Theme of 2019: Bet on Yourself
Apollo Fields’ Theme of 2019: Bet on Yourself.
Sometimes you lose (see above). Sometimes you win (see above). For the last five years Heather and I have been making silly bets like the loser has to take Riddle out to pee while blindfolded, and meaningful bets like starting a business together. We have taken some losses but our gains have transcended any scale that uses a bottom line. Of course, a business has to be lucrative, but we bet on who we are because we know when we connect with a couple it isn’t just a vendor relationship it is the beginning of a friendship.
Just last night Heather and I shared a meal with one of our 2020 couples, Michelle and Igor. Michelle and Igor just moved to New York as Igor received a job as the new executive chef for the Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. In a meal of delicious fresh oysters, a wonderfully rich fresh cavatelli ragu, a steaming pot of mussels, a few drinks, and two scrumptious chocolate-y desserts, I still have to say the best thing about dinner was the company we found ourselves in. With a balance of silly humor, distinct professionalism, and personal stories of our respective family and friends, we laughed and talked for hours.
This type of night was the norm for 2019. From when we photographed Rob & Lizzie’s performance-based wedding in the woods of Cazenovia, NY, to Emily & Augie’s intimate and classy backyard wedding in Cape Cod, MA, we didn’t seem to have a night where we weren’t genuinely emotionally invested in the people who surrounded us. We hosted another 20-friend Friendsgiving dinner in our home and accumulated another guest-book rolling-pin to memorialize the friendships in the room that night. Cultivating friendships is difficult but when you realize that they are the things we turn to in times of loss and of levity their worth becomes much more apparent.
We are lucky to run a business where our ideal client is also our ideal friend. Hard-working people who love to feel almost as much as they love to be themselves. The kind of people who pretend a wooden spoon is a microphone and sing into it like “the piano sounds like a carnival, and the microphone smells like a beer!” The kind of people who look you in the eye and hold a hug just a second or two longer. The kind of people who create their lives rather than let it consume them. The kind of people who bet on themselves.
We have taken our lumps this year, coming off the tragic ending of 2018, but Heather and I married one another because we will always bet on one another as individuals. We know how quickly things can turn for the worse but by hedging our bets with one another our losses will never be that great. If 2019 is any indication for the future, our gains will be less volatile and more rewarding for years to come.
Here’s to you you fine friends and fellow feelers: Here’s to the tears we shed and the hugs we hold on to. Here’s to those we lost and the future we’re creating. Here’s to betting on yourself and living with love in your heart.
Happy New Year,
Terrence & Heather
The Apollo Fields Fam
Some of our favorite 2019 venues we worked at:
The Evergreen Lake House | Evergreen CO
Granite Ridge Barn and Estate | Norway ME
Wedgewood Boulder Creek | Boulder CO
The Art Factory | Paterson NY
Top of the Rock | NYC
Normandy Farm | Blue Bell PA
Six Harbors Brewery | Huntington NY
620 Loft and Garden | NYC
Perona Farms | Anderson NJ
The Box House Hotel | Brooklyn NY
The Art Factory Wedding Photographers
Kelli & JP’s Wedding | Dawn of the Dead Themed Wedding | The Art Factory Venue | Paterson, NJ Weddings | Apollo Fields Wedding Photographers
We typically like to meet our couples before their wedding to strategize day-of timelines. This meeting allows us to prioritize shot lists, identify venue logistics, and gives us an opportunity to get to know each other better over a beer. Yet a couple weeks ago because of scheduling difficulties, we defied this practice for Kelli and John Paul’s wedding at The Art Factory in Paterson, NJ. Despite the beautiful “industrial chic” labyrinth that is The Art Factory, the playfully enigmatic couple of Kelli and John Paul showed us that spontaneity really is the spice of life.
For those unfamiliar with The Art Factory, it is a 170-year-old group of warehouse-like buildings sitting on 5 acres in the crime-ridden city of Paterson, NJ. There are 21 multi-use buildings that contain 280,000 square feet that currently function as local artisan shops, photo and video studios, office space, and a wedding venue. It is Brooklyn caught between the gun-toting era of Biggie and mustache-wax-wielding hipster. The one-of-a-kind space offers a canvas for any creative mind and any creative vision. Get in before the first Whole Foods opens around the corner.
Kelli and John Paul’s aesthetic spun the Art Factory’s labyrinth of studios and corridors into a mixture of dark moodiness and playful light. Upon every warehouse window sill or broken brick wall sat a framed picture or memento of their relationship. Edison lights lit the path to the next room or memory. Kelli wore white while her bridesmaids donned black dresses with red roses. John Paul wore a custom-made old fashioned tux with long, rounded flaps, while his groomsmen boasted a classic look with red bow ties. The entire space felt uniquely them, as the bright colors of their attire and tattoos on their skin blended with the darkness and burst in the light.
The ceremony took place in a wide open room with high ceilings, brick walls, and white curtains. Exposed steel beams gave the space an industrial feel, but the wooden pews and handmade aspen tree altar rooted Kelli and John Paul’s marriage right back to earth. They welcomed many words from close friends and symbolized the union of their families as their respective mothers lit a single flame. Their guests laughed at unsuspected analogies for love and teared up during the vows. In a large room with tons of space, eyes were fixed upon the love that filled the air.
With all of the options what a wedding could be, I never imagined a couple walking into their reception to blaring heavy metal and sparklers. I never would’ve guessed that the groom’s garter belt dance would be modeled off this scene in Reservoir Dogs. I never pictured a realistic interpretation of two hearts resting upon the top of an immaculate cake instead of the plastic cookie-cutter bride-and-groom. There were so many aspects about Kelli and John Paul’s wedding that I didn’t expect and would’ve loved to plan for—but perhaps the lesson here—is that no amount of time or planning could’ve prepared me for the wedding I was lucky to experience.
Enjoy the pics from Kelli & JP’s Wedding:
Vendors:
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | The Art Factory, Paterson NJ
Reception Band | The Randy Haze Trio
Cocktail Band | Shawn and Big Al
DJ | Tony Saxon MC
Cake | Meredith Robinson
All Masked Up!
It’s us having a blast at Kelli & JP’s themed wedding.
