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.
Long Island City Elopement Photography
Long Island City Elopement Photography | Apollo Fields Wedding Photographers | NYC Weddings 2020
Lauren & Jayram
Crab Meadow Beach Elopement in Northport, NY
Tracy & Matt's Fourth of July Beach Elopement at Crab Meadow in Northport | Long Island Weddings | Apollo Fields Wedding Photographer
My Fourth of July began at 4:15AM (the same time that many of yours might have been ending)! I woke up to a black night with no sign of sunrise, went downstairs, drank a cup of tea, and forced my reluctant dogs to go to the bathroom outside. Even they weren’t ready to be up, but I had been stirring every fifteen minutes for the past few hours, squinting at my clock to see if it was time to go to work yet.
Go to work. A sentence that I’ve been looking forward to for MONTHS during this pandemic. While many people might have eased into this stay-at-home lifestyle, I clung to the promise that I would be able to go back to shooting on location. Working with couples, documenting their important milestones, traveling to new locations, celebrating their love— all of this is my muse and very much what keeps the gas in my tank.
None of this quarantine felt like a vacation to me, and it did not “recharge my batteries” like it has for some. I love what I do, and that is why I was especially excited for Tracy and Matt’s elopement on the Fourth. At around 4:30, I grabbed my cameras, hopped in the car, and drove to the beach.
I was the first one there and loved the idea that this location would inevitably blow up with families later that afternoon, but for that moment, it felt like mine. The air was still cool and a breeze rippled across the sand. The first light of dawn was breaking, and before long, Tracy and Matt were exchanging their vows against the still ocean, with only the company of their officiant and myself (while I doubled as their witness).
I don’t take these moments lightly. To be included in these sacred experiences is a privilege and it brings me so much purpose to capture even—or perhaps especially—the most intimate of elopements.
There is no “right” or “wrong” way to navigate reschedules as a 2020 couple-- you just have to do what is best for you guys. But let’s be serious, that’s what weddings SHOULD be all about in the first place! If there has been one silver lining that the coronavirus has had on the wedding industry, I believe it is that couples are having to step back and reevaluate their priorities more than they might have had to in the past. A lot of the more frivolous parts of planning simply aren’t important anymore, and maybe they never were.
At the end of the day, a wedding is about two people committing their love and lives to one another. It is no secret that my favorite weddings have always been a bit non-traditional, incorporating personalized details and reimagined rituals. This new wedding landscape is naturally conducive to these kinds of weddings, and it has been so refreshing to see couples adapting with grace and mindfulness.
Photography: Apollo Fields
Location: Crab Meadow Beach, Northport NY
Backyard COVID Elopement in Long Island
Roy and Randi's Backyard Elopement in Long Island | Intimate Wedding Photography | 2020 Weddings During Quarantine | Apollo Fields Eloping Photographers
Many couples are obviously having to postpone their big wedding celebrations this year due to the effects of coronavirus and subsequent travel bans. While this might mean obviously having to wait to have hundreds of people on a dance floor all hugging, drinking, and partying together, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot still get legally married and celebrate safely with your closest friends and family.
I have been so inspired by the resiliency of couples who are taking all of the current events in stride and prioritizing the health and wellness of their guests by moving their receptions to a later date but still focusing on the importance of honoring their marriages. One popular option has been backyard and otherwise private elopements where social distancing and staying outdoors are easy options. By taking the worry and stress off of health concerns, you’ll be able to focus more on celebrating one another and staying in the moment.
Roy and Randi were able to have a sweet backyard wedding with their closest family and friends in a very laid back and stress-free way. They each have children and even some grandchildren in the mix, so it was obviously imperative that they were able to be present, in addition to their matriarch of their family. We were able to use their landscaped yard for nice family formals, and even took advantage of their koi pond and waterfall out back.
The ceremony was sweet and intimate, with a chuppah even impromptu fashioned out of the garden terrace that they have on their fencing. The chuppah is one of my favorite elements of Jewish wedding ceremonies because it symbolizes the home with the four pillars, but intentionally keeping the sides open so visitors know that they are welcome. Roy and Randi made theirs out of Randi’s family tallit, which was another special touch. They were still able to exchange vows, rings, and break the glass even though a lot of the other wedding formalities had to be postponed.
After the wedding ceremony, we did a champagne toast outside and Roy surprised his newlywed wife with a brand new Audi— her dream car (black on black) that she has always wanted! Such a sweet touch to always remember the day by.
Photography: Apollo Fields
NYC City Hall Elopement Photographer
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
City Hall Wedding in NYC Photography Clerks Office
Sietse and Megan's Wedding | NYC City Hall Elopement | International Couples | Apollo Fields Wedding Photography
Elopements have such a special place in my heart. There are a million different reasons couples choose to elope and endless possibilities for how their day can go.
Dialing down the formalities opens up a lot of possibilities: Less pressure, less vendors, more adventure, more spontaneity. Megan and Sietse did NYC City Hall right. Sietse is Dutch and his close family was able to travel to New York along with Megan’s immediate family to help them celebrate.
It poured all morning and it actually made me a bit nostalgic— our own wedding was on a damp October day, so rainy weddings always bring me back. We got so lucky though, because the weather actually let up after their ceremony for portraits and one of the best parts was that the streets were so much less crowded!
One of the “quirks” of City Hall is that you don’t get to choose your time for your ceremony. After you have checked in and signed some paperwork, your number will get called and you’ll get your own chapel for the wedding to be officiated. (Pro tip: choosing a weekday around off-peak hours is SO much better for your wait time and cuts WAY down on the chaos!! It also means that your fave photogs *wink wink* are much more likely to have availability & flexibility on their calendars!)
The New York City location is beautiful and iconic, with gorgeous architecture down by the Brooklyn Bridge and lots of vintage details. It truly is an experience and something about our CRAZY rainy morning added to the romanticism of Megan & Sietse’s day. The train downtown was quiet and gave me time to get into a good head space before the day, but as soon as I got back up to street level, the skies had opened up and it felt SO NEW YORK— people in suits and heels and briefcases doing that walk/run where the hustle is real but they somehow never stride more than 10 inches at a time.
The streets were a sea of umbrellas but my eyes were glued to the streets because of the dreaded walkway puddle (you know the one… at the edge of the curb that only looks like it is 3 centimeters deep but if you step in it you are soaked up to your thighs). Pulling my equipment suitcase down the street, I popped into a bodega for a hot coffee and then over to City Hall. I met up with Megan and Sietse and got the warmest introduction to their families. The energy was buzzing with anticipation and that universal hum of family.
Our number was quickly called and before long, we were all huddled in a quirky pink room swapping “I do’s” and “Me too’s”. Short, sweet, and to the point— City Hall is a well oiled machine but in no way a cop-out. The antiquated notion that eloping is only for shotgun weddings and young, flighty lovebirds is long gone. Couples today are able to CHOOSE to elope in order to honor their relationships in a way that serves them and the innermost nucleus of their friends and family.
Cheers to Megan and Sietse! Enjoy these sneak peeks:
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | NYC City Clerk
Elopements are dope!
And I looooove to capture them. Let’s chat about your plans!!