MaKenzie and Chris met me in Madison Square Park to submerse their engagement shoot in a colorful summer art installation. The bright waves fit their bold and fun personality perfectly!
Madison Square Park Conservancy’s Mad. Sq. Art features a new installation by New York-based artist Orly Genger. It was the ideal backdrop for our shoot. The monumental work entitled Red, Yellow and Blue showcases the artist’s hand-knotted rope covered in paint and transforms the park lawns into a whimsical display. Be sure to check it out before it leaves in October.
Chris shares their story, “We met in 2002. I was a senior in college at the University of Oklahoma, and MaKenzie was a freshman going to a college 45 minutes north of my college town. We were running into each other at parties and the timing just never seemed right. I was dating people, she was dating people, and soon I was off to New York with another girlfriend.”
The story could easily have ended there if it wasn’t for a trip back to their hometown.
Chris continues, “My grandmother died in 2008. She lived in Oklahoma and I hadn’t been back since I had moved to New York 4 years previously. All my friends were long gone from there and the week I spent there sorting out my family’s estate drove me to start reaching out to old friends. I still had MaKenzie’s number and called her. We went out to dinner and then had a romantic night by Lake Hefner near where she lived. That October she visited New York and we started a long-distance relationship that had us going back and forth from Oklahoma to New York over nearly two years.
In 2011, MaKenzie made the move to New York, and last summer I chartered a sailboat on Lake Hefner at sunset, where we first had our romantic evening those years ago. I proposed right when the sun turned the sky golden.”
MaKenzie and Chris share an apartment with their dog, Lucy, in Brooklyn.
I LOVE dogs and was so excited to see they brought her along for the shoot. Lucy is a sweet little Jack Russell mix. Makenzie calls her a “little princess” because “she does not like to get wet or dirty, cries like a small child, moans like a human when you move her when she is resting , and loves to give affection.”
Jove Meyer Events styled the shoot and brought along these awesome custom balloons! Jove, thank you for your amazing creativity and generous spirit.
They will be getting married in New York on August 3.
Congratulations MaKenzie and Chris!
Special Thanks to:
Jove Meyer Events for styling and balloons and being an all-around awesome planner.
Brandi Schaffran-Webb for creating a behind-the-scenes video — COMING SOON!
Chromatic Gallerie for the beautiful shoes.
Madison Square Park’s Mad. Sq. Art for bringing inspiring artwork to the city.
Photography by: Jessica Schmitt
