A garden wedding in New York that felt somewhere else entirely
Before Everyone Arrived
One of the smartest decisions Jack and Quinn made was doing most of their portraits before the ceremony. They knew that once their guests arrived, they didn't want photography constantly pulling them away.
We loved that.
It gave us plenty of space to make portraits without rushing, but more importantly, it gave Jack and Quinn some quiet time together before the wedding became a wedding. That distinction matters to us.
Portraits shouldn't require disappearing from your own celebration for an hour. With enough planning beforehand, we can make what we need to make and then let the rest of the day actually happen.
A ceremony that felt like them
There wasn't much restraint once the ceremony started. Guests arrived with champagne in hand, cheered as people came down the aisle and continued laughing and reacting throughout the ceremony.
Nothing about it felt overly rehearsed.
And photographically, those are usually the ceremonies we love most. When everyone in the room feels permission to react naturally, there is very little we need to create. Our job becomes watching — looking across the aisle, paying attention to parents and friends, and catching the small reactions happening outside of the obvious moment. Jack and Quinn had built a day where that energy could exist naturally.
We just had to be ready for it.
After the ceremony, guests moved into the Tuscan Garden for cocktail hour with a live jazz trio playing in the background. This part of the day really captured what made Snug Harbor such a good fit. For a few hours, New York seemed very far away.
The stone, greenery, garden paths, late afternoon light and live music gave us layers everywhere we looked. Instead of pulling Jack and Quinn away for another round of portraits, we could photograph them moving through the cocktail hour with everyone else. They had already done the work.
Now they could just be there.
We also took note of all of the effort guest put into their outfits. We decided we wanted to take the best looks and turn them into a look book for Jack and Quinn to look through later.
By the reception, the energy had already been building for hours. In fact, the dance floor filled before dinner was even finished. There was no moment where everyone suddenly decided the party had started. It had been moving in that direction since champagne was handed out before the ceremony.
That's the thing we will remember most about this wedding. It was an EVENT!
And because Jack and Quinn had intentionally handled most of the formalities earlier — including moving many of the speeches to the rehearsal dinner the night before — the reception itself had room to breathe.
Jack and Quinn put an enormous amount of thought into this day. And then, eventually, they stopped planning it.
That's probably the best way we could describe the wedding as a whole.
Everything had intention behind it — the location, the fashion, the paper details, the music, the decision to photograph most of their portraits beforehand. But none of that preparation made the day feel controlled. It did the opposite. It gave them permission to let go once everyone arrived.
And for us, that's always the goal. Plan enough that the wedding can happen without you having to manage it.
Then be there for it.
Less than an hour from Midtown Manhattan, the historic architecture, old gardens and greenery of Snug Harbor gave the day an almost European quality. It felt less like a traditional New York wedding and more like everyone had disappeared somewhere together for the afternoon.
Made by them
There was a lot of personality in this wedding because so much of it came directly from Jack and Quinn. They planned the celebration themselves and designed many of the paper details — invitations, programs, menus, place cards and signage — together.
Their backgrounds in theater showed up in more subtle ways too, particularly in the fashion. Quinn wore a custom two-piece look created by Brooks-Masline Costumes, while Jack chose a retro-inspired ivory double-breasted suit with wide pleated trousers.
The garden Party
There wasn’t really a beginning to the party
Letting the wedding happen
