I’ll be catching up on all my emails this afternoon and clearing out my inbox. Anything that comes in after tomorrow, you’ll get a reply after May 23rd, when we’re back. I plan on coming home totally relaxed (and hopefully not sunburned) and ready to take on wedding season! See you in ten days! xo

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The next morning I insisted we eat breakfast at the Waffle House across the street from the motel. “Please,” I asked John. It felt like an appropriate way to say good-bye to the South. I had hashbrowns – smothered, covered, and diced, of course – and tall glasses of sweet tea. Then we were back in the U-Haul, back on the highway. Here we go.

Five hours later we pulled up in front of our new apartment – an itty bitty studio on Avenue C and 10th in the East Village, just above a hookah bar. How did I get here, I wondered as we unloaded the truck together. I met a man and fell in love and now we live in New York City together. I kept repeating this in my head, because nothing about this felt real. Life is weird.

I was broke and jobless, but always up for an adventure. And I had secretly myself permission to go back home if I hated it.

And I did hate it. For a good year. But I  loved John. So I stuck it out. And I don’t even know when it happened, can’t pinpoint the moment or day. But one day it was just… home. I loved it. I never wanted to leave. I still cannot figure out when or how it happened, but I found myself desperately, passionately in love with this city. With the energy and the history, the culture which was so completely different than anything I’d ever known.

On Monday, John and I will celebrate six years as New Yorkers. Last year we went to the top of the Empire State Building to celebrate. This year we’ll be on vacation, but maybe we’ll toast with manhattans or something. Sometimes it feels like I just moved here and sometimes I feel like I’ve been here forever. It is home in every sense of the word, and I very much hope to spend the rest of my days on this strange, little island. Happy anniversary, New York City.

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One of the things I loved most about this wedding was how it was truly a community event. Karen & Dan’s families came together and it seemed like everyone had contributed something – the cake that Karen’s sister made, the song Karen’s sister-in-law sang at their ceremony, the flowers Dan’s mom put together… everyone came together for Karen & Dan in some way.

Karen & Dan, thank you both for everything! Being a part of your wedding was such a wonderful experience for me! You two are fantastic!

Dress: RK Bridal  //  Venue & Catering: Cedar Lakes Estate  //  Suit:  Calvin Klein  //  Veil: Etsy  //  DJ: BOK Music  //  Second Shooter: Jon Lemon

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We rented a car to drive from Florence to Siena, something that I don’t know if I’d necessarily recommend. We wanted the car so we could take some day trips out of Siena, but Siena is not even remotely car friendly. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Siena is a medieval walled city in Tuscany – totally unlike anywhere else we visited in Italy. We literally stayed in a castle just around the bend from Piazza del Campo. The streets are narrow, steep, and winding and a road will just turn into staircase. It rained a lot while we were in Siena, but we still went exploring – eating pasta in the piazza, wandering through the maze of streets, nosing through little shops. I found the perfect pair of boots in Siena.

We took a wine class which was a fantastic rainy day activity. The woman teaching the class wanted to give us the leftover prosecco when she found out we were on our honeymoon, but when she went to get the bottle it was empty. Our class was clearly thirsty.

One of the day trips we took out of Siena was to nearby Montalcino. The road there was winding – and there were no guard rails to prevent you from rolling down the hills. I held my breath the whole drive. John just laughed at me. The drive was totally worth it – Montalcino is not only on the top of a hill, but there’s a huge fortress that you can climb to the top of and the view is just incredible. All of Tuscany just spreads out around you and it’s breathtaking.

We bought wine and olive oil in Montalcino to bring home. We saved one of the bottles to drink on our first anniversary, but when we opened it last October there was a small hole in the cork, and the wine had gone bad.

Driving back to Siena from Montalcino we went into the city at the wrong gate – the one the farthest from our hotel. Our GPS was out of date and kept telling us to drive down a street that was now one way – the wrong way we wanted to go. We drove in circles around Siena for an hour and could not figure out how to get back to the hotel. (Siena is a very small city, so if you’ve been there, you realize how ridiculous this is.) At one point John took a wrong turn and we ended up in the middle of Piazza del Campo where you are definitely not allowed to drive. A police officer came running up to us and had to guide us out of the piazza – we were totally mortified. Finally – FINALLY! – we turned a corner and there was our hotel. As we pulled up, there was a huge crowd gathered in the street in front of the parking area – someone had driven up in a fancy car and everyone wanted to see. We slowly edged our car through the crowd and then – crunch – we hit something. A woman whipped around and looked down horrified at whatever we’d hit. I could only see the top of whatever it was, but it had handles and to me it looked like a stroller. I immediately started yelling, “OH MY GOD WE HIT A BABY!” I locked eyes with the woman in front of us, and her expression definitely was one of, “Yes, stupid American, you hit my baby.” Then the doorman from the hotel appeared – laughing. “It can’t be a baby, the doorman’s laughing!” John declared. We backed up and the woman pulled whatever it was from in front of the car – it was just a shopping cart. Empty. No baby. And not even dented. But she still had a furious expression. We pulled into the parking area, heads low, totally embarrassed, my heart racing from thinking we had just run over a small child. After that we didn’t drive again until we left Siena. Seriously… don’t drive in Siena.

We ended our trip back in Rome, in the same hotel where we’d began our honeymoon. We watched one last sunset from our room. Had one last gelato. One incredible last dinner at Sapore di Mare. And then we were up early the next morning, back to New York City. And it was pretty much the greatest two weeks ever.

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During yesterday’s elopement we saw a GIANT raccoon meandering across one of the paths on the east side of Central Park. Instead of thinking it was cute, I was sort of freaked out that it was out during the day and my immediate reaction was, “Oh my gosh, that thing probably has rabies. We better get out of here.” Even the tiniest bit of nature seems to freak me out. I am a city girl through and through.

I just discovered Audible.com, and it may be one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. I always listen to podcasts (faves: This American Life, Stuff You Should Know, Stuff You Missed in History Class, and Stuff Mom Never Told You) or NPR while I work – I like to hear talking instead of music most of the time for whatever reason. I didn’t think I’d like audio books, but all my podcasts are always plugging Audible. I finally gave in because I’ll pretty much do anything Ira Glass tells me to, apparently. I’m so glad I did! I don’t think I’d want to listen to non-fiction – I think I still prefer to actually read novels – but for histories/biographies… it’s fantastic. I am completely obsessed. It makes work fly by.

I am ten short days away from our first big, totally non-work related vacation since our honeymoon, and I could not be more excited. I am going to completely unplug and not think about work at all for twelve glorious days. We’ve been so busy this year, though, that we haven’t made any plans for our trip aside from booking flights/hotels. So, what should we do in Maui and Lanai? Where is your favorite place to eat? Favorite beach? Taking all suggestions, because we’re clueless. (Also lining up some guest posts for while I’m away – so if you’re a client that wants to do a guest post about eloping, email me!)

We did the NYC MS Walk this past Sunday, and I want to thank everyone who contributed and made this year such a success! It was a beautiful day and we raised a lot of money with your help. This cause is a really big deal to me, so thank you to everyone for supporting us year after year!

I’m looking for some new interior design blogs – what’s your favorite? (Thanks to everyone who tweeted suggestions the other day – lots of good stuff!)

And my life in the last week in Instagram photos:

(1. We went to a Knicks game last Wednesday, and they actually won!  2. Out my kitchen window on a foggy night.  3. The space shuttle flew by my apartment last Friday, and I went up to watch it from my roof. Once a Space Camp nerd, always a Space Camp nerd.  4. Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge during the MS Walk.  5. Olive’s silhouette.  6. Boo Radley)

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We started the day in their hotel – the Shoreham – while they got ready together. They had traveled to NYC right after Christmas to elope, and it was a surprisingly warm late December day. After Sarah put on her beautiful dress and Michael had suited up, we were off to Grand Central Station, where they had decided to have their ceremony. Although I photograph portraits in Grand Central Station all the time, I had never photographed an actual wedding there, and it was kind of amazing. Sarah & Michael had brought along a handful of friends, but dozens of passerby stopped to watch the short but beautiful ceremony.

After the ceremony, we traipsed around taking portraits, finishing the day at one of my favorite NYC icons – the Love Sculpture. Sarah & Michael, you know I adored working with you two. Thank you for allowing me to photograph your day!

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Everything is just totally insane right now – and it’s so good – but it’s so scary. And stressful. I have spent this week in limbo… sitting on my hands, waiting for an outcome. I pace the apartment, I get the bare minimum of work done that I need to. My mind drifts off. I keep forgetting to do important things – like eating and laundry. But the reality is that we probably have at least a month of limbo ahead of us, so I need to get used to this state. (For the record, I am not with child. People keep asking me if it’s that, but definitely not.) I am really looking forward to talking about this in a month or two – whichever way the outcome ends up being, good or bad. And until then, I just have to make more of an effort to be here. In my life.

I’ve been so wrapped up, that I just today realized that – aside from the trip we’re taking next month – this is my last week without any shoots/weddings until July. I don’t have another week “off” (at home), until then. I remember circling this week on my calendar… I had so many plans to connect with friends this week, catch up on everything before wedding season officially explodes. But instead I mentally checked out. Kind of lame.

So this is me promising to be more present in my life, even when things are crazy. Even when I just want to hibernate until the insanity blows over. And I think this afternoon we need some wedding photos to cheer this place up. So I’ll be back with some prettiness in a few hours.

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