Get Ready, Get Set, Elope! Melanie And Mikey Celebrate The Perfect Long Island Elopement
Last month Long Island Wedding Guide received a DM from Melanie, a beautiful bride that was just over the moon about her elopement with her fiance Mikey, along with their photographer, Monica Spengler, at Prosser Pines on Long Island. Once we saw the magic, and felt the love through the photos Melanie had shared with us, we wanted to share their elopement with as many of our couples as possible! Melanie, her then fiance Mikey, and their photographer Monica Spengler created an enchanted space in the pines proving the smallest of weddings can have impactful details, and make for the most beautiful memories! In Melanie's own words about their wedding day and photos, "I'm freaking obsessed" and now so are we! Keep reading as Melanie And Mikey's photographer, Monica Spengler reveals all of the inspiring details, and her heartfelt journey along the way with Melanie and Mikey!
Story Told By Monica Spengler, Love And Lifestyle Photographer
I met Melanie and Mikey at Prosser Pines for their styled “elopement” session. I was aware they had become legally married a few days prior. Months ago when Melanie initially inquired about this type of photo session she explained that she wanted a cake and table set up, along with the sash hanging in the trees. I was so excited! A few days leading up to their session, Melanie reached out to me asking if we could shoot a “first look” as Mikey did not see her in a wedding dress when they became legally husband and wife. Thanks Covid!
They arrived with all their props including a vintage table, cake, and about a thousand candles both real and fake. I was in my element and we decorated the woods as their dream ceremony. Mikey waited in my portable changing tent as I shot her wedding dress. They switched places and we then did their first look. It was very special.
They had a playlist of love songs to play during the photoshoot. This was meant to loosen them up so they wouldn’t feel as awkward in front of the camera. Which is a fear of just about everyone I might add! I told them to slow dance in the middle of the candles on the floor while I photographed them from far away. This is a prompt I often use with couples because it's an easy pose that makes a dreamy photo! At this time the sun became warm and glowing.. My favorite. We did a set of photos where Mikey is taking off the garter belt Melanie tied around her thigh.
These are some of my favorites from this evening. Melanie found the inspo on Pinterest. And then lastly we took some more photos in front of the cake table. Melanie brought some amazing vintage cake knives and forks along with vintage plates her father found in a house he bought upstate. It became clear this couple and I loved the same type of things.
So after the final set of photos of them cutting their wedding cake and icing each other’s noses we wrapped up for the evening. We all had a blast, and I was excited to return home to dive into editing a few to send to her as sneak peeks. On my way home, as I reminisced about how the photoshoot went, I became very emotional and actually started to cry. It dawned on me that only a few days ago this couple became husband and wife on some stranger’s front lawn. No dress, no family, no bridal party. They simply needed papers signed.
Melanie and Mikey chose me to share their first look with, their first dance, and their first cake cut together. Instead of mother’s helping the bride get into her dress, it was me in the woods taking photos of it hanging on a branch. Sappy love songs played as they danced under the pines while I took photos. I felt immense gratitude that I was even there, let alone taking the photos and walking them through everything. I hope when Melanie and Mikey look back on these photos twenty five years from now, they have the same exact love I photographed that evening.
From Long Island Wedding Guide, Thank you to Melanie, Mikey, and Monica Spengler (one of the most invested photographers and storytellers we know) for sharing this intimate day with Long Island couples who are engaged and considering elopement. You are an inspiration!
Credits And Links
Floral Designer / Bouquet: Evergreen Bride
Photographer: Monica Spengler
Hair And Makeup: Melanie (the bride, with a lot of talent!)
Decor and Wedding Cake: Melanie!
HOW MELANIE AND MIKEY MET! "My Everything And So Much More"...
In Melanie's own words, she tells Long Island Wedding Guide how they met!
“I was thinking I’d be alone forever after a bad relationship in my life, when there he was. I met Mikey at the gym I worked at back in 2017. I had just quit and had 2 days left when he asked me out while I was making him a protein shake! 3.5 years later we’ve never spent a day apart️. We’ve been dirt poor together, battle depression and anxiety together, moved multiple times together and raise our two beautiful daughters together. He is my best friend, my support system, my love, my daughters amazing father and while I didn’t know it back then, I’d found my everything.”
