Welcome to New York City – where the hustle and bustle of weddings is alive and well baby! 

I believe I am still in shock of how we pulled off these crazy 48 hours in the busiest city in the world. A whopping 8 model couples, 4 different wedding dresses tracked through every part of NYC truly turned out to be the most chaotic and rewarding experience of my career so far. 

I was invited by Caitlyn and Tiana to help coordinate the logistics of their NYC Content Retreat they host through their company Wilder Roots Retreats. Essentially, think of me as their month-of planner for their retreat. We chatted through timelines, model contracts, expectations and everything in between. They trusted me to allow them to focus on running the show in the front while I handled all the behind the scenes. 

Haley, with Painted By Haley, and I landed in Laguardia early the morning before the shoots in hopes to do a little exploring before the chaos began. Little exploring time we did have because Caitlyn and Tiana called to tell us that the Air BNB they had booked was flooded. So, together with the help of a very hesitant AirBNB expert, we secured a new AirBNB in Brooklyn. 

The next morning, we packed my little carry-on, which at this point I had named Sharon, with all the dresses and Haley’s make up kit to begin our journey through the city. The sunrise shoot on the Brooklyn Bridge kicked off peacefully and we migrated over the bridge into the heart of Manhattan. Little did we know, another hurdle was barreling towards us. 

The highlight of this adventure came from the most annoying hurdle – the pouring rain. As we were prepping the models for our Central Park shoot, the skies turned a murky black that this southern girl knew meant no good things. We had 13 photographers with highly expensive gear shooting these two models in a rental dresses stuck in the middle of the river rowing with a meticulously crafted floral arrangement; it was nerve racking. But just like Ross, we pivoted. Taking cover under the main bridge in Central Park, the models, shoutout to Izzy and Britton, had no fear as they literally danced in the rain. The results? Absolute magic. 

The rest of the shoots featured a high class elopement shoot in the heart of SoHo fighting traffic, me paying off a cab driver in the middle of Time Square to let the models shoot with his cab for 5 minutes, Haley and I not eating throughout the entire day then scarfing whatever overpriced take out we could find and finally ended on a very eventful subway ride home after celebrating with lemon shots together. 

I will never forget this experience or ever begin to understand just how truly impactful these short days had on me as a planner. I learned so much not only about running a content retreat, but also about myself and what I am capable of. 

If you find yourself planning a wedding in NYC, let’s chat details immediately.