We recently embarked on a whirlwind 48 hour trip to the beating heart of art and design that is New York City to seek out the most high fashion, modern scenes for our upcoming engagement and bridal sessions! We had one goal in mind- modernize your engagements!
Our flight left Nashville, TN at 5am on a Tuesday morning and landed us at La Guardia airport just as the city really began to awaken. We then travelled by train in true New Yorker style across the city and into our home in Chelsea for the next couple days. As we settled into our hotel and began organizing gear we struggled to contain our excitement for the shoot we were about to do- we had perfectly outlined exactly when and where we would be, what we intended to shoot, and how we were going to get there. It was with this rosy glow of planning that we are so well known for that we changed into our pre-planned city dweller outfits and set across a few blocks to grab Tacos at world famous Chelsea Market.
Taco’s secured; our attention turned to our phones as we communicated with our models and coordinated locations for the following morning. We took special care to grab a few final Christmas gifts for our friends and family, and reservations at STK for dinner that night. By the way, if you’ve never been- definitely plan to visit STK on your next trip to the Big Apple. Their steaks and calamari are absolutely to die for.
Along with four suitcases full of our gear, we had brought along Melissa Bull, the third in our friendship trio who is also a stunning model and influential personality in Nashville. We intended to capture Melissa surrounded by the architecture of NYC at sunrise while gathering some intel for ourselves on the best places to shoot in NYC as we begin marketing engagement shoots there. We all shared a few glasses of red wine and chatted about our excitement to be in one of our favorite cities so close to Christmas until after midnight before heading back to grab a few hours of sleep.
As the sun rose on Wednesday morning you would’ve found three women tucked quietly away in their hotel room sleeping peacefully and unaware that our cell phones had died during the night. Dead cells mean no alarms. No alarms mean we didn’t quite make it to central park before sunrise as we had planned.
That’s the thing about having a rigid schedule when you work within the world of weddings. Things just never truly pan out exactly how they were meant to. It’s such a small thing that we always end up telling our couples during their weddings- something WILL go wrong, and in doing so that often becomes the thing that was most ‘right’ about the entire day. It’s the universe telling you that whatever you had dreamed up could be even better done another way. So instead of becoming frantic and rushing out the door- we took our time having coffee and laughing and generally enjoying the fact that no matter what time, our shoot would get done.
As we caught a taxi across Manhattan to Central Park we took careful note of all the places along the way that we wanted to showcase. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Bridge, SummitOV. New York City has a way of turning some of the most mundane things- like bridges and tall buildings and museums made of concrete into living works of art.
We strolled through Central Park, coffee in hand, as we led Mel to the Bethesda Fountain. This 96 foot fountain is one of the largest in NYC and the sculpture at its center is one of the only elements to have been included in Central Parks original design. That sculpture, the Angel of the Waters, overlooks the larger Bethesda Terrace area where we did the bulk of our shooting of Mel. It was against the backdrop of the Terrace that the magic happened- the creative high that we chased halfway across the country came to fruition.
We have always said that art comes from a place of necessity. We need art and design and architecture and beauty to feel happy and satisfied in our surroundings. We say that not only of ourselves but of every human being on Earth- the human mind craves creativity and expression as much as it craves food and water. As we finished up capturing Mel in this gorgeous landscape it reminded us of our original purpose in traveling to the city- we want to incorporate that art and design for each and every couple we meet.
We end up doing engagement shoots for all of our couples and so often they want to do these in their hometowns- and nothing at all is wrong with that! You want your imagery to be set in a space that is familiar and comfortable and representative of the life you have lived together thus far. We challenge you to consider, however, that weddings and marriage are all about forming a new life together. They are about finding new paths and blazing new trails and developing a lifelong commitment to new experiences together.
When you inquire with us, please remember that we absolutely love to travel and will happily take 5 am flights to any city you dream up just to share in that experience building with you. New York City is just one in a very long list of places we have travelled and as we share those over the coming weeks we hope to inspire you to take on something entirely new.
With love,
Becca & Mandy
