Target Rock Beach Engagement Photography
Target Rock Beach Engagement Photography
Caity & Mike
Our Wedding at Honeymoon Acres in Ramsey, NJ
Our Wedding | Heather and Terrence Huie | Honeymoon Acres, Ramsey NJ | Apollo Fields
Despite attending and photographing countless weddings, I never knew how I would feel on my wedding day. Would I get cold feet? Would I cry helplessly at the altar? Would my vows live up to what I hear in my heart? I really wasn’t sure, but now I can say that it was without question the best day of my life. Typically I avoid using superlatives and hyperbolic statements like “the best day of my life,” because I believe they don’t really tell you anything, but it was the best fucking day of my life. (I usually don’t use curses either, but I guess I’m breaking all my rules today.)
On Saturday, October 6th, 2018, a quintessentially grim and misty northeastern autumnal day, I wed Heather Erny in front of our closest friends and family at her aunt and uncle’s farm in Ramsey, NJ. Honeymoon Acres, as aunt Pam and uncle Rick like to call it, is a beautifully-manicured farm splashed with wild sunflowers and potted mums, a vintage 1950’s Ford with big round headlights and an entire family of farm animals. The amount of work that Pam, Rick, and both of our families and friends put in to wrangling all of the animals (roll call: 1 pig, 1 horse, 1 donkey, 2 goats, 1 cat, and 4 dogs), making all of the food, and assisting in the general logistics of the day will have me grateful for many years to come.
For those of you who don’t know, Heather and I decided to make and serve all of the food for our wedding day. Many called us crazy, as we only arrived in New York on October 1st from our road trip back from Colorado, leaving us five days to set the place up and prepare all the food—but with the help of our family and friends we did it. We made a fresh pasta bar consisting of truffle mushroom linguini, vegetable lasagna, pumpkin and butternut squash ravioli and a classic spaghetti and meat sauce. As we ladled and scooped generous portions to our guests donning our respective aprons, I couldn’t help but speak with an Italian-American accent to move the line along like I was running my own Long Island deli. We didn’t plan to serve everyone ourselves but we were having fun, so we did—to our relief nobody went hungry.
As dinner waned and the scotch shed opened, our wedding was now in full swing. The small potting shed that we converted into a whiskey tasting room exploded with laughter, warmth, and old stories. The dance floor in the garage-turned-banquet-room jumped beneath the Edison lights, uniting the older and the younger in a musically-induced exuberance. All around there were smiles, especially from the farm animals living their best lives as moonlight entertainers. Fairytales aren’t just for storybooks, anymore, I thought.
Then came the speeches. Justin and Grace spoke on mine and Heather’s behalf’s like they knew the most intimate thoughts inside our diaries. Great friends never fail to recognize the greatness in those closest to them, for they keep their company for those exact reasons. It’s only until we throw each other on stages with microphones that we realize how well our friends really know us. We should do it more often, for all of our sakes.
Perhaps the thing I was most excited about our wedding, with exception to swigging whiskey on the dance floor as “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” by George Thorogood played, was to announce the surprise Heather and I had for Pam and Rick. For twenty years, Pam and Rick have been going to Negril, Jamaica, in late winter, but for the past few years financial troubles have stymied their tradition. As a way to say thank you for hosting our wedding, Heather and I asked the Dj to play their wedding song from when they got married on Honeymoon Acres in 1996. When they tried to retreat to their seats after the song’s conclusion, we kept them out there and told them we’re all going to Jamaica in three weeks and the animals are already taken care of. They cried. We cried. Everyone cried.
On a day filled with so much love, I cherished every minute. Even when Heather and I stood at the “altar,” a bunch of red begonias that Rick planted in the shape of the heart, as a light rain fell upon our shoulders, I remained grateful. During our ceremony, our officiant, David “Killer” Miller, spoke with equal parts comedy and soul, the very reasons we chose him. On a day where the bride and groom are supposed to be celebrated, I’ve never felt more part of our communities.
Here’s to everyone who helped, whether giving the animals haircuts or drinking whiskey in the scotch shed, because without you, it wouldn’t of been the best fucking day of my life.
Photography: Alexis Cohen & Derek Morf for Apollo Fields
Venue: Honeymoon Acres, Ramsey NJ
Dress: Maggie Sottero
Flower Crown: Allendale Flowers
Evergreen Lake House Wedding Photographers
Pat & Sierra's Mountain Wedding | Evergreen Lake House | Apollo Fields Wedding Photography
Hand in hand,
Pat and Sierra walked along Evergreen Lake,
Carrying the greens and blues of the Rockies in their palms.
A few feet away,
Hina playing in the mud
Put Sierra’s white dress at the mercy of unpredictable paws.
When they called to her
Hina came barreling forward,
Love leaping from her eyes
Unbeknownst to the spirit of the day.
This was just another walk for her,
Another chance to play beneath the sun—
But for Pat and Sierra:
These were the first steps of their new partnership.
Strolling back to the celebration,
Hina’s muddy paws
Never caused any concern.
Pat and Sierra knew
That they were just another hue
To add to the greens and blues
In the palms of their hands.
Destination Wedding for this fun Hawaiian Couple
I loved working with this beautiful and energetic couple! Sierra’s family is originally from Colorado and they ended up moving out to Hawaii so she wanted to return to her roots for her wedding. It felt sort of ironic to have a “destination wedding” where the couple LEAVES Hawaii — a popular destination wedding spot — to come to the states to get married. But Colorado is so beautiful and iconic that is totally made sense for this awesome couple.
Pat is a doctor and so easy to get along with. He was laid back and a lot of fun. You could tell that he cares a lot about his core group of friends and they had so much fun with their whole wedding party. Sierra is bubbly and outgoing and unbelievably active. They rock climb, snowboard, surf, and sail and hike and just about every other cool sport together. This couple is super inspiring because they just have such a zest for life. Sierra lived on a boat and has explored much of the East by water. They also love their pup and had so much fun celebrating their wedding with her.
I first met up with them when they were visiting to get all of their wedding planning done. I could tell how organized they were from the beginning which made working with this couple that much easier. All of the parts of the day were well thought out, organized, and so much fun!
Mountain Photography: Apollo Photo
Wedding Writing: Apollo Journalism
Colorado Wedding Venue: Evergreen Lake House
Wedding Coordinating: Lauren “Lo” Wiltshire with The Gardner Effect “TGE”