The Riverview Weddings in Simsbury CT Photography
Michelle & Sarah’s Wedding at The Riverview | Simsbury, CT | Apollo Fields Wedding Photography | New England Weddings | LBGTQ Wedding | Love Is Love
Coster
Est. 2018
Droplets of rain fell upon Farmington River
Creating a myriad pattern of circles
That extended towards the riverbanks.
The tall trees that lined the shores
Leaned away from The Riverview in Simsbury, Connecticut,
Almost seeming to listen to the trickle of water
With their long, looming branches.
Michelle & Sarah
Frolicked beneath those eavesdropping leaves
Sinking their shoes into the soft ground
Two synchronized steps at a time.
No amount of rain could mute the soundtrack of their love.
They each promised to listen,
Holding close to every word
Whether loud as a shout of faint as a whisper
They Knew
That love is a practice:
A discipline of communication
That embraces the ridiculousness
Tucked into the corners of their smirking lips.
They Knew
That love is as silent as a lip sync
& As deafening as a ballad at Cadillac Ranch.
Echoes of Jim Halpert emanated from Michelle’s room
While the twang of Ke$ha’s voice blared from Sarah’s.
Different approaches to a shared day
Showed the balance of a partnership as
Gay & Proud
As a rainbow cake both inside and out.
Jordans sparkled from beneath Sarah’s white dress
As she dipped Michelle just like they practiced.
Only this time was for real,
Only this time was forever.
Family is never perfect
&
Rarely is love,
But They Knew
They can always groove to the soundtrack
Playing between their ears.
They symphony of their hearts can never be silenced,
For they dance upon the notes of a song
Like raindrops upon a river during a gentle rain.
I met Michelle years and years ago at The Ethel Walker School and always loved her playful and witty personality. She was super outgoing, loved to joke around and would do just about anything to get a laugh out of someone. Sarah is the perfect compliment to her, she is equally as witty and just as sentimental, but she has a type of focus to her personality that seems to really work for their relationship.
Sarah loves to work a crowd and does DJ work herself, so she can absolutely command a microphone and loves to keep the party alive. It’s so much fun to watch a bride be so dynamic and full of life at her own wedding! Their wedding was a perfect mix of sentimentality and warmth, coupled with downright fun and silliness! Our favorite vibes. We also recognized a bunch of faces in the crowd, so it made the day just a little more special for us. It was fun to be back in Simsbury, CT where I spent four years while attending boarding school. It’s a quaint, very New-Englandy, little Connecticut town and The Riverview is nestled right down on the Farmington with a beautiful backdrop of lush woods and of course, the river.
Photography and Poetry: Apollo Fields
Venue: The Riverview | Simsbury, CT
Ethel Walker School Weddings Photography
Michelle & Sarah's Engagement Photos | Ethel Walker School Barn | Connecticut Wedding Photographer | Simsbury, CT | Apollo Photojournalism
Talk about a blast from the past! I spent my entire high school career at The Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, CT and it was so surreal to be back there to shoot Michelle and Sarah’s engagement photos there. It was a damp and rainy New England day and we were carefully planning when we could still shoot outside. When we realized that the rain wouldn’t let up, we decided to pull out the umbrellas and just go for it. This is what makes this couple so great, they didn’t let the rain get them down at all… if anything, I think it had the opposite effect!
I met Michelle at Walker’s many years ago. Her father was — wait for it — my first photography teacher!! He’s literally the person responsible for putting my first camera in my hands and where this whole thing started. I took a darkroom photography course and never looked back. There was something so magical about the whole process of shooting film and developing it myself. I soaked up the whole thing and spent all of my study halls in the darkroom processing my images. I loved learning about old school methods of dodging, burning, and even hand painting in your images. Mr. Coster, or “Papa” as we affectionately called us, let me run wild with my ideas. He showed me how to do double exposures and a lot of other fun photo manipulations that I find kind of cliche in digital but still fascinate me with film.
Mr. Coster helped me navigate my art career throughout my four years of boarding school. He gave me so much guidance and I quickly became close with his whole family. He has three daughters, one who was in my grade, so I easily fit into their dynamic. Then, his wife started physical therapy at the same doctor’s office as I was going to after my knee surgery so she would give me rides to my sessions. Being at boarding school meant forgoing a traditional “family” environment so when you did have families in walking distance who would take you in occasionally, you took advantage of the opportunity. I remember even walking into their house sometimes when the cafeteria food was inedible and just announcing, “so what’s for dinner”, and he would blankly answer, “Chinese food” without even looking up.
So when Mr. Coster’s youngest daughter, Michelle, got engaged, it made perfect sense that I shoot the wedding. Talk about full circle! Just being back on the old campus was such a trip, and it was also Terrence’s first time seeing EWS so it was crazy to show him the place where I spent my four years of high school. I love this session for so many reasons but I think it perfectly captures their fun and animated personalities at a place that I spent so much time years ago!
Connecticut Wedding Photographer: Apollo Photojournalism
Venue: The Ethel Walker School | Simsbury, CT
