It was a clear and beautiful day on Pier 3 at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Not as frigid as the previous day, with the sun out, shining, I decided to have faith that everything would turn out fine. Brian and I had traveled 784 miles for this photoshoot, to do it in the city where our love story started five years ago.
Brian my fiancé and I met on Hinge, the dating app designed to be deleted, in New York City, in 2019. It was in November, way before the COVID-19 pandemic was ever thought of and the world was “normal.” I had just finished my first Production Assistant gig at STARZ. I was living in Bushwick Brooklyn, looking for a full-time job in media and communications when I came across Brian’s Hinge profile. His 6 ‘1 height, Bachelor’s degree and being from Brooklyn seemed promising. After we exchanged a couple of hours long phone conversations over the next couple of weeks, I inquired about meeting up one day spontaneously. Our first date was movie-like and ended with a man in the back of the public transit bus we rode, telling us that “we had met our soulmates.” Brian took it as a sign that we were destined to be together.
After moving from New York City to Atlanta, Georgia, my hometown in 2020, Brian and I experienced the highs and lows of buying a house, but came out as homeowners in January 2021. Closing on our home together is one of our greatest accomplishments in addition to surviving the pandemic together, so from there our relationship grew stronger and stronger.
The vision for our engagement shoot was to celebrate ourselves as a Young Power Couple with an upcoming wedding, celebrating our five year anniversary – glammed up and taking over New York. We wanted an elevated, black and white look for a timeless, modern and romantic take on a New York City romance with the city skyline as the backdrop and the proposal being reimagined as if being photographed for a newspaper. One of my co-workers, Brandi Riley said our photos gave “Harlem Renaissance” and I gagged! This was a dream come true. That was the vision.
Brian and I couldn’t have done all of this in only two days, so we spent four days in Brooklyn, using the weekend to revisit the places where we first fell in love and preparing for the shoot. On Saturday February 22, we scouted the park to decide on specific shooting locations and Pier 3 was the winner. On Sunday February 23, Brian and I held our engagement photoshoot where we celebrated Juneteenth at the Big Black Kickback in Brooklyn Bridge Park, on Juneteenth 2020, one month before we moved to Atlanta. This is why I had the idea to return to Brooklyn Bridge Park. I wanted someplace near the water where we could also find grass. I love the outdoors and nature, and with the city backdrop, it was literally the perfect location.
This photoshoot took me about four months in total to plan and bring all of the elements of hair, make-up, styling, vision and execution together to bring our engagement photoshoot vision to life. Shoutout to Fashion Nova for the long white coat, K&G Fashion Superstore for Brian’s suit, and David’s Bridal for this wedding dress. Shout out to my Syracuse University family and friends, Creative Director Raven Irabor who created our digital vision board for our engagement shoot and New York City educator Tyrol “Taylor” Brito who was our Creative Production Assistant for the day! Emerald Knox was our amazing photographer located in NYC. The beauty team behind the shoot is tagged in the photos on Instagram and Brian and I are forever grateful.
Brian and Danielle a.k.a. #Branielle are content creators who are currently looking for wedding sponsors and wedding brands to partner and collaborate with as they get closer to their wedding day in the summer of 2025. To receive Branielle’s wedding sponsorship deck please contact reedlimitedent@gmail.com.
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