Amanda & Paul Engagement Session Skylands Manor Ringwood NJ

Engagement Session Skylands Manor

Amanda and Paul’s Engagement Session Skylands Manor was beautiful, amazing and all around a ton of fun. However, we started at their gym, Crossfit 201. This is the place where they met 3 years ago. I love the idea that they wanted to take some photos in the gym. It is always fun thinking outside the box and getting creative in a place that I normally won’t shoot.

That is the true challenge of what we do as photographers. Putting ourselves in situations and seeing what we can do creatively.

I had an idea of what kind of shots I wanted to do with the gym before I arrived, but as many people know, sometimes the place doesn’t always allow you to do what you prepared for a head of time. That wasn’t the case with this gym, the natural light we got from the garage door being open in the back, allowed for a ton of natural light to come in and we accomplished everything and more of what they wanted. Engagement Session Skylands Manor

One thing about the late fall and winter is that the when the day light savings ends, the sun sets at 4:45pm and we have limited time to do any work at sunset. So we rushed over to Skylands Manor where Teddy, their beautiful Golden Retriever met us with Emma, Amanda’s sister.

Teddy is the most behaved boy and is a super photogenic dog. He stared right at the camera when we called his name, but of course he did anything we asked when he saw a treat in someone’s hand. Engagement Session Skylands Manor

That place is so massive that it was hard to cover everything, but we managed to hit all the major spots in the short amount of time. The sunset was elegantly setting over the mountains and we were able to grab some really sweet and beautiful silhouettes. Engagement Session Skylands Manor

These two really did an unbelievable job and I am honored to call these two friends. I always want to make my couples feel like friends and not just another couple. I am super excited to see where these two go from here. Their love is truly beautiful. Engagement Session Skylands Manor

Congratulations to the future Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson. They will be tying the knot in August 2021 at Crestwood Lake in Allendale, NJ.

A LITTLE Q&A FOR THE BRIDE & GROOM

HOW DID YOU MEET?!

“We met at our gym, CrossFit 201. We actually first hung out at an Oktoberfest outing that people from the gym were going to. We were the first two there from the group that we were meeting with and had never really talked to each other. We sat around for nearly an hour talking to one another until someone else showed up. It was awesome that we were able to get to know each other without any pressure of it actually being a date.”

“I actually think I was showing him my Match options at one point. The weekend after we had a competition at the gym, where I was of course looking for someone to take pictures/videos while I was working out…and guess who offered…Paul! Later on he admitted he had done that on purpose to get to talk with me more. A week or so later, we had our first date.” Engagement Session Skylands Manor

Amanda and Paul went on their first date on October 4, 2017.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST DATE!

“Paul will always tell me that he knew I was a keeper when I told him I had to go to the gym first and then we could go out to eat for a date. We went to Blue Moon in Wyckoff where we sipped on some margaritas and also ordered the same exact meal coincidentally! Time flew by as we laughed and told stories and we realized that we were the only ones left in the restaurant! I think it was safe to say we were both looking forward to a second date.”

HOW DID YOU FALL IN LOVE?

“Paul instantly fell in love when he saw me bench pressing…just kidding! We had a lot of real and honest conversations early into dating and we were both able to just be ourselves and really open with each other. We quickly realized we had an instant connection through our love of fitness, eagerness to travel, and willingness to really listen to each other. We fell in love quick and haven’t been apart since!” Engagement Session Skylands Manor

HOW DID HE PROPOSE?

“We were on the first day of our week long vacation up at Lake Winnipesaukee. We had just gotten back from dinner to our hotel which had a balcony overlooking the lake. He poured some champagne (how did I not know then…oops) and he put on my favorite song (Dancing In the Moonlight…seriously… how did I not know) and we danced on the balcony. He twirled me around and the next thing I knew he was down on one knee. I don’t really remember much else, except him saying “Sooooo are you going to say yes?” Of course I said yes!”

Paul proposed on August 3, 2020 at Lake Winnipesaukee, NH