Mark & Elliott’s Flowerfield Celebrations Wedding

Mark & Elliott’s Flowerfield Celebrations Wedding | Long Island Wedding Photographer

There are weddings that are beautiful, and then there are weddings that feel completely, unmistakably like the people getting married. Mark and Elliott’s wedding at Flowerfield Celebrations in St. James, New York was very much the latter.

From a traditional Jewish ceremony beneath the chuppah to a choreographed first dance, champagne showgirls, live music and a drag performance later in the evening, they created a Long Island wedding that was elegant without taking itself too seriously. With roughly 200 guests gathering at Flowerfield Celebrations, the day was big, joyful, personal and full of the kind of moments we love photographing most.

A Love Story That Started in New York City

Mark and Elliott met on Tinder in 2018, but their first date already had a little foreshadowing built into it. They met at Penn Station before heading to Mr. Broadway Kosher—a choice inspired by two things they had quickly discovered they shared: a love of Broadway and their Jewish backgrounds.

What was supposed to be dinner turned into a walk to Bryant Park and hours of conversation before they eventually caught their respective trains home. The conversation, as they put it, simply never stopped.

That combination of sentimentality and humor came through everywhere on their wedding day. These are two people who clearly don't take themselves too seriously, but who care deeply about the people around them—and those relationships became one of the biggest parts of the photographs.

A Flowerfield Celebrations Wedding in St. James, NY

Flowerfield Celebrations gave Mark and Elliott plenty of room to build a wedding around their personalities. Rather than planning a traditional first look with each other, they chose to share that moment with their niece and parents instead.

Family was particularly important to both of them. Their wedding party was wonderfully enormous, their formal-photo list included generations and branches from both families, and they made a point of carving out time for the people closest to them.

It was exactly the kind of wedding where our documentary approach to photography works best: making the important portraits when they're needed, then leaving plenty of room for everything unscripted to unfold.

A Jewish Wedding Ceremony at Flowerfield Celebrations

Their ceremony began at 4:00 PM with Mark, Elliott and their rabbi beneath the chuppah while their wedding party watched from the front row.

Afterward, the celebration quickly shifted gears. Cocktail hour filled Flowerfield's atrium with guests, food and drinks alongside live piano—and, less traditionally, two champagne showgirls. Before joining cocktail hour themselves, Mark and Elliott even squeezed in a rehearsal of their choreographed first dance.

Once everyone moved into the reception, the evening began with wedding-party entrances followed by their first dance, parent dances and the Hora. Blessings over the challah and wine and toasts from their parents, best men and maid of honor kept the Jewish traditions of the day woven naturally into a reception that was otherwise entirely their own.

And the party wasn't finished there. After dinner, guests were treated to a drag queen performance—one more perfectly fitting addition to a wedding that never seemed particularly interested in doing something simply because that's the way it's usually done.

Candid Wedding Photography at Flowerfield Celebrations

When we asked Mark and Elliott what kind of wedding photography they were most drawn to, their answer was simple: mostly candids, with a few formals.

That happens to be our favorite balance, too.

The family photographs and portraits matter, of course. But once they're finished, we want our couples to actually experience their wedding. The glances during the ceremony, someone losing it during a toast, the chaos of the Hora, the friends who haven't seen one another in years, and whatever happens once everyone reaches the dance floor—that's the material that eventually tells the real story.

Mark and Elliott gave us plenty of it.

Their Flowerfield Celebrations wedding was polished and beautifully planned, but it was also funny, energetic, theatrical and deeply personal. In other words, it felt like them.

And that's always the goal.

Flowerfield Celebrations Wedding Vendors

Venue: Flowerfield Celebrations — St. James, New York
Wedding Photography: Apollo Fields Photography — Heather & Terrence Huie
Videography: Harbor and Hue Videography — James Smith
Hair: Reverie Beauty NYC — Cassie Ramona
Makeup: Angela Zavala Makeup Artistry — Angela Zavala
Florals: In Full Bloom — Marie
Transportation: Mark of Elegance — Marc Weinstein
Signage: Kismet Details — Shannon Hardiman
Lighting: Ambient Events
Band: Rhapsody Band — Paul Caputo
String Trio: Vincent Basileo
Drag Performance: Zelina Duval
Champagne Showgirls: Screaming Queens — Alex Heimberg