Modernize Your Engagement

We recently embarked on a whirlwind 48-hour trip to the heart of art and design that is New York City. Our sole intention 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!

The Journey to NYC

Our flight left Nashville, TN at 5am on a Tuesday morning. We landed 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 temporary home in Chelsea.

As we settled into our hotel and began organizing gear we struggled to contain our excitement for the shoot. 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 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 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.

Best Laid Plans and Exhausted Photographers

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. We shared a few glasses of red wine and chatted about our excitement to be in our favorite city so close to Christmas. It was after midnight before we headed 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.

Learning to Adapt is Crucial in the Wedding Industry

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.

Masterminding a Styled Shoot

As we caught a taxi across Manhattan to Central Park we took note of all the places 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. 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. It was against the backdrop of the Terrace that the magic happened. The creative high that we chased halfway across the country.

The Joy of Art

We have always said that art comes from a place of necessity. Humans need art and design and architecture and beauty to feel happy and satisfied in our surroundings. We say that of every human being on Earth- we creativity and expression as much as we crave 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 do engagement shoots for many 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 comfortable and representative of the life you have lived together.

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, remember that we absolutely love to travel. We will happily take 5 am flights to any city you dream up to share in that experience with you. New York City is just one in a very long list of places we have travelled. As we share those over the coming weeks we hope to inspire you to take on something entirely new.

Still trying to decide where to go from here? Check out these blogs to help you learn more about the wonderful world of wedding photography and videography with Rebecca Ann Aesthetic.