Oct 09 2015

Fabiola & Paras: Brooklyn Wedding at Prospect Park Boathouse

Posted in Wedding Day,Weddings

Fabiola & Paras were married at the Prospect Park Boathouse in Brooklyn, NY on a beautiful late September afternoon, right across the pond from where Paras had proposed!   They envisioned a romantic garden-party celebration that incorporated aspects from both their cultures: Indian & Dominican.  We started the day capturing the sweetness of anticipation as the beautiful bride and her bridesmaids prepared at a nearby townhouse they had rented for the occasion… Fabiola put on her gown and Paras was led upstairs to a terrace where they would have their first look.  After a trolley ride to Prospect Park with the wedding party we shot their list of group portraits with family and friends, finishing just in time for a joyful surprise performance by a band that his sweet groomsmen had hired for the occasion!  I loved getting to capture the elation as this unexpected performance (of hip hop tunes, Paras’ favorite, no less) unfolded outside the boathouse— As guests and family arrived for the ceremony, they were swept into the dancing!  Meanwhile Fabiola was moved to see swans in the pond– something she’d hoped for privately. Finally we headed down to the gorgeous deck of the boathouse and captured a very moving ceremony that included special touches such as a garland exchange, an Indian Mandap, a Unity candle lighting, and Paras’ parents sang beautiful prayers, nd she walked down the aisle to one of his favorites,”My One and Only Love” by John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman.  Following the ceremony I took the happy couple for a few quick ‘just married’ portraits of them on the bridge overlooking the pond, and under a big beautiful tree nearby.  After one last shot of them in front of the beautiful venue after nightfall we went in and began shooting the reception.  Guests danced to a fusion of hip-hop, Indian, and Latin music expertly woven together by the DJ, and were invited to step into a fun photobooth upstairs over the reception, where they contributed prints to a guestbook.  As favors to the guests there was a table full of copies of the very same book of love poems (by Pablo Neruda) that Paras had given to Fabiola after dating her for a year– so romantic!  Highlights of the evening included an unforgettable series of heartfelt toasts, a wonderful speech by Paras himself, a hired cigar-roller outside by the water (in a nod to Fabiola’s Doninican heritage), and a sparkler exit followed by a spontaneous serenade to the bride by Paras & his groomsmen.  This was such a joyful day full of love and I was so honored to capture the celebration!  Congratulations to Fabiola & Paras!


Vendor Credits:

Venue: Prospect Park Boathouse

Wedding Coordinator: Nicole Copack, Behind The Curtain Events

Hair by: Merilyn Mitchell

Makeup by: Danielle Lewis

Wedding gown:  Matthew Christopher

Alterations: Pinpoint Bridal

Bride’s Veils: Custom-made by Gina at The Bridal Garden

Shoes: Ivanka Trump

Groom & Groomsmen’s suits:  J.Crew

Bridesmaid dresses:  Jenny Yoo & BHLDN

Rings: Custom-made by Malhotra, Inc.

Bride’s Jewelry:  Haute Bride

Invitations & paper goods: Minted

Brass Band: PitchBlakBrass

Trolley: NY Trolley Co.

Officiant: Karen Kirkley Mussa

Floral Design by: Duchess Florals

Catering by:  Movable Feast Catering

DJ:  Scratch Weddings

Cigar Roller: La Rosa Cubana Cigars

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Sep 28 2015

Greg & Dana’s Wedding: Fresh Meadow Country Club

Posted in Wedding Day,Weddings
Greg & Dana were wed at Fresh Meadow Country Club on Long Island in September.  Dana wore a gorgeous gown by Carolina Herrera– it was perfect on her and Greg’s face full of delight at the first look was so fun to capture.  The forecast was for rain and we weren’t sure what time it would start, but we lucked out and got just enough time to do the couple’s portraits together outside before it started to rain.  We even got to hop on some golf carts and head down to this pretty spot with a bridge over a little pond for some other scenic pictures out in the grounds.  Once back inside we shot the family portraits in front of a lovely floral Chuppah prepared by Bride & Blossom, and then the couple went upstairs to sign their Ketubah with the Rabbi while guests arrived and took their seats in the ceremony room downstairs.  After their beautiful ceremony, guests enjoyed a multi-room cocktail hour with amazing food (there was even a sushi bar!) and specialty cocktails.  Meanwhile the staff at Fresh Meadow expertly transformed the ceremony room into a reception area complete with a dance floor.  I had my photobooth ready to go for the evening and Greg & Dana’s friends and family made wonderful use of it all night long.  Highlights of the reception included some very sweet and amusing toasts from parents and siblings, and I must say I was particularly impressed with the band- they were amazing and I’ve never seen an electric violinist perform with such gusto!  Towards the end of the evening I took the happy couple outside (it had stopped raining) to do a night portrait of them– this time we made a heart painted with light over a long exposure.  Check out my favorite shots from this beautiful wedding and congratulations to Greg & Dana!
 
Vendor Information:
Wedding gown: Carolina Herrera
Bridesmaid dresses: Pamella Rolland
Groom’s suit/tux: Tom Ford Tuxedo
Invitation Design: Paper Treasure Designs
Floral Design: Bride & Blossom

 

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Sep 11 2015

Lindsay & Courtnie’s Wedding at Brooklyn Winery

Posted in Wedding Day,Weddings
Lindsay & Courtnie were married at Brooklyn Winery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  We started the day with them getting ready at the amazing Wythe Hotel.  I arrived early to scout for some good portraits spots between the hotel and the venue and found several wonderful murals and spots I knew would photograph beautifully– check out their portraits below!  After getting all dressed up in their finery for the big day we headed over towards the venue and met up with family members for some group pictures in the space before the guests started arriving.  Lindsay & Courtnie’s ceremony in the beautiful rustic wood-walled main room of Brooklyn Winery was very moving– their vows were so personal and sweet, there was not a dry eye in the house!  Guests enjoyed cocktail hour in the entry room with the bar and hit the photobooth upstairs (with a view of the ‘barrel room’) while the wonderful staff at Brooklyn Winery expertly transformed the ceremony space into a dining room complete with gorgeous long banquet tables.  Activity books and “cootie catchers” with trivia about the couple provided a fun complement to the rustic industrial romance of the decor.  After dinner everyone enjoyed dancing the rest of the night away– Lindsay & Courtnie were no exception!  Toward the end of the night we set up a quick night portrait for them with a long exposure rainbow lighting effect I’d been toying with lately- I love how it turned out!  I was so honored to shoot this special day for them– congratulations, Lindsay & Courtnie!

Vendor Credits:
Venue:  Brooklyn Winery
Floral Design: fLo rE sta
Wedding gown & Veil: Nicole Miller
Hair & Makeup: Carlos Lopez
Invitation Design: Paper Source
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Sep 03 2015

Welcoming Marlo: a manhattan homebirth!

Posted in home birth

Vanessa had contacted me about shooting her home birth after seeing photos I had shot of another home birth that had featured her midwife, Marcy Tardio, who is fantastic, by the way… After meeting them at their apartment for a consultation they decided to participate in my home birth documentary book project– basically trading their release for me to use the photos in my body of work (blog, website, ultimately a coffee table book, etc) in exchange for a free birth photographer… I was thrilled when I got a text message from them saying she was in labor, and though I did miss the birth itself by about 8-10 minutes (WOW that was fast!) I got to shoot some very tender scenes with this brand new family as they got to know their new baby girl and let her start to latch on for breastfeeding. Meanwhile the midwife, her assistant, and a doula were there to help with the placenta, sewing up a tear, and of course cleanup and assistance with the breastfeeding.  I was kicking myself for missing the action leading up to it, but sometimes that’s just how life goes, and I love the photos I was able to shoot for them when I arrived!  Below the slideshow and image gallery of my favorite shots you can read Vanessa’s reflections on her home birth experience!

How did your labor go?  Describe your birth experience as you remember it…
In a word, it was great. Overall, it was much shorter than I had anticipated. Marlo was born at 9:17 on Sunday morning. The first flutters of contractions actually began on Friday – I’d call them “pre-contractions.” Saturday morning arrived with a sense that this was going to be the day. One of our Saturday traditions is to have brunch in the East Village (Yuca Bar on this particular morning), which we did, taking a table outside as it was such a beautiful day. By coincidence, our doula (Natalia Hailes) walked by with her husband, and we chatted for a bit, telling her that contractions had begun. She told me to make sure I had a nap during the day, probably knowing that we would be up all night. Afterwards, we went for a juice at Juicy Lucy (another weekend tradition), followed by a stroll through Tompkins Square Park. We took a photo in the park – not a selfie because I wanted a picture with Jerry and me together showing me pregnant – so we asked a man walking by to take it for us. With each of these things, the sense was that this would be the last time that it would be just the two of us.
We had rented a car for the weekend and decided to drive out to a beach on Long Island. My mother came along, and we took our time, so didn’t actually get to the beach until about 6:00. I wanted to have an experience of nature that day. We didn’t swim, but the sand, sun, and waves gave me that sense of nature that I was seeking.
The contractions had been developing all day, so that by this time, they were painful, although far apart and without a consistent pattern. Jerry works with a restaurant group (Bareburger), and we went to a restaurant opening they were having in Rockville Centre for dinner. We knew a lot of people there , so it was a social event as much as a meal. Early labor had definitely begun at this point, so it was difficult at times to speak with people. After dinner, we contacted our midwife (Marcy Tardio) and Natalia to let them know that I was definitely in labor.
We got home around 11:00pm, and I was compelled to clean the apartment a bit knowing that we would be having “company.” By the time we went to bed, we only had an hour or so of 10-minute catnaps before the second stage began. The rest of the night was spent working through labor with contractions increasing in frequency, length, and intensity. It was just the two of us for most of the night. We called the doula just before sunrise when Jerry had run out of ideas for managing the labor, and I was becoming anxious that our other caregivers were not with me. Natalia arrived around 6:00am, and we called Marcy a short time later.
Marcy is working with a new midwife, Tanya Wills, who also happens to run our Bradley Method birth class. Tanya arrived shortly before Marcy and began to asses my situation. When Marcy arrived, she checked the baby’s heart rate and determined that it was time to start pushing.
While we could have called the midwives sooner, my experience of pain was not so great as to warrant a call any earlier than we did. I also wanted to go through the majority of labor with just Jerry and myself. As it happened, we did just that. When Marcy instructed me to move to the bed, Tanya checked and found that I was fully dilated and that baby had descended to Station +2.
From there, it was about 40 minutes of pushing – really only a few cycles. Initially, we didn’t see progress. My water hadn’t broken and was protruding past my cervix, so they decided to break so the baby could replace the water balloon that seemed to be blocking the way. That did the trick, and almost immediately we saw (and felt) the baby’s head.
Marlo Juliette was born at 9:17. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, as often happens. Marcy and Tanya untwisted and removed the cord and handed her to Jerry who was the first person to actually look at her. All along we had expected, and people were predicting, a boy. So it was a wonderful surprise for us when we saw the baby was a girl – so much so, that it took 3 days to name her.
I would describe the entire experience as beautiful and magical. There was a gentle anticipation throughout the weekend that this would be the weekend that our lives would become something different. It was fun and exciting (with nervousness and anxiousness about the unknown) to observe the experience as it unfolded.
How did you feel about the care you received?
Any discussion of the care I received must begin with the entire process of care throughout the pregnancy which allowed me to develop complete trust in our team – a doula and two midwives. Natalia has an intuition and knowledge that belies her short time as a doula, and Marcy and Tanya are so outstanding that there are not words superlative enough to describe them.
It was a pleasure having Marcy over for home visits and developing the relationship that made us feel safe and comfortable throughout the entire pregnancy, birth, and afterwards. I always felt that I was in good hands.
I would not want to have a birth any other way than this.
Did you feel safe?  What went well?  What didn’t?
I felt absolutely safe the entire time, even when I was in the self-doubt phase of labor. This was a key element of choosing home birth – I feel safest in my home with my husband and my cats, and all my personal things. I don’t have inhibitions about being naked or in pain because I was in my home. I trust my husband and my midwives who have been to our home many times for checkups, so they are familiar in my home. From a tactical standpoint, we have NYU just two blocks from home, so our transfer alternative was nearby and simple.
Overall, everything went well, and I can’t think of anything that didn’t.
Describe the experience of pain during your labor and if possible describe you handled it in your mind, and what, if anything physical, helped you manage it (massage, birthing pool, acupuncture, postures, breathing, etc).
When contractions started, it was interesting; they were like menstrual cramps in a way, but they were in waves. At first, they were gentle waves that built slowly and then faded. As labor progressed however, they became increasingly stronger waves to the point of taking my breath away.
The baby was positioned perfectly, so I didn’t experience “back labor,” but sometimes the contractions were so strong that the pains started in the back near my anus and shot up my spine.
As the pain became great, I found myself tensing up, supporting myself with my arms, so much so that my arms and shoulders ached for two days afterwards as if I had been working out really hard.
As many people will describe it, “pain” is not exactly the right word for labor sensations. There is certainly a great deal of discomfort, and yes, pain. When it’s taking place, it feels like it will never end, but thinking back on it, I barely remember it.
Throughout the entire experience, the thought of going to the hospital and have an epidural was never in my mind. Even when I was saying, “I can’t do it anymore,” I didn’t really feel like I had an alternative. I just knew that this was just a part of the process that I needed to get through.
In terms of managing the pain, we tried everything we had – standing, sitting, lying on my side, sitting on the exercise ball, leaning over a table with my belly hanging down, etc. I had envisioned spending much of labor and birth on all fours, but that didn’t offer relief either. The only thing that seemed to work for me was sitting on the toilet, and so I spent the better part of active labor on the toilet.
Other than that, focused breathing was helpful when the pains got to that point of taking my breath away.
Compared to contractions, the pushing was much easier. In pushing, I was an active part of the process, whereas with contractions, they were something that was happening, and I had to figure out how to work with them passively.
At first, I was pushing through my chest and lungs. Marcy had me focus my breathing and pushing much lower in my uterus. Once I found the right place, pushing was very productive.
How did the reality compare with the birth plan?  What surprised you?
The birth plan was to have an unmedicated birth at home. In that sense, we were very successful and had no surprises.
Describe the moments after birth, and/or what went through your mind when you were meeting your new baby for the first time.
I remember feeling an instant end to the pain as soon as Marlo came out.  My husband held our baby as I looked on.  I was tired, sleep deprived and frankly in a state of shock.  We had agreed beforehand that I would signal when I was ready to hold our baby…that came much sooner than I thought it would. I suppose it’s an innate reaction to want to immediately reach for your baby even when one is exhausted and just so happy to be done with labor.  Jerry came over and held our baby while announcing to me that we just had a little girl.  I was elated, but so tired and out of it that I kept referring to our baby as a “he”.
After Marlo was placed on my chest to warm her, I remember feeling how beautiful her warmth felt against my body.
I loved her immediately and felt so proud of her for going through the journey of birth.  At the same time I couldn’t believe that I had given birth to her…it was all too surreal.
 
 
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