Long Island City Rooftop Wedding at The Bordone
LIC Rooftop Wedding at The Bordone | Long Island City Wedding Photography | NYC Skyline Weddings | New York City Wedding Venues | Apollo Fields Photographers
Jeremiah + Mabelle
Let me just start by saying I LOVE WEEKDAY WEDDINGS!! And this one did not disappoint.
Weekday gigs have become increasingly normalized over the span of my career and the pandemic put them into full throttle. It used to be that Saturdays were the only real day to have a wedding, then Fridays and Sundays started entering the scene, but with the backlog of postponed events and craziness of trying to shuffle everything, a lot of couples have been flexible and had to be open to alternate days of the week. But I don’t see it as a compromise, in many ways.
A weekday wedding can oftentimes mean that you get the pick of the litter in terms of venue and vendors. I am MUCH more likely to be open on a Monday-Thursday than I am on a weekend. Particularly during peak seasons (think, May-June; September-October) when we tend to book out two years in advance. For Jeremiah and Mabelle, they threw their wedding on a rooftop at The Bordone in LIC on a Monday. They couldn’t have picked a better day, too!
Up on the rooftop of The Bordone in Long Island City, it felt as though they had the whole place to themselves. The NYC was absolutely showing off that day and we had golden hour coming off the buildings right behind them during the entire ceremony! We were able to get family formals and romantics done right after to take advantage of that gorgeous light and backdrop, which was an absolute dream for me! And then they partied the whole rest of the night with their closest friends and fam. A Monday VERY well spent, in my opinion!!
VENDORS
Venue: The Bordone LIC
Photography: Apollo Fields
DJ / Band : Primovelli
Cake / Bakery : Diana Rolón
Decor / Party Rentals : Rentquest & Broadway Party Rentals
Dress : BHLDN
Suit: Handmade barong tagalog from Pineapple Industries, pants from Biasa
Rings : BVLGARI
Chart House Wedding Photography in NJ
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Lily + Dan’s Wedding
Being invited to photograph any wedding is a privilege. But being invited to photograph the wedding of my childhood bestie is an extra special privilege and one that isn’t lost on me.
Lily and I met in pre-school and were fast friends, despite the fact that she came home from school to tell her mom about her new buddy “Feather” and promptly decided that I must be the spawn of hippie parents. (Little did they know, my dad wanted to name me Pinecone, so the assumptions weren’t that far off).
But as we grew closer, so did our parents, and for the next decade we had lived within walking distance of each other so there were endless playdates, hiking adventures, sleep overs, and I even managed to coerce Lily and her sister onto a horse one or two times. We went to the same schools and rode the same bus all the way up until 9th grade when I left for boarding school, but despite the distance, still managed to maintain our friendship as we formally grew up, went to college, began our careers, and eventually “settled down”.
“Settled down” is a term I mostly loathe, so please don’t take it too seriously. There is an inherent resignation in the phrase, which is precisely the opposite of how I feel at this point in my life. But it does sort of blow my mind to think that we are at the age where we can be getting married and having babies and it’s not scandalous.
When Lily and Dan first began dating, I was living in the UWS of the city at the time. And I remember joining them at the tail end of one of their early dates in midtown actually, but my fatal flaw was that it was during my "sober week” that I do the first week of each new year. We had a great time, but I do remember the bartender getting a little sassy with me for just ordering an iced tea late night at a bar….
Over the years though, their relationship grew and grew so I was both delighted and unsurprised when they got engaged! Getting the opportunity to photograph their wedding meant so much to me, as I was able to be so hands-on with both of them on one of the biggest days of their lives! And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up at least a few times during their big day.
Waterside Restaurant Weddings New Jersey
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Heather and Scott’s Wedding
“This is actually the park where Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton,” Scott told me, his eyebrows raised with the enthusiasm that comes with sharing a juicy factoid. Heather (my wife), Heather (the bride-to-be), Scott, Capa, and I were walking through Hamilton Park in Weehawken, New Jersey, just on the other side of the Hudson from Manhattan, snapping some pre-wedding celebration photos before we made our way up to their venue. I have to say, the view of the skyline from Hamilton Park is unparalleled--and I do love me some views from Brooklyn Bridge Park, The Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Liberty State Park (NJ), and Gantry Plaza--but the combination of the elevation and the location of the park (across from ~ 48th Street in NYC) truly takes the cake.
I met Heather and Scott about seven years ago in my favorite community that I’ve ever been a part of in New York--Sheep’s Meadow Ultimate [Frisbee]. Led by a dear friend, Ben, Sheep’s Meadow Ultimate is an ever-increasing group of performers, hospitality professionals, tourists, and pretty much anyone who ever wanted to join in on our ultimate frisbee game. We spent so many hot summer days out there, sweating, laughing, and trying not to get kicked out by the park rangers. I knew Heather and Scott before they were Heather and Scott--and it’s amazing that our frisbee community led to Heather and I being their wedding photographers.
Heather and Scott are performers through-and-through. They’ve both been on Broadway and it had me wondering how people who love the spotlight fared through quarantine. They said that they both found ways to redirect their unspent energy: exercising, eating healthy, exploring career options that don’t rely on rooms filled with hundreds of people. They’ve fallen in love with biking up and down the coast of New Jersey, staring across the Hudson at the city that brought them together. “We love it here,” Scott said.
I was so excited to see Heather and Scott dance together because I know the energy and skill that each of them bring to the table. So when the music started and the smoke machine started pumping I put headphones on Capa and Heather and I started snapping away. Heather and Scott immediately locked right in, synchronizing steps, movements, and looks toward the crowd, baiting their guests with confident stares that said, I know you want more. Things started getting really spicy when Scott heard Michael Jackson come on. I’m so jealous of performers like Heather and Scott who can own a stage like that--Heather and I talk a big game--but when all the lights are on us we pick up a camera, pen, or meet for a beer at the bar.
When you make a connection with someone you never know how long it’s going to last. I’ve seen so many friends disappear over the years, and sadly enough, most of the time it’s for the better. Yet the ones that come back, the ones that reach out, and say, “hey, heard you were in town, want to grab a beer?” Are the ones who are growing right along with you; the ones who aren’t just living life but taking center stage.
Enjoy Scott & Heather’s Wedding Reception Photos:
vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | Waterside Weddings
Team Apollo!
Having a blast, as usual, with baby Capa in tow!
Gantry Plaza Elopement in Long Island City
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Dan & Alexis
We first met Alexis and Dan when Covid first hit in February. We met at an open, work-friendly cafe on the Upper East Side when hand sanitizer on every countertop was just becoming a thing. We sipped on some lattes and gameplanned their intimate ceremony at Gantry Plaza in Long Island City and the reception to follow at a bier garten in Astoria. As you might expect, the reception will have to wait until 2021 but Alexis and Dan still popped some champagne with a few family and friends on a gorgeous Saturday in November.
A light fall breeze accompanied by the warmth of unimpeded sunshine created a whimsicality to the afternoon. Alexis and Dan picked a shaded spot beneath a tree for a ceremony site and joggers and picnickers congratulated them in passing or at a distance. A slip-up or two in their vows and a maintenance truck added humor and levity to those precious moments; I think a ceremony for them sans silliness or laughter would be out of place. They are both such joyous souls.
Upon the conclusion of the ceremony, Alexis and Dan busted out some park-friendly personal 375ml bottles of Moët with some of the best desserts we’ve ever had. The ‘cake jars’ as they are called were from a local Astoria bakery, Cakes by Nerwan, and they blew us away with their lightness and flavor. Who needs hor d'oeuvres when you can have dessert first? Alexis and Dan 100% knew what they were doing.
From there we waited for some shifting cloud cover to get some family formals to commemorate the day. With the skyline of Manhattan in the background, this intimate ceremony turned epic pretty quick. I had no idea the view from Long Island City was so beautiful. We then borrowed Alexis and Dan to snap a few shots of just the two of them up and down Gantry Plaza. When it comes to hosting a wedding, Alexis and Dan showed that if you host it, the vibes will come.
It’s wild to think about the places we were in those short pre-Covid 2020 days and even crazier to think about all we’ve endured since then. Sandwiched between the unpredictable events were the couples like Alexis and Dan who planned an epic day to celebrate their marriage. Most rescheduled, others pared down plans, and some cancelled altogether. Heather and I are honestly so grateful that Alexis and Dan and many others chose to host something this year because it delivered us so much joy. People like to poke fun at “smiling with your eyes” when you’re wearing a mask but Heather and I took in all the happiness that we could.
When I look back on 2020 I will remember how trying it all was, how I experienced anxiety for the first time, and how we managed to work while Heather was pregnant with our first child; but perhaps most importantly, I will remember the moments of levity, the slip-ups doing vows, and all of the maintenance truck moments that kept us smiling with our eyes behind the mask behind the lens.
Enjoy these pics from Alexis & Dan’s Long Island City Wedding:
Brooklyn Bridge Park Promenade Couples Session Photography
Tanya & Elise’s Brooklyn Bridge Park Promenade Couples Session Photography | Apollo Fields Engagement and Couple Photographer | NYC Weddings
September and October are always our busiest work months, and this year proves to be no exception, despite a global pandemic! We feel lucky to be working amidst such a crazy year— given it was only a few months ago back in April/May when we legitimately thought out loud, will we even shoot this year?
There have been so many curve balls, but an equal number of silver linings and for that, we are super grateful. Tanya and Elise’s couples session was EXACTLY the creative fuel I needed in the middle of all the work, and honestly did not feel like work for even a second. Sometimes the stars align, and my inner artist gets treated to the perfect storm of an absolutely beautiful couple with such fiery energy, a gorgeous location with perfect weather, and dreamy golden light to boot.
We arrived in this little nook of Brooklyn which boasts the perfect neighborhood-y vibe and epic NYC skyline views right before the sun started setting. Terrence and I had stumbled upon The Promenade when we were randomly exploring the city years ago, and I was struggling to remember how to get back to this charming spot. I remember finding this little neighborhood back then and remarking about how “if we had real money, we would totally live here!” Now, six years later, I stand by that statement. We’re not gearing up to live back in NYC full time in the near future, but if someone handed me one of these brownstones along the water in Brooklyn Heights, I’m pretty sure I’d be packing my bags in about two seconds.
Tanya and Elise are both singer-songwriters and currently live up in our old hood in Harlem, NYC. I was lucky to meet them through the recommendation of one of our friends in the city, Lana, and I couldn’t be more grateful. They have the best energy together and I immediately felt like we had been friends for years. It was so fun getting to show them this little gem in Brooklyn since neither of them had been there before! I’m so excited to share their photos from the couple’s session and can’t wait to hang with these beauties again.
Enjoy these pics from Tanya & Elise’s couples session at Brooklyn Bridge Park:
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
