Getting to document Salena & Stephen’s engagement was the first time we visited Jersey City – which turns out to have a really stunning view of New York City (without all the crazy that comes from being in the middle of Manhattan).

As a quick little side note, through most of our lives we’ve never explored much the big urban areas relatively close to home. Through photography and meeting so many cool people along the way, we’ve challenged ourselves to get out of our comfort zones and in the course of a few years as professional photographers we have been visiting all the big metro areas within a 2 hour drive from us – NYC, Philly…and now adding Jersey City into the mix.

While the NYC skyline viewable from the Jersey City waterfront is definitely one of the highlights of having photos done in this city, what really inspired us most was the really amazing mural art work we stumbled on by accident, as well as the really great architecture that can be found in nooks-and-crannies. And these cool city vibes fit these two and their style to a T!

Like all engagement shoots we set up in places we aren’t hugely familiar with, we took a deep dive on Google Maps to try and get acquainted. What’s funny is…just browsing through the city doesn’t do it justice. Salena & Stephen were already well familiar with the city (since they live there!), and walked us around some of their favorite areas. As we went through, we kept seeing spots that would be perfect for photos.

We’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking – but just know that these memories will serve as a great balance with their barn wedding photos coming next year! 🙂