Colleen and Jimmy were the winners of the NYC engagement photo session giveaway.  You can read all about their story here.  It really is an amazing story going back to the generation of their grandparents when their grandmothers worked together as teenagers!  It was such a pleasure meeting them and getting to know them a little bit.  They are true New Yorkers.  Jimmy is a firefighter with the NYFD (as is a lot of his family) and Colleen works for an investment firm down by Central Park.  They both grew up in New York City and it was so fun hearing the stories about their lives and families. It was a real treat for me too when Jimmy took me by his parents house and I got to meet his mother, father and brother. Really wonderful, kind people.  Jimmy’s dad has the coolest photo on the wall of him with King Kong when they were filming that movie in NYC.  And Jimmy’s mom showed me their 9/11 cabinet.  Including a piece of the World Trade Center and a photo of one of their friends who died in the attack.  

After we were done shooting we went to dinner at a place where Jimmy worked his first job as a teenager.  I bet we came across about 1/2 a dozen people who said “Hey Jimmy” while we were out and about.  So refreshing and so different than California.  (Mostly because you know no one who lives in Cali is from Cali!)  Over dinner we talked about photography, surfing, and of course wedding planning!  It’s very important to Colleen to incorporate all she loves about NY and her family and friends in their wedding.  And she will make a beautiful bride! 

So before I move on to the photos I have to say, I really feel like I’m the one who won the contest!  What an awesome thing to get to meet these couples, spend sometime with them, hear their stories (the therapist in me really misses that!) and take photos for them that I know they will all treasure for the rest of their lives.  I felt so honored that they would take me to their families home and introduce me and then take me out to dinner.  We had a great time.  Colleen and Jimmy I know you have only the best in store for your future.  It was such a pleasure meeting you both and working with you.  Please come to Cali soon and you can meet my family and I will take you to dinner :)  Talk to you soon!

Colleen really wanted to do some of the shooting in Coney Island.  Apparently they are renovating it sometime in the next year and she wanted to go there and take photos before the changes were made.