So, I had a pretty special Valentine’s Day this year.

No, no – no red roses, chocolates or fancy dinner to speak of (and if you know me, you know that’s SO not my style anyway!). Instead, I got to photograph the beautiful wedding of Samantha and Brett. But this was no run-of-the-mill V-Day wedding. These guys won a contest held by The Knot and got to be one of 14 lucky couples to get married inside the Empire State Building! Literally no one else outside of this contest can say they were wed here, that’s how special it is. And to add to the special-ness, they were able to tie the knot just before Brett was deployed to Afghanistan.

Samantha and Brett said “I Do” on the 61st floor of the Empire State Building, then afterwards went up to the observation deck with their invited guests to take photos and answer some interview questions for the media. One thing that goes along with winning such a cool contest is the paparazzi-like buzz around it, so there was an incredible number of media folk present at the wedding, not to mention most NYC radio stations were talking about the contest all morning.

After leaving the ESB, we spent some time in Grand Central Terminal taking pictures. I love that they chose a location with so much meaning to them (and to me, as well). The very last photo in this set is my absolute favorite – in front of the beautiful station backdrop, they’re looking at each other with that *OMGwejustgotmarriedandiloveyousomuch!* look on their faces. So beautiful!

I shot this wedding alongside Leslie, videographer from Kiss The Bride films. Also be sure to read Samantha and Brett’s story on The Knot website!