Southward Ho Country Club Wedding Photos
Kayla + Jonathan
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Some say rain on your wedding day is good luck, but what happens if it rained during your engagement photos too? Is that extra good luck? Like when a bird poops on your head? I’ve always thought that saying these things are good luck is just our way of being a supportive friend/spin doctor rather than an indication of actual good things to come. That’s because I’m a strong believer in making your own luck; in choosing a good partner to weather the storm so that when good things actually do happen it just seems like they’re an added bonus. Kayla and Jonathan are the epitome of this kind of mindset.
Fire Island Engagement Photos
Capa and I were actually supposed to tag along for Kayla and Jonathan’s awesome engagement photo shoot on Fire Island, but because of the aforementioned weather they pushed up the start time. I missed out on a windy boat ride across the Great South Bay and oysters at one of our favorite restaurants, but Kayla and Jonathan rolled with the change of plans. They enjoyed showing Heather a couple spots along the boardwalk and had no problem going with the flow. All in all, the weather held off, but this is the kind of happiness that arises when you have a supportive partner rather than one who demands uncontrollable circumstances to bend to their will.
The Nostalgia of Your First Kiss
Kayla and Jonathan decided to have their first look underneath the tree where they each had their first kiss in 6th grade (!!) in Kayla’s backyard. What a wonderfully romantic idea! It immediately flew me back to the memory of my first kiss: the nervous jitters, the thinking back to the countless movie scenes where a group of teenage girls sit on a bed and gossip about who-is-and-who-isn’t a good kisser, and of course, having no actual idea of what to do. Kayla and Jonathan remember missing each other’s lips (lol) but knew better than to come back to their respective friend groups and say that it wasn’t totally awesome. The icing on the cake is that it was a dare (of course it was). Mine was too!
Robert Moses Beach Wedding Photos
Following their church ceremony in Bay Shore, Kayla and Jonathan and their wedding parties hopped on a bus for some photos at the beach. The weather luckily held off for a few hours in the middle of the day to do ALL family and wedding party formals and their romantics before the rain resumed. This is the kind of flexibility from Kayla and Jonathan that lended to their wonderful wedding celebration. They could’ve easily gotten down on their luck and let it dampen their day, but instead they made the most of what mother earth gave to them and had the best time. Their amazing friend groups did too!
Southward Ho Country Club Wedding
Kayla and Jonathan held their reception at a local country club to emphasize the importance of their Bay Shore roots. One of the things they were most proud of was the seating chart and details that they DIYed from recycled oysters! We love when our couples take the time to leave their fingerprints on the celebration, even if these projects typically take a lot of it! They had a great live band and the food and staff were fantastic. Never have I ever seen a fresh mozzarella bar but oh man was it delicious. We can’t wait to meet up with them for the gallery reveal which will definitely involve oysters as long as it doesn’t trigger some DIY PTSD!
Vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | Southward Ho Country Club | Bay Shore, NY
Lake Tahoe Engagement Photos
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Hannah + Bobby
I’m a simple man–give me sunshine to soak in, mountains to stare at, a body of water to throw myself into and a local beer. If you put me in an infinite loop of those things you might not see me until my hair is gray. So when Hannah and Bobby told us that they wanted to travel to California for their engagement photos in Lake Tahoe I started packing before I bought a plane ticket. I knew it was going to be a place I loved before I even set foot there, kind of how I feel about Bend, Oregon.
Lake Tahoe Engagement Photos
Hannah and Bobby are one of those couples that make you question your adventurous spirit. They’ve championed the sky by diving out of planes, the sea by delving beneath the surface, volcanoes with their sturdy strides, and I’m pretty sure you give them a rocket and outer space is next. Hannah and Bobby have a story for every natural setting out of your earth science textbook. It was so fun getting to know them as we explored Lake Tahoe together, 191 square miles (!!) of mountain adjacent aquamarine waters.
The W Loft Brooklyn Wedding Photos
I’m not exactly sure what color the East River is, but I’m not jumping in there anytime soon. That being said, it does provide its own juxtapositional beauty in the foreground of some of earth’s most beautiful man-made mountains. The skyscrapers of Manhattan have the same capacity to inspire as the Sierra Nevadas, especially from the vantage point of The W Loft in Brooklyn. I was just talking the other day about the strangely comfortable feeling you get when you gaze upon a mountain range, allowing the immensity of its presence to make you feel small. Maybe it’s because mountains can’t move fast enough to crush you, or that they provide a grandiose depth of perspective to your eye, but I can’t quite get at the heart of that feeling.
Epic Engagement Ideas
Okay so when I said before that Hannah and Bobby conquered volcanoes, what I meant was that Bobby proposed to Hannah on an active (!!) volcano in Ecuador. What an absolutely epic and absolutely mad idea! Not to mention that the day Bobby planned to do it he came down with an intestinal infection known as Montezuma’s Revenge. Most people would’ve pushed the proposal to another day or settled for a more modest location–but not Bobby. Everything about Hannah and Bobby’s relationship makes me think of the quote that I thought was Bob Marley’s but is apparently credited to Roger Miller: “some people feel the rain; others just get wet.” Some people go through life, but people like Hannah and Bobby live it.
Surround Yourself With Those Who Inspire
As I enter my mid-30’s I can’t help but constantly assess what is and what is not serving me in my life. Lucky for me, I married Heather, a partner who in more ways than one brings me back to a healthy default. For example, we signed up for a CSA program that brings fresh produce every week from the North Fork of Long Island to our doorstep. We got a membership at a local gym with a daycare to incentivize exercise. But perhaps most important is our business where we meet like-minded inspiring people like Hannah and Bobby. Our social and professional web continues to grow outward and I will never take that for granted. Especially when I have the time to kick back and take in a view of a mountain range or skyline of skyscrapers.
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.
Water's Edge Winter Wedding Photos
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AlexANDRA + BryaN
I never thought of it before, but a wedding is like a home. It is a place to celebrate the people you love with food and drinks, complete with little pieces of yourself scattered about like clues to your soul. Some weddings are sterile like condos with uncomfortably modern furniture, while others are welcoming like old homes with large wooden tables and smooth wooden benches. You know as soon as you walk in, right after you hand your coat to the host or the coat-check, what kind of experience you’re about to embark upon. Well Alexandra and Bryan’s wedding at Water’s Edge in Centerport, New York, was the kind of celebration where you have to wait ‘til the next morning for the candle wax to dry, because no one was blowing out any candles any time soon.
Centerport Wedding Photographer
Shortly after moving into their early 20th century, 1,200 square-foot house in Centerport in 2017, Alexandra and Bryan started becoming obsessed with local history. They became increasingly involved with the Greenlawn - Centerport Historical Association and knew that they would want to keep their celebration as local as possible. Enter Water’s Edge, the historic Thatched Cottage seated on the edge of Mill Pond with a brand new lease on life. It was the perfect place to celebrate their love and it was just a stone’s throw away from their front door.
Water’s Edge Wedding Photos
When you walk into the foyer of Water’s Edge, the clean white marble and large spiral staircase harkens back to the glam ballrooms of the Gatsby era. The decor is modern yet timeless, and the various spaces allow for customization to your heart’s content. Alexandra seized this opportunity to celebrate her love of F. Scott Fitzgerald and imprinted the beautiful blank slate with impressions of her home on every table and in every corner. Vintage books with beautiful blue bindings beneath every dried floral centerpiece, a one-of-a-kind dreamy moon-themed photobooth, and matchbox and candle wedding favors that were both cute and functional. There were no design pages left unturned.
Personal Wedding Vows
Coming from a writer who couldn’t quite get the right words for his own wedding vows, I couldn’t advocate more for speaking about your love at the altar. Just like everything else in life, it’s less about what you say, and more about how you say it. Bryan decided to use Alexandra’s name as an acronym and to use every letter to symbolize something meaningful about their relationship. Alexandra decided to quote a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald depicting the responsiblities of marriage. In my experience as a wedding photographer, your wedding day is a sort of dress rehearsal for the rest of your relationship, and when things inevitably go wrong, how do you handle it? Well when the brakes of the special-ordered vintage car smoked and caught on fire, Alexandra and Bryan rolled (literally) with the punches and embraced the change rather than fought against it. Something tells me that these two will be loving each other for a long, long time.
Inviting Us into Your Home
When we said our goodbyes to Alexandra and Bryan at the end of their wedding, it was like embracing guests at the end of a dinner party. You want the candles to keep burning, the cocktails to keep stirring, and the laughs to keep going. That is what is undoubtedly the best and most rewarding thing about our jobs as wedding photographers. To develop relationships with people like Alexandra and Bryan who would rather build a longer table than a higher fence. In a home and a life like the one they’re building, it’s no surprise that their benches are smooth with the company they keep.
Vendors
Photography: Apollo Fields
Venue: Water’s Edge
Flowers: Hydrangea Home
Photobooth: PicPerf Photobooth, Jenn and Laurie, 917-301-4974
Cake: Dortoni's
Music: Absolute DJs
Guestbook: FeteFone
Wedding band (Alexandra): Erstwhile (created by Erstwhile)
Engagement ring: Erstwhile (vintage)
Wedding band (Brian): Rustic & Main (whiskey barrel, mahogany, rose gold in lay)
Suit: Men’s Warehouse
Dress: from BHLDN FiDi in Manhattan, shoes from BHLDN website (Rachel Simpson)
Transportation: MV Limosines
Invitations & Menus from Paige & Co (UK) - Moon & Stars suite
Make up - Erica Heras
Hair - Danielle Cosmo
Bear Mountain State Park Engagement Photos
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Carly + Kyle’s Bear Mountain Engagement Photos
Waking up on Heather’s family farm, Honeymoon Acres, feels like being part of a child’s storybook. One of the potbelly pigs, either Johnny Walker Tito Cash (yes that is his full name) or Rose grunts to be let outside or serve them breakfast. The silkie chicken that is trying to become a rooster attempts to crow but sounds like the cracking voice of a teenage boy going through puberty. Billy, the arthritic goat, walks through the backyard on her knees because her hooves ache too much. Then I release the dogs: Riddle, Rumor, Bertie, and Ms. Jean to do their business and run around the yard like a pack of wild hyenas. The donkey, Brownie, and pony, Amber, neigh from the barn as I take my first sip of coffee. It’s kind of like Old Macdonalds Farm meets a Tim Burton movie--a motley, quirky crew of animals and family and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Heather and I were in the neighborhood to do Carly and Kyle’s engagement photos at Bear Mountain State Park. I surprisingly had never been to the mountain before and was completely blown away by the panoramic views of the orange, red, and yellow leaves. It was like we still lived in Colorado but the Aspen Trees were swapped out for Maples and Oaks. I’m glad that despite being spoiled for two years in the Rockies that my home back east could still evoke that feeling of smallness; where all you want to do is take a deep breath and exhale above the treetops.
Carly and Kyle live and met in Stamford, Connecticut, and trekked over to Bear Mountain to get some peak foliage engagement photos. They couldn’t have timed it any better and Heather and I were immediately jealous just looking at the raw images in the back of the camera. We started down at Hessian Lake near the lodge for their first casual outfit, then finished at the top next to Perkins Memorial Tower for their more chic look. The top of the mountain was a little crowded with tourists but Carly and Kyle rolled through their paparazzi moment with laughter and smiles.
And that’s why we say having an engagement session is so important! It’s not just to grab some photos for save the dates and invitations--it’s to get in front of our cameras and start to feel comfortable. We know from experience that (almost) no one feels comfortable in front of a camera; ourselves included! You should see my camera reel with all of the photos of Heather hiding her face behind a mask, our baby, or any inanimate object she can get her hands on. It doesn’t feel natural to be the center of attention but that’s exactly what we are on our wedding day. So book an engagement session, peek at our style guide, show up, and we’ll do the rest.
As we drove back down the switchbacks of Bear Mountain we kept fawning over Carly and Kyle and the views. This wedding season has been one for the ages and if Carly and Kyle are any indication, 2023 (!!) is already beginning to take on a beautiful shape.
