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.
Riviera Waterfront Mansion Wedding Photos
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Kristen & Mike
Fall colors, a stiff but gentle breeze, your significant other nestling onto the shoulder of your flannel shirt. Genuine laughter, a pause, and the click of the shutter from Heather’s camera. Heather, Mike, Kristen, and I marched forward, brittle leaves crackling beneath our feet as we circled Stump Pond in Blydenburgh Park in Smithtown in fall 2019. Pre-Covid memories like these seem more like a dream, reminiscent of the pristine moments from Heather and I’s honeymoon in Jamaica. They manifest a clear division of before and after [quarantine] in my mind, where our relationships with our couples represent the light at both ends of a dark tunnel.
Kristen and Mike held their ceremony last year in East Northport, stopping in Heckscher Park in Huntington afterwards for family formals and romantics. They turned it up this year for their reception at the Riviera Waterfront Mansion in Massapequa and it did not disappoint! Although it rained, the beautifully renovated property right on South Oyster Bay allowed Kristen and Mike’s family and friends to mingle and explore, especially when the clouds let up for a short while.
Kristen and Mike took it all in stride, allowing themselves to enjoy the celebration that they waited so long for. When cocktail hour gave way to the reception, the grand entrances of the wedding party officially kick started the day. With a camera on one hip and a stuffed octopus on the other, Heather, Capa (with protective headphones) and I danced and documented these priceless moments. Seeing all of Kristen and Mike’s closest family and friends that we’d met the year before reminded us how grateful we are for being, albeit briefly, allowed into these intimate circles of our couple’s lives. Occasionally we’re even lucky enough to be invited to photograph one of their siblings or relative’s weddings!
Such is the case with Kristen’s brother, Mike, and his fiance, Caity. We’ll be photographing their wedding at Sunken Meadow State Park in August 2022 and we’re already pumped. Caity and Mike, like Kristen and Mike, are fun loving, salt-of-the-earth type people. They’re the kind of people you want to sit around a bonfire with, sharing stories, ‘smores, and a drink or two. They’re the kind of people you can count on.
And in this last year I think we’ve all needed and found the people in our lives that we can count on. I was surprised that my five siblings and I kept a weekly Zoom chat going all year. It culminated into our first family vacation together with all of our partners and children. For all of the turmoil that each one of us have been through, having a friend or family member you can count on is one of the most valuable assets you can have in life. Lucky for Mike and Kristen, Caity and Mike, and Heather and I, we all have our partners, and now we all have each other to follow the light outside the tunnel.
Enjoy these photos from Kristen & Mike’s Riviera Waterfront wedding reception:
Vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | Riviera Waterfront Mansion | Massapequa, NY
Videography | Chris Lobello Productions
Suits | Karako
Dress | Madi Lane Bridal
Hair Vine | Green Alaska
Shoes | Betsey Johnson
Floral | Tim’s Florist | Massapequa, NY
Having the best time!
With Kristen & Mike ANDDDD one of our couples for next year, Caity & Mike!!
Sunrise Elopement Vow Exchange at Brooklyn Bridge
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It’s funny how the arches of Brooklyn Bridge, in all of their man-made glory, reminded me of the natural beauty of the Grand Tetons at sunrise. I’ve really learned to love the quiet of early mornings, especially in places like New York City that are known for their cacophony of sounds. When we met up with Vanessa and Jake to photograph them as they shared their vows that October morning, there were plenty of cars whizzing by below us but none were blaring their horns. The only sounds we heard were the heavy breaths of bikers passing by and their bells ringing in the distance.
Vanessa and Jake are one of those couples that claim that they don't know what to do in front of the camera then proceed to dance and play like they are the stars of a rom-com. I’m trying to find a word more accurate than ‘chemistry’ that captures this--the way that two people interact when they are so obviously in love. I think it’s part being comfortable with PDA and part being comfortable with yourself; and we could tell very quickly that Vanessa and Jake had it whatever it is.
Vanessa and Jake picked the Brooklyn Bridge to have a vow sharing/first date anniversary because that’s where Jake proposed. They playfully recreated the moment on the spot where it happened while popping a bottle of champagne! It seems that in every proposal story the person who is proposing is always uncharacteristically failing at trying to be sly to get their partner to the spot they want to propose and we think it’s hilarious. I mean there’s no smooth way to be like, ‘let’s walk to this super picturesque spot and just take in the good vibes’ without it sounding super forced. Everyone knows that those fleeting moments are so great precisely because they aren’t scripted. Here’s one for all the romantics out there like Jake and I who try no matter what.
From there we trekked to both their old and new neighborhoods in Bed Stuy and got some shots of them at other landmarks of their relationship. We love taking a trip down memory lane with our couples, it gives us a chance to really get to know them. Jake and Vanessa even took a silly photo in front of a token NYC Chinese food restaurant because Jake has an affinity for those hole-in-the-wall joints--and who can blame him, boneless spare ribs are effing delicious.
Spending that morning with Vanessa and Jake really solidified why I love New York as much as I love the mountains. We just walked and told stories and watched as the city came alive (I was totally blown away by how many people go for a run at sunrise). Heather goes on and on about the beautiful alpen glow of the morning and the golden hour at night and I hate to admit that I’m beginning to enjoy chasing the light with her. Whether it is on mountain peaks, city streets, or a fluorescent light behind a Chinese restaurant sign, to the light we go.
Enjoy these images from Vanessa & Jake’s sunrise ceremony:
Photography: Apollo Fields
Top of the Rock NYC Engagement Session
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A good barometer for how New York is doing is to take a walk in Central Park by Bethesda Fountain. It’s usually swarmed with performers, musicians, photographers and tourists. At a wedding we did this summer we almost had the entire space to ourselves. But when we met up with Kryzia and Celestino in September for their engagement photos in NYC: the bubbles were out, musical notes floated in the air, and the shutters were clicking. It was then that we knew that New York wasn't going anywhere.
Kryzia and Celestino are a couple of born-and-bred New Yorkers. They actually live just a few blocks from where Heather used to live in Harlem. As soon as we met up with them on that beautiful fall day we could tell how kind and genuine both Kryzia and Celestino were. With the help of their adorably well-behaved Siberian Husky, Blizzard, and Celestino’s brother and his girlfriend, we broke the early jitters of doing engagement photos in such a highly trafficked place.
From there we walked south through the park, stopping to take photos in some locations you would never believe were taken in New York City. I loved Kryzia’s choice to don a leather jacket, perfectly complimenting her gentle appearance with an edge you could tell was there. Celestino’s modern outfit exuded the calm confidence that he carried himself with--self-assured and humble. Together they glowed in the brightness of the fall day, sharing stories of how they met and how their relationship has evolved over the years.
We concluded our shoot at another iconic New York landmark: the Top of the Rock AKA the observation deck at the top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Even though it’s commonplace to hate on tourist attractions, I actually will go out on a limb and defend this one. The view of Central Park to the north, the Empire State Building, Freedom Tower, and the rest of downtown Manhattan to the south--combined with the eerie silence of the breeze 70 floors up--provides the perfect amount of space to reflect on the beautiful beast that New York City is. Celestino and Kryzia danced amidst the skyscrapers and had a great time doing it! I was also blown away by the photos we took inside in the all white marble setting and the absolutely stunning juxtaposition with their bold outfit choices.
Kryzia and Celestino will be getting married in Miami in 2021 but showed us how true New Yorkers are living in 2020. People may be fleeing from the concrete jungle, but the resilience and kindness of the people that remain show the city’s true colors. New York has always been a mosaic of humanity, celebrating communities of all kinds in all shapes and sizes--it’ll take more than a pandemic to change that. I’m grateful that Kryzia and Celestino reminded us of that while also disproving the misconception that New Yorkers are rough around the edges (we’re only mean if you’re blocking the subway or standing on the left of the escalator). So whether you’re from New York, Florida, or anywhere in the world—if you didn’t know, now you know—New York isn’t going anywhere.
