Moo over at Olli Studio is an absolute delight to work with and after a quick glance at their work, knows how to get the most out of a camera.

On August 29, Ryan & I met up with him and his second for what turned out to be such a memorable day for us at Hamilton Park in Jersey City. I had scoped out the area and chose it for a variety of reasons. Hamilton Park offers a good representation of the things we love: the desire for an unapologetic grunge of urban and metropolitan culture, with the warmth and beauty of lush greenery, with the added convenience of being within walking distance of so much, including numerous murals, an ice cream shop (gotta stay hydrated in the heat, or something like that).

For over two hours, we both got to be super silly, which only brought out each of our lovey-dovey sides. Being the subject for a camera lens makes you feel like a muse, which in a weird way, created an intimacy that feels almost whimsical. It made the time feel like mere minutes.

While the sun was gorgeous that day, the end of August can be pretty warm. After a while of being snapped and exploring the various aspects of the park, I made the suggestion that we should wander into the neighboring ice cream shop, Milk, Sugar, Love to cool off. We sampled a bunch of the flavors, including my favorite, salted caramel, before treating Moo & co. Of course, he wanted to document the entire experience, leading to some adorable shots.

If you really know me, you know that I could only eat ice cream until I die and would none the less happy for it. I suppose I got a bit overzealous about the treat because I proceeded to dribble a big chocolate spot on my perfectly white dress, leading us to a costume change.

Perhaps one of the best things about Jersey City is its commitment to sparking life into areas through the use of murals. There’s dozens of them across the city and we thought they would make an outstanding backdrop for engagement pics.

While first walking from Hamilton Park, we struck out, beginning to doubt ourselves that the murals were within walking distance. But at the height of that doubt, we finally found one, which then led to finding six or eight. The combination of the sun, the time of day, and the bright colors of the murals made for such exciting visuals.

We finished the session off with mostly empty bellies (ice cream can only take you so far), and so we celebrated with cocktails and dinner along Newark Avenue feeling super sappy, and happy for all that is still to come.