NYC Marriage Bureau Wedding at the City Clerk Hall
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Jess + Yi
City hall weddings will always have a place in my heart for their simplicity. Some of the couples who choose this option still host a larger celebration, while others are just happy to get a couple handfuls of friends and family together to enjoy a night on the town. It doesn’t even have to be New York City to enjoy that kind of intimate celebration. It’s the same kind of vibe of hosting a dinner party at your home.
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When Heather and I lived in New York we didn’t tap into our love of hosting yet. I guess we were too busy taking care of people at our respective bars while pursuing our college degrees. It wasn’t until we moved to Colorado that we started putting together curated dinners where we would invite people who didn’t know each other to meet and share a meal. There was something wonderfully simple about it. I know a lot of people who get anxious at the idea of company, but I remember one particular dinner of ours when we didn’t have enough silverware for everyone! Instead of feeling ashamed we just asked the couples at the table to share. That has since become the dinner our friends talk about the most often.
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And that’s the beautiful thing about focusing on the people rather than the things—whether we’re talking about a wedding or a dinner party. The right people can make anything work, but the right things might not meet expectations. It takes a good partnership to arrive at good decisions, big and small, the first of which is commonly either a big move or planning a wedding. It’s kind of like the “take a road trip” test with someone you’ve been dating except times 1000. Ever since we hosted that first dinner party we’ve never looked back at any of our decisions—instead—we pass the fork back to one another when we share a meal. It brings us back to that party and always brings us closer together.
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Nikolaos and Maria's NYC City Hall Elopement | DUMBO Brooklyn Eloping Portraits | Apollo Fields Wedding Photographers
Like many creatives, I have to get into a certain zone to make art. Shooting weddings for me is my livelihood but it’s not my work. Replying to emails is work. Scanning receipts is work. Being in the nucleus of a crowded dance floor full is strangers with a camera is art.
I’m usually up before my alarm on wedding mornings. I’m jittery, my mind is swirling with visuals of what I want to uncover for the day. Sometimes I want to go wider, get more environment. Sometimes I want to get close, close, closer to my subject. It’s light and its energy and I’m such a visual person that if I don’t manifest it beforehand then I struggle.
I get a little freaky about my batteries, shot lists, leaving early, and every other Type A habit comes to the surface (shoutout to Terrence for keeping my head glued on because I know I’m not cute or fun on my wedding mornings).
I used to try to control this and I thought that the more I shot, the more this would go away. I’ve shot well over 100 weddings now and it’s the same story. But I’ve come to peace with this because it’s my creative muse. It means I care and I’m actually scared for the day I wake up and don’t feel this.
So I triple check my equipment and get on the road. My guilty pleasure is listening to @kendricklamar’s DAMN cover-to-cover as loud as my car can handle it (I could talk about this album for days if anyone wants to poke the bear) and then the minute I’m on location and begin shooting, it all dissipates. It’s gone- the anxiety, the jitters, the build up, the whole thing just lifts and I sink into my creative space.
So maybe this sounds a little insane and maybe it is, but it’s a little insight into my behind the scenes reality. Fellow creatives, who can relate?
Photography: Apollo Fields
Venue: City Clerk NYC
Portrait Location: DUMBO Brooklyn
