through. Apollo Fields is the whole meal: the rickety chair, the dirty dishes, the colorful plate and flickering candlelight; the stubbed toe, spilt red wine, and dabbed club soda; and as such our stomachs and hearts are always full to the brim. “We are not an Instagram couple” — we are an Apollo Fields couple and are damned proud of it.

As we enter 2020 may we give equal voice to our pains as we do to our peaks, embracing bravery in our weakness as much as humility in our strength. May we help each other do the dirty dishes while we polish off that last bottle of champagne. May we remember that success and failure are not mutually exclusive but rather are inextricably linked.

Cheers, friends, let us cry and create our truths together, Instagram and other social media be damned.