Sunken Meadow Pavilion Wedding Photos
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Gina + Peter
It’s funny how every growing family finds their little nook to get away from it all. Many times it’s a lake house or cabin in the woods that the family has been renting for generations. Other times it’s a landmark of mom and dad’s relationship that brings them down memory lane.
For my family, it was Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a wind-swept peninsula an hour-and-a-half drive from Boston. Its cozy cottages, relaxing beaches, seafood restaurants, and family-friendly establishments makes it a destination for the entire New England area. I always thought that the vibe was remarkably similar to the north fork of Long Island, not too far from where my grandmother lived in Wading River. This notion was driven home when I walked into the house that Peter grew up in Patchogue, where his mother warmly greeted me in the sunroom of her adorable colonial-meets-beach style home.
rom-com Relationship Origins
The story of the first time that Gina met Peter sounds like it is straight out of a rom-com: Gina was babysitting and went into a pizzeria that Peter worked at and the little one she was caring for ordered an eggplant Parmesan slice. Peter couldn’t believe that was what they wanted because he still didn’t like eggplant, and offered them a free slice of pepperoni on the house. There wasn’t any monumental shift in the kid’s palate but both Peter and Gina knew that there might be something between them.
Fast forward a couple years when they’re coincidentally both working at a restaurant in Patchogue. Peter comes in to meet up with one of their co-workers when they see each other and remember one another from the pepperoni/eggplant encounter. They wind up going on a beach date shortly thereafter and both show up to work one day rocking the same sunburn. They didn’t care about everyone knowing that they were dating but this totally blew their cover.
The Incredible Lightness of Being (In Love)
I never read the Milan Kundera novel of the same title minus the parentheticals, but I couldn’t help but notice the lightness of Gina and Peter’s relationship. It was clear in the way that their body language relaxed as they approached one another, folding together not only physically but socially and emotionally as well. You could tell that they were on the same wavelength, like they perpetually living in the “honeymoon stage.” You might think that every one of our couples behaves like that on their wedding day, but not quite like Gina and Peter.
Heather and I’s Relationship Origins
Coincidentally, Heather and I met at hospitality jobs also. We worked across the street from each other in 2013 at neighboring restaurants on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. People always find it romantic when I tell them that story, but it wasn’t until after getting to know Peter and Gina’s relationship origins that I began to understand why. I think it’s the idea of an organic, budding romance in the age of dating apps; how of the many relationships that come from working in the hospitality industry—where workers more often than not are in transitory parts of their lives, and people are growing into or building towards the next stage in their lives—that the idea of two people happenstantially meeting to come together and grow together seems improbable. That the odds say most paths diverge.
For Heather and I it adds to the strength of our relationship. We were talking about it the other day and it’s like we were building a foundation even though we didn’t know it. And every subsequent year or period of growth we were building on top of that. It would follow then, that we, and Gina and Peter feel lighter, because rather than building separate foundations we were building on the same one. The higher we go, the lighter we feel.
Vendors
Photography | Apollo Fields
Venue | Sunken Meadow State Park Pavilion | King’s Park, NY
2021 Recap: Our Year in Review "What The Hell Just Happened!?"
Destination Wedding Photographer Based Out Of NY | Husband And Wife Wedding Photographers | Editorial Engagement and Wedding Photography NYC
2021 Recap: Our Year in Review "What The Hell Just Happened!?"
It is 9PM on a Tuesday and I am about six hours into editing a big job. The job is from our second-to-last wedding of the year and I’m only about 30% the way through the gallery when my mind begins to drift and reminisce on all the gigs we had this year: 54 weddings and at least as many other sessions, across thirteen different states. I look up from my monitor and think to myself, what the hell just happened??
What I mean by that is, what the hell was 2021!? What actually just happened??
This was bar none the craziest wedding season that I’ve seen in my seven-ish years of doing this, and that’s not even taking into consideration the fact that we had a tiny and completely dependent baby throughout the whole thing. It was the perfect storm, really– take all the covid rescheduled weddings (for us, approx 35) and then pile them on top of our organic biz, now funnel them down into the finite number of Saturdays in a year, and now hand pluck out all the vendors who peaced out of weddings after 2020, and you have yourself the 2021 wedding season.
Oh, and now add the baby back into the equation.
See our grand plan back in the beginning of 2020 was to go HAM on weddings while I was pregnant and then chillsies for 2021 when we had the baby. You know, take a *few* local weddings and some passion projects here and there, but sort of coast. Enjoy family life. Do newborn stuff, whatever that is.
Of course, the great cosmic joke was on us when the pandemic totally took us out at the knees. We were forced to halt everything, completely freeze, postpone, revise and re-plan everything. Not a single gig was unaffected and although we still managed to pull of 26 weddings in seven different states, I’d be remiss to act as if it wasn’t traumatic on both a personal and professional level. But we survived, and as we both will attest, even thrived in many ways. It was honestly… a great year… which feels like a weird thing to say given the complete dumpster fire that we were dealing with.
So when 2021 rolled around, things started really looking up.
Vaccines were a total game changer for large gatherings– in our case weddings, and you know, our entire livelihoods. We were just SO. DAMN. GRATEFUL. to have weddings actually happen on the dates they were scheduled for and in the locations they were contracted, that we sort of went blind. To say we had a whole new appreciation for the work we do is an understatement. And let’s be honest, it was also a lot easier on my body to work and travel without being hugely preggo lugging around a big belly and swollen feet for 15 hour long days.
But like I said, I think we sort of went blind. Like we were so grateful to be shooting and working and traveling that we didn’t even realize how bizarre the conditions still were.
We shot WAY heavier than ever before, out of complete necessity to our couples who have dealt with so many curveballs over the last two years.
We did weddings on Fridays and Sundays, which was becoming more normal anyway. But then there were Thursday weddings, a few Mondays, I think we even did a Tuesday. Double headers have always been my happy place but this year were triples and I even swung a quad in October. That’s four-in-a-row for those who aren’t in the know.
Capa, our sweet boy, bounced around strapped to our chests for twelve of our weddings and at least twice that amount of engagement and family sessions. God bless’em because he THRIVED on weddings. Thrived. We never imagined toting our kid around for more than one, maybe two, events but here we are now with a slightly quirky reputation as that husband and wife photographer team who worked with their baby in tow.
The pandemic loomed over every wedding this year and still continues to force us to adapt over and over again as we continue to navigate mask mandates, rapid testing, vax cards, and trying to avoid getting sick while also being completely swallowed by mobs of drunk people flailing to “Shout” like it’s the first time anyone has thought to lay down on a public floor in the name of dancing.
Guests went hard this year. For many couples, elopements and microweddings got all that pesky paperwork out of the way last year and so formalities be damned, they were just there to rage their faces off this time. We thought there would be a gentle transition back into cocktail hours and conga lines but pretty much once April hit, the floodgates opened and people were off to the races en masse. I’ll admit, it did make for good content, and I’ve never been one to turn down a sweet party, so I was more than happy to oblige.
In fact, we had some of our best couples of all time this year…
…and it’s truly impossible to narrow down even the top five. I could honestly go through each event and rave about our favorite parts of each wedding and couple, but I’ll try to keep it short and as unbiased as possible… My mind immediately jumps to Jess and Matt– who had an epic three-day celebration on the top of a mountain at Granite Ridge in Maine. We rented a cabin, brought my sister with us to babysit (unknowingly with a black bear hanging outside the house) and partied ALL night long with their sick wedding band. We still talk about their transition into Flashing Lights.
Then there was Mercie and Dan, our sweet friends who made actual magic on their wedding day by appointing their closest kiddo friends and family to take over traditionally adult duties. Their officiants and their MC and wedding party and speeches and everything were executed by munchkins. And you know what, they all CRUSHED it. These little beautiful humans who poured their whole souls into this heartfelt celebration. I can still hear Merc and Dan singing to one another before their ceremony, holding hands and grounding one another, with their voices almost swirling in harmony over the ceramic tiles in the bathroom they were getting ready in. I will admit that I cried a little behind my camera but I won’t ever forget that moment.
But then jump to August when we got to go back to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone to capture Ross and Michelle’s wedding. A literal dream come true. We were lucky enough to be out there last year for a wedding and vowed to return, which I think is a common thing to do when leaving a destination after a vacation, but getting to be back in those mountains again was another *pinch me* moment. And getting to show Capa one of our favorite places was priceless. I’ll always remember how much fun we were all having blasting music in our rental car, driving through the mountains chasing the light, trying to pierce through the haze and smoke to get the infamous views. And then when we finally found the spot to pull off of as the sun was setting over the plains, Ross and Michelle jumping out to go exchange their vows privately against the mountains made it all worth it.
Then there was Chris and Kristen’s amazing Hamptons wedding which pretty much left us speechless. The whole thing was set up on their family property on the highest point of Montauk with 360 degree views that did not disappoint. There were charcuterie boards that put anything on pinterest to shame. I stuffed my face with oysters. Life was good. But most memorable was their dance party– people went fucking nuts. Over the years we have learned that there is a delicate balance to a good party: a sweet spot for the number of wedding guests, the amount of space that they have to dance, the amount of intoxicants available, the quality of music, energy of the band, and overall cohesiveness to the party. Getting all the ingredients *just so* is a rarity, but when all these conditions are met, fun will be had. And Kristen and Chris certainly had fun.
Speaking of these kinds of nights, Lia and Brendan also top out at our favorite tent set up of all time. Two epic sperry tents, immaculate decor, another freaking gorgeous private residence with views that you can only dream of. And then their golden hour. Stealing a couple for these shots isn’t easy sometimes, but always worth it, and the ten minutes that we pulled these two onto the golf course next door was a dream. Lia was beaming, legitimately smiling from ear to ear. Her dress was off the charts gorgeous. Cotton candy clouds billowed in the sky behind them as they sprinted off the green together. The pictures are epic, but the image in my mind is honestly just as good.
Heather and Chase are our most recent holy-amaze-balls wedding and deserve all the shoutouts for their stunner of a Palm Beach wedding. While our dreams of escaping the cold north in exchange for sunny Florida didn’t happen until the last of our four days there (it POURED rain for most of the weekend, like legitimately dumped on us nonstop), they still managed to have a jaw dropping three days worth of celebrating. It’s hard to argue with chillin’ on the rooftop of the Ben hotel with a cold beer, sweet views, and our giggly pool-loving baby on a work trip.
In fact, many of our work trips look like this on the bookends of our trips. One thing that bringing Capa along with us has really forced me to do is slow down a bit, despite still having our busiest year to date. Slowing down might only be for an hour or two at a time, but sometimes that’s all you really need to cue in and appreciate how cool life can be. We set out to be busy, and none of this was an accident.
So yeah, what the hell happened totally rings true for 2021. Heck, we’re not even done as I write this– we’re about to get on another plane to Nashville to close out our season at a New Years Eve wedding. It’s going to be a banger, and we can’t wait. Midnight on Dec 31 will officially close out our work year, and I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. Our lives are sort of wild but also beautiful and as I just begin to process what this whole season has meant to us personally and professionally, I can’t help but be left in awe at how full and inspiring it all is.
– xo, Heather
Enjoy some snapshots from this year:
Harbor Club at Prime Wedding Photography in Huntington, NY
Harbor Club at Prime Wedding Photography in Huntington, NY | Waterfront Weddings at Yacht Club on Long Island New York | Apollo Fields Photographers
Shannon & Eric
Photography: Apollo Fields
Venue: Harbor Club at Prime
Asharoken Beach Wedding in Northport, NY
Apollo Fields | Long Island Wedding Photographer | Beach Weddings on Long Island | Backyard Wedding Photographer | Northport Wedding Photographers | Northport, NY
Jackie & Eric
“The best-laid plans o’ mice and men often go awry” was the line that Kevin, Eric’s best man, decided to begin and finish his speech with. It made me remember the public speaking course I took in college and how effective using a quote is in anchoring the message of your speech on both ends. If I had any advice for the best men and maids-of-honor out there--this is it. Speak from the heart, keep it short and sweet, and begin and end on the same quote.
Jackie and Eric held their ceremony Our Lady Queen of Martyr’s on a beautifully bright indian summer day in September. Centerport Harbor glistened with the sparkle that guests love and photographers have to work around. Their officiant, Deacon Doug, was as affable as he was devout--weaving in biblical references into Jackie and Eric’s stories almost as much as he mentioned the New York Mets. In a symbol of union, Jackie and Eric poured soil from each of their homes into a potted plant, a unique ceremony idea I’ve never seen before. I loved it. Do anything you can in your ceremony to represent who you are.
From there they took the party to a private residence on the beach on Asharoken Avenue in Northport, NY. The reception began underneath a tent in front of the house but gradually moved to the beach as the sun began to set. Eric and Jackie held their first dance in the sand and the levity of the moment is making it hard for me to remember a more memorable first dance. The late summer breeze, the sun setting in the distance, the weight of the world--for the first time in awhile--floated off my shoulders. I can still see the hazy orange sky when I try to picture it.
“Now that we’re here it doesn’t matter what the plan was--I want to face it head on, I want to face it with you,” Kevin continued in his speech. Such a poignant meeting point between a healthy relationship and the demands of planning a wedding during a pandemic. There is no blueprint on how to celebrate your love in a time where gatherings are restricted. There is no certainty to how the next few months will transpire. It is up to the Jackie and Eric’s of the world to decide what is right for them and Kevin hit it on the head.
Marriage is a partnership and the plan is to face it together. “What you’ve endured [during the pandemic] is nothing compared to marriage,” Lou, Jackie’s father joked during his speech. Heather and I like to treat our life like the way we take vacations: implementing a loose structure, hitting the key can’t-miss tourist destinations, but leaving plenty of room for flexibility and adapting to the whims of weather and mood. Jackie and Eric’s wedding definitely had a vacation vibe, the sand between our toes, fully knowing that “the best-laid plans o’ mice and men often go awry.”
Enjoy these images from Jackie & Eric’s beach wedding:
vendors:
Apollo Fields | Photography
Paul Vibes | Videography
Our Lady Queen of Martyr’s | Ceremony Venue
Floral Designs By Melina | Floral
Precision Sounds | DJ
Hometown Bakeshop | Cake
Anomalie | Dress custom designed by Jackie, the bride!
La Mode | Dress Alterations
Karako | Suit
Blue Nile | Engagement Ring (responsibly made!)
Wedding Bands | Family friend, Carlo Gilioli
Styles by Marcella | Hair
Makeup By Samantha | Makeup
Ann’s Bridal Bargains | Invitations and Save the Dates
Limos Long Island | Car Service
As seen in:
Brooklyn Bride Mag
