A New York City Elopement at Cityhall with Scarr's Pizza during Christmas

Meagan and Michael met while studying abroad. Meagan is from Australia and Michael is from Great Britain. Despite their long distance, their relationship flourished and soon led them to New York City! They decided to have their family join them in New York City for their elopement at City Hall. We started the day at New York City Hall, got MARRIED, then we hit up SCARR Pizza for a quick snack. They then shuttled their family around to get some awesome portraits around the lower east side of Manhattan, some street shots and then of course one of my personal favorite spots, Freeman’s Alley. Picked up some drinks at Cornelia Street Cafe and finally had their dinner reception at Bobo in the West Village. It was such an awesome day and such a unique new york city filled with amazing foods, family, scenes and moments to remember!

Intimate New York City Elopement at The Groom's UES High School Chapel and Reception at the Luxembourg House

Megan and Chris met in the London— but they both grew up in New York City! So when they got engaged in London, they decided to have a small intimate ceremony with their family and friends back in New York City first then have a bigger celebrating in London after! They chose to have their ceremony at the Chapel at Chris’ High School on the upper east side, have some portraits taken right nearby at Central Park and the ended the night with a light reception at the Luxembourg House.  It was very sweet to celebrate in such a unique space with decades of history and culture. They had envisioned a celebration that felt like a fun and festive house party with their closest family and friends and it very much felt that way! 

Credits:

Photographer: Cynthia Chung Weddings

Chapel: Regis High School

Reception: Luxembourg House

Flowers: Cornucopia Flowers

Dress: Rachel Zoe

Shoes: Jimmy Choo

Suit: Gieves & Hawkes

Shoes: Crockett & Jones

Bracelet: Monica Vinader

Hair clip: Etsy

A Sweet Elopement at Fort Tryon Park Amidst the Corona Virus Pandemic

The corona virus pandemic took NYC by storm. By mid march, everything was shut down- restaurants, bars, companies were all working remote and all services were all on halt- including all nyc wedding photographers and the New York City Hall Wedding Bureau!! Everything just froze in time… and it seemed that no one would be getting married in nyc anytime soon. It was a time of so much uncertainty. But we overcame!!! NYC took precautions, played it safe and we started to flatten the curve! By late June, we were already in Phase 2 of re-opening- which meant: NYC weddings + photography were allowed to happen!!! (IN SMALL GROUPS while practicing social distancing and mask-wearing! :D) …. And I got SO lucky to meet Minji & Don! They wanted to have their intimate ceremony at Fort Tryon Park on the Upper West Side of New York City. It was going to be a small little group and they would have a camera set up to broadcast to more friends & family via zoom. It was a SUPER sweet ceremony. Beautiful music (played off a speaker by a close friend) and some heart warming speeches to their parents. I loved the way Don looked so lovingly at Minji at all moments of the ceremony and I loved that I was able to capture this sweet, sweet moment in time!! I am so thankful to have been part of this celebration- it was more of a blessing to myself more than I think even Minji & Don realized! I was separated from my craft— my passion—my joy and source of creativity for months without any real hope or idea of what would happen next— so be able to photograph this wedding brought me BACK TO LIFE!!! I am so thankful for the opportunity to continue to do what I love in this great city. I know we’re not through this pandemic yet— but I am thankful that with proper care and guidelines we can have these moments again.

And with that… I will share with you guys some of my favorite shots from their session!